Fantasy Insight: Top 10 Second Baseman

Italicized (number) is projected draft round

1. Robinson Cano- New York (1)

2. Dustin Pedroia- Boston (4)

3. Ian Kinsler- Texas (3)

4. Chase Utley- Philadelphia (5)

5. Rickie Weeks- Milwaukee (4)

6. Brandon Phillips- Cincinnati (5)

7. Dan Uggla- Atlanta (6)

8. Ben Zobrist- Tampa Bay (12)

9. Aaron Hill- Toronto (15)

10. Howie Kendrick- Los Angeles (20)

Sleeper: Gordon Beckham- Chicago

            1. Robinson Cano

Robby Cano is the best second baseman and most likely a first round pick (because of the position scarcity at second). Cano has been known to hit for average (he hit .342 his rookie year), but last year he finally added more power to his resume. True, he only hit four more homeruns than his previous season high, but his ISO rose by almost 20 points. With the aging careers, of Jeter and Rodriguez, Cano is now the core piece of the Yankees lineup; that means he’ll get a lot of RBI opportunities and score a lot of runs. My biggest concerns with Cano are his lack of speed (career high of five steals in ’09 and ’06) and his low walk rate (he’s got a career mark of 5%). However, he’s posted back-to-back seasons with 200 hits so I think he can keep that high average going. You could do worse at second in your draft, and if you want to cover scarcity go with Cano in the first round.

            2. Dustin Pedroia

Some might think he isn’t the second best second baseman, but let me make my case. Before getting hurt last season Pedroia had 12 homers and nine stolen bases over 75 games. If he played at least 150 games he would have been a 25 homer and 20 stolen base player (since Cano had 29 homers and four bags Pedroia might have even been more useful then him). Seeing that Pedroia’s previous high in homers was 17 in ’08 that shows great improvement. The Rat’s strikeout percentage was up, but that probably attributed to his added power, and he still hit .288 with a .367 OBP. Pedroia still has more potential, and with a full season like lasts he could hit .290 with 20-25 homers with 20 stolen bases to boot. Also, at the top of the Sox lineup he’ll score a ton of runs; he average 116 scored between his ’08 and ’09 seasons, and was well on his way to over 100 again last season. The biggest concern for drafters is how Pedroia comes back from his injury. Seeing that he played the last ¼ of 2007 with a broken wrist I think it’s safe to say he can play through the pain.

            3. Ian Kinsler

Kinsler has great potential and could be number one on this list. He’s hit over .300 in his career, and he’s been a 30-30 player in his career. However, Kinsler is probably the most injury prone second baseman we’ve seen in a long time. He’s only averaged 123 games a season over his five years in the league. Last year he saw less than 500 PAs, and his numbers suffered for it (he only hit nine homeruns). Kinsler has great potential; in 2009 he played in only 144 games, but still managed to have 31 homeruns and steals. There is fantastic potential here, but the constant injuries are a concern and so there’s no certainty with Kinsler on draft day.

            4. Chase Utley

Utley is a great player, who has done nothing but great things in his career. However, his season was slowed last year with a thumb injury and he was never able to get going. In 115 games he only managed to hit 16 homeruns with 13 stolen bases. The scariest decline was his .275 average compared to his .293 career mark. Usually we could chalk it all up to being hurt and bad luck and he’d go back to being the number one second baseman. However, Utley’s hand has bothered him this spring, and a recent knee injury forced him to leave camp to see a rehab specialist (he still hasn’t even played in a game this spring). We know of Utley’s potential, and he’s dropping into about the 5^th round in drafts, but just know the reward is not without risk.

            5. Rickie Weeks

Weeks is the little Brewer that could. Milwaukee has been toting him around at second for years, and last season he finally put it all together. In 160 games Weeks was just shy of 30 bombs, with 29, and stole 11 bags. His previous high for stolen bases was 25 in ’07, so Weeks could be at least a 25-25 player this year, with about a .265-.275 average. He also plays in an explosive lineup, so there’s a lot of run and RBI opportunities for him. The biggest concern for Weeks is making sure the good times continue to roll, but at only 28 there’s a great chance of that.