Second Basemen

Tier 1:             Robinson Cano

Tier 2:             Jason Kipnis, Dustin Pedroia

Tier 3:             Matt Carpenter, Ian Kinsler, Ben Zobrist, Jose Altuve, Brandon Phillips

Tier 4:             Martin Prado, Aaron Hill, Jed Lowrie, Jurickson Profar, Chase Utley, Jed Gyorko, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Howie Kendrick, Brian Dozier

Tier 5:             Neil Walker, Kolton Wong, Kelly Johnson, Omar Infante, Alexander Guerrero, Marco Scutaro

* Note: Players in bold are those whom I expect to outperform their ADPs.

Robby Cano once again sits alone in the top tier, although tier 2 has inched closer to him in value. Kipnis had a breakout season in 2013, and he certainly merits a high selection in the draft (second round or so).

Take note of the depth we have at second base, which is a new development.

Tier 4 has high ceiling players that could post great numbers – more on that in a moment. I have Brandon Phillips at the end of tier 3, but was tempted to drop him to tier 4. With the exception of RBI, Phillip’s numbers took a bit of a dive last year, and he’s not getting any younger. Long story short, I’d allow another manger to draft him.

With Kinsler traded to the Tigers, Profar gets sole custody of the 2B position for the Rangers. Profar has been a top prospect for the past few years, and he will post good numbers this season. Gyorko comes with a bit less pedigree than Profar, but his value should be similar to that of Profar for fantasy purposes. Defense is where Profar has Gyorko beat, but that makes no impact on most fantasy leagues.

Finally, we’ve reached my upside play for second base. Anthony Rendon has nudged Danny Espinosa out of the position (technically the Nationals have an open competition at second base this spring, but expect Rendon to win this battle), and Rendon carries a strong bat. He’s got health concerns, but given good health, Rendon has a chance to provide the best ROI among second basemen. 

Neema Hodjat is the fantasy sports writer for RealGM.  He can be reached via email at nhodjat@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @NeemaHodjat.