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Check out my top 250:
Fantasy Baseball 2017 Top 250
Last, but not least, we finish off the infield with third base. A very deep position, third base has players you’ve known for years mixed with a few new kids on the block hot corner. #80sReferenceMadeByAKidThatWasBornAfterThe80s
Anyways, back to baseball!
You know the drill by now, in addition to giving you the top players to draft at the position, I’ll offer up a breakout player, sleepers, busts, and an overall strategy of how to go about drafting the position. Let’s take a look at third base before I make any more boy band references.
Top 30 Third Basemen
| Pos Rank | Player | Team | Age | PR | League |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos Rank | Player | Team | Age | PR | League |
| 1 | Kris Bryant | CHC | 25 | 19 | NL |
| 2 | Nolan Arenado | COL | 25 | 16 | NL |
| 3 | Josh Donaldson | TOR | 31 | 29 | AL |
| 4 | Manny Machado | BAL | 24 | 45 | AL |
| 5 | Jonathan Villar | MIL | 25 | 5 | NL |
| 6 | Adrian Beltre | TEX | 37 | 54 | AL |
| 7 | Kyle Seager | SEA | 29 | 80 | AL |
| 8 | Evan Longoria | TB | 31 | 88 | AL |
| 9 | Todd Frazier | CWS | 31 | 89 | AL |
| 10 | Matt Carpenter | STL | 31 | 196 | NL |
| 11 | Alex Bregman | HOU | 23 | 560 | AL |
| 12 | Anthony Rendon | WAS | 26 | 94 | NL |
| 13 | Jose Ramirez | CLE | 24 | 47 | AL |
| 14 | Justin Turner | LAD | 32 | 106 | NL |
| 15 | Jake Lamb | ARI | 26 | 139 | NL |
| 16 | Maikel Franco | PHI | 24 | 201 | NL |
| 17 | Javier Baez | CHC | 24 | 214 | NL |
| 18 | Eduardo Nunez | SF | 29 | 30 | NL |
| 19 | Miguel Sano | MIN | 23 | 313 | AL |
| 20 | Yulieski Gurriel | HOU | 32 | 929 | AL |
| 21 | Jung Ho Kang | PIT | 29 | 293 | NL |
| 22 | Ryon Healy | OAK | 25 | 365 | AL |
| 23 | Nick Castellanos | DET | 25 | 245 | AL |
| 24 | Eugenio Suarez | CIN | 25 | 183 | NL |
| 25 | Mike Moustakas | KC | 28 | 953 | AL |
| 26 | Jedd Gyorko | STL | 28 | 278 | NL |
| 27 | Hernan Perez | MIL | 26 | 95 | NL |
| 28 | Brandon Drury | ARI | 24 | 258 | NL |
| 29 | Travis Shaw | MIL | 26 | 295 | NL |
| 30 | Yoan Moncada | CWS | 21 | N/A | AL |
*PR stands for 'Player Rater' which is a measure of how good a player was in a standard 5x5 roto league
Breakout player – Jake Lamb
Sleepers – Yulieski Gurriel, Brandon Drury, Travis Shaw
Busts – Anthony Rendon, Miguel Sano
Position Overview
Third base offers superstars at the top, trusted veterans between players 6-14 at the position, and a deep crop of late rounds players who have incredible potential. My approach will be to draft one of the top nine (hopefully one of the top four) and then grab a couple of the late round fliers. Picking a breakout was a bit more difficult only because many of the top 10 are players we have a long enough track record of and know what to expect. Kris Bryant begs mention here because, not only is he my #1 third basemen, he is my #2 overall player, behind Mike Trout. Hard to believe last year’s NL MVP could get better, but I think he can. Looking past the top 20, Jung Ho Kang and Jedd Gyorko offer tremendous power upside and Hernan Perez can contribute 30+ stolen bases if given the playing time. Even Travis Shaw and Yoan Moncada, ranked 29 and 30 respectively, have paths to becoming top 150 overall players if they exceed expectations. Moncada, in particular, has a profile as a 15HR 30SB guy for years to come. Will that be this year? Probably not, but if he breaks camp with the big league roster, expect the prospect who changed his Sox this offseason to fly up draft boards.
Check back tomorrow for a look at the outfield! See you then and thanks for the read.
Other positional previews:
Catchers
First Base
Second Base
Shortstop
Outfield
Starting Pitcher
Relief Pitcher