clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

A Look back at our 2014 Fantasy Third Base Rankings

Ray takes a look back at our preseason third base rankings to see where we went right and where we went wrong in our consensus rankings.

By Ray Guilfoyle
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

I am in the middle of my review of our 2014 consensus position rankings, having completed analysis of the following position rankings:

Catcher

First Base

Second Base

Shortstop

The hot corner used to be chock full of power hitters, and an easy position to address your power needs, but this season there were only six third baseman who hit 20 or more home runs, and not one hit 30 home runs.

Of all third baseman who had 350 or more plate appearances, only nine drove in 70 or more runs. Some of the higher ranked third baseman at the beginning of the season disappointed fantasy owners due to injuries, including Ryan Zimmerman, David Wright and, to a certain extent, Miguel Cabrera. More was expected from Miggy, who saw his performance drop across the board this season, as he played with a variety of injuries. Now that the Tigers have been eliminated from the playoffs, I wonder if we will hear that he will have offseason surgery on whatever ailed him this season.

Now let's take a look back at our Top 30 Fantasy Third Base Rankings for 2014 ranked 1 - 15:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
1 Miguel Cabrera DET 256 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Adrian Beltre TEX 243 2 4 4 2 3 2 2 2
3 Evan Longoria TBR 238 4 2 2 4 4 3 3 4
4 David Wright NYM 238 3 3 3 3 2 5 4 3
5 Ryan Zimmerman WSN 219 6 5 7 6 6 4 6 5
6 Josh Donaldson OAK 208 5 6 11 5 11 7 5 6
7 Pedro Alvarez PIT 207 7 7 8 8 5 6 8 8
8 Matt Carpenter STL 192 8 10 5 7 7 19 7 9
9 Kyle Seager SEA 184 9 18 10 9 8 8 11 7
10 Pablo Sandoval SFG 177 11 14 6 11 15 9 9 12
11 Manny Machado BAL 176 16 8 12 10 10 10 12 10
12 Chase Headley SDP 172 12 13 9 12 12 13 10 11
13 Xander Bogaerts BOS 152 14 9 13 15 17 14 16 14
14 Brett Lawrie TOR 150 15 11 17 17 13 12 13 16
15 Nolan Arenado COL 141 18 17 14 14 16 11 15 18

And here is a look back at our Top 30 Fantasy Third Base Rankings for 2014 ranked 16 - 30:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
16 Martin Prado ARI 137 13 12 16 13 9 18 13
17 Aramis Ramirez MIL 132 10 15 15 16 22 17 22 15
18 Todd Frazier CIN 115 17 21 20 19 18 18 14 22
19 Chris Johnson ATL 114 19 20 23 18 14 22 17 17
20 Will Middlebrooks BOS 106 21 16 21 20 23 15 19 23
21 David Freese LAA 87 23 22 22 21 26 23 21 19
22 Matt Dominguez HOU 87 22 23 18 24 25 20 25 20
23 Mike Moustakas KCR 85 20 25 24 23 19 21 20 27
24 Matt Davidson CHW 72 25 26 19 25 21 24 27 25
25 Nick Castellanos DET 70 19 28 22 20 16 23
26 Trevor Plouffe MIN 46 29 24 26 28 28 26 24
27 Cody Asche PHI 45 24 27 27 27 29 28 24
28 Juan Francisco MIL 26 27 25 21
29 Juan Uribe LAD 26 30 24 30 26 29
30 Mark Reynolds MIL 19 26 26 28

What we got right

AdrIan Beltre, Rangers

Beltre had a bit of a down power year, but so did the rest of the Rangers. Even with the drop in power and RBI, Beltre did not hurt you, as he hit .324-.388-.492 with 19 home runs, 79 runs scored and 77 RBI in 148 games. Assuming the Rangers are more healthy in 2015, Beltre should see a bump in his counting stats and remain one of the top 3-4 fantasy third baseman.

David Freese, Angels

We ranked Freese as our 21st ranked fantasy third baseman in 2014, and he did not do anything to outperform that ranking. Freese had a breakout year in 2012 hitting 20 home runs and driving in 79 runs, but that is looking more and more like a career year for him. This season, Freese hit .260-.321-.363 with 10 home runs, 53 runs scored and 55 RBI in 511 plate appearances. Over the past two seasons, Freese has hit just 19 home runs in over 1,000 plate appearances , one less than he hit in 2012.

Pablo Sandoval, Giants

We ranked Sandoval as our 10th best fantasy third baseman, and that is right around where he ended the season. Sandoval hit .273-.324-.415 with 16 home runs, 68 runs scored and 73 RBI. He played in 157 games this season, the most he has played since he played 153 in 2009. He is a free agent at the end of this season and could see his fantasy value improve with a move out of San Francisco.

What we got wrong

Kyle Seager, Mariners

Well, we ranked Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager as our 9th ranked fantasy third baseman, but he was much better than that in 2014. The soon-to-be 27 year old third baseman had his best year across the board hitting .268-.334-.454 with 25 home runs, 71 runs scored, 96 RBI and 7 stolen bases. The 25 home runs and 96 RBI ranked third and second, respectively, among all qualified third baseman in 2014. He is certainly a top 5 fantasy third baseman heading into the 2015 season.

Todd Frazier, Reds

We ranked Reds third baseman Todd Frazier as our 18th ranked third baseman in 2014, and we couldn't have been more wrong. Frazier enjoyed a breakout season at the plate, and on the basepaths, this season, as he was just one of five 20 home run/20 stolen base hitters in baseball this season. Frazier hit .273-.336-.459 with 29 home runs, 88 runs scored, 80 RBI and 20 stolen bases this season, all career highs in each of the five fantasy categories. I don't think anyone expected him to steal 20 bases this season, but he did steal 17 in AAA back in 2011, so he does possess enough speed to steal double digit bags in 2015.

Fantasy Rundown

If you are looking for more fantasy football, baseball or basketball rankings, make sure you check out Fantasy Rundown, your one stop on the internet for all things fantasy.