Welcome to draft day. It has come to that all important time of selecting a second basemen. Chase Utley was gone in the first round and now you are wondering who you should invest in to stay competitive in your league. Which guy will give you that slight edge? Should you look for more power? Speed? High batting average? There are too many choices! Well don’t worry we have you covered. Our analysts have the information you need to make an informed decision.
Bryce Carlson (Brian Roberts) – In the fantasy baseball second base market, Brian Roberts is a performance enhancing choice… no pun intended. First of all, Roberts is a workhorse. He has averaged 157 games for the last three seasons. You don’t need to worry about him straining his hamstring while stealing third followed later by a strained quad. He is going to come to the ballpark every day and play. Roberts also gives you solid offensive production in a lot of different categories which is key in fantasy baseball. Roberts has an above average OBP which is the building block to almost every other offensive statistic. Also, Roberts puts you in great position to own the SB category in your league which can be a tricky one. Keep in mind that Roberts is a lead-off hitter, so he will not rack up a lot of home runs and does not have as many opportunities to drive in runs. Still, Brian Roberts is a great option at second base. Put him in your lineup everyday and leave him there. He’s like the Showtime Rotisserie Oven… “Set it, and forget it!”
Jeff Walter (Brandon Phillips) – Once you get past Utley there are a number of solid options at second base. Who you should choose depends largely on need. You need someone to get on base while not contributing too many strikeouts? Pedroia is your guy. Do you have a need for speed? Roberts is your best bet. But if you’re looking for a second baseman that can help you in multiple categories and Utley is gone, your choice is between Phillips and Kinsler. When you look over the past few seasons their statistics are closer than you might expect. Both players can be counted on to hit around .275, knock 20 home runs, and swipe 20 bases. In fact each has a 30-30 season on their record (the only other second baseman with a 30-30 in the history of the sport is Alfonso Soriano). What separates the two? Kinsler will score more runs while Phillips will drive in more runs. Dusty Baker has already stated that he plans to bat Phillips clean-up (cozily between Joey Votto ahead of him and Scott Rolen and Jay Bruce behind), so expect the RBI opportunities to continue to be plentiful. Finally, if you, like me, have a hard time deciding between Phillips and Kinslers and your league has a defensive category, Phillips should be your guy. Phillips has consistently had a higher fielding percentage (and correspondingly fewer errors) than Kinsler over their careers. In fact, Phillips is good enough defensively to have won the 2008 NL Gold Glove.
Scott Oleniczak (Dustin Pedroia) – When drafting a fantasy second baseman, you want a consistent run scorer who excels in all the key offensive statistical categories, and for this reason you should draft 2008 AL MVP Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia has averaged 106 runs and an astonishing .837 OPS over the last three seasons which ranks higher than Kinsler and Phillips. While falling 1 run short of Roberts in his quest for a clean sweep over all three players in runs and .OPS category. Even more impressive, Pedroia is averaging a minuscule 46 strikeouts over his last 3 seasons (Kinsler 76, Phillips 97, Roberts 105). Pedroia is no slouch in the field averaging only 6 errors in a span of 3 seasons (Roberts 9, Phillips 8, Kinsler 15). Pedroia falls slightly short in the HR and RBI category with a 3 years average of 13 homeruns and 68 RBI’s, however when I’m building my fantasy team I’m getting my power surge from my corner infielders and outfielders. In short, if you are looking for a second baseman that is well above average in all offensive categories and will help lead you to success in the all important strikeout and error categories, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is your guy.
Jason Oleniczak (Ian Kinsler) – Second base is the new shortstop. Players like Kinsler, Pedroia, Phillips, Aaron Hill, and Robinson Cano are making second base what Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Miguel Tejada, made shortstop in the late 90’s early. No longer do you just look for second basemen that provide value in categories such as R, BA, OBP, and SB, but you can look for second basemen that provide pop. Kinsler’s three-year SLG is .482, compared to .461 for Pedroia, .458 for Phillips, and .444 for Roberts. From 1997 to 2009 he has averaged 23 HR and 100 RBI. During that same time frame he averaged 27 SB and an OPS of .834 which barely ranks second to Pedroia’s .837. 2010 should be an interesting year in the maturation of Kinsler as he is expected to move from leadoff to 5th in the batting order. Will there be a spike in his power numbers and a decline in stolen bases? Possibly, but I would expect it to be fairly marginal on both sides. Outside of Chase Utley, Kinsler is the cream of the crop at second base. The added bonus with Kinsler is the borderline Steve Buechele power puff hair. Lookin good Kinsler…lookin good.
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good stuff guys, i like kinsler here. i dont know too much about brandon phillips but i thought the mention of a defensive category at 2b was interesting . can someone shed some light or give an example of a defensive category in fantasy baseball? ive never played in a league where they were used
Matt Stairs,
When I have come across the defensive category it is measured in its simplest terms, which is errors. Not the greatest indicator of defense, but the easiest to account for in fantasy baseball.