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Fantasy Baseball 2017 Positional Preview: Third Base

A look at the third base position for the 2017 Fantasy Baseball season.

By Garrett Atkins
Kris Bryant (pictured left) poses with a picture of the #1 third baseman in fantasy baseball, Kris Byrant.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

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

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