Leandre: Top 30 third basemen entering 2024, 10-1
The top 10 third basemen entering the 2024 MLB regular season is a stacked class of All-Stars and some elite defenders.
It’s crazy to think about how far teams have come from a player development standpoint.
While not everyone is a superstar-caliber player, the talent from the top down is considerably better than at any other point in league history.
Third base is certainly no exception to this new rule.
Before we examine the top 10 entering 2024, let’s recap the middle third of this top 30 ranking.
Now, let’s take a gander at the 10-best, shall we?
10. Josh Jung – Texas Rangers
This ranking is based more on the player Jung was before he broke his thumb in August, as well as the player he was in October. Given the heroics of Adolis García and Corey Seager, as well as the emergence of Evan Carter, Jung’s .308 average with a north of .500 slugging percentage (128 wRC+) in October gets overlooked mightily.
He’s a very good hitter, with power potential to exceed the 30-homer plateau as soon as 2024.
His one red flag is the gap between strikeouts and walks. Last year, he struck out 29.3% of his plate appearances and walked barely over 5% of the time.
Otherwise, he’s about as balanced a player as they come at the position and I’m eager to see what his next step looks like.
9. Royce Lewis – Minnesota Twins
Lord, please let this man stay healthy for a full season.
There’s not much to say about Lewis other than he rakes and he can’t stay healthy. He’s hit at every level, including the majors, but he only played 72 professional games last year between the majors and his rehab assignments.
He posted a wRC+ of 155 in his 58 games played, however, along with an fWAR of 2.4, so he’s worthy of this ranking, it just needs to play out in volume at this point.
8. Matt Chapman – San Francisco Giants
It’s not always pretty, but Chapman is a lock for at least 3.5 wins above replacement every season.
While I recognize his defense carries him a lot of the way to that value, he’s certainly far from a bad hitter. He’s never finished below a 101 wRC+ in seven years. While he’s not quite matched the production of his 2018 and 2019 self – 12 fWAR and a 132 wRC+ -- he’s still constantly around the top eight every single season.
7. Ke’Bryan Hayes – Pittsburgh Pirates
While I wonder how much better Hayes is offensively than he’s shown, his defense is otherworldly.
I’ve seen plenty balk at the ranking of Hayes on numerous lists. Honestly, I can see why people aren’t enamored — though, I am. He was not a good hitter in 2021 or 2022 and catapulted himself to a 101 wRC+ with a career-high 15 home runs.
That, and the fact nobody wants to talk about the importance of defense for the sake of “Narrative Ball” and you have Hayes constantly getting underrated by the masses.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Hayes was an All-Star in 2024. Not in the slightest.
6. Manny Machado – San Diego Padres
Machado isn’t going to play third base for a bit because of a late 2023 season elbow surgery that he’s still on the mend from. However, his bat will still impact games night in and night out.
It was not a good year for the Padres’ star at the dish in 2023, but he still posted a 114 wRC+ with 30 homers and 91 driven in. It just looked a little different last season.
Even with the barking elbow last year, he mustered up four defensive runs saved and 11 outs above average as well in just 105 games at third base. He’s still a beast, I’m just chalking up 2023 as an outlier down year until proven otherwise.
5. Isaac Paredes – Tampa Bay Rays
I feel like the Rays do this often, no?
Last year, he eclipsed the 30-homer plateau for the first time in his career, as well as the four-win plateau and, nearly, the 100-RBI plateau.
He’s a phenomenal ballplayer, which must annoy a lot of fans around the game who are sick of the Rays spawning great players out of thin air. While Paredes was certainly no slouch with the stick as a minor leaguer, he never appeared to be this potent a home run source.
To make things even crazier, he’s only 25, so there’s a good chance last year is just the start of a run of greatness from the Rays’ corner infielder.
4. Rafael Devers – Boston Red Sox
It’s pretty crazy how a down year for someone results in a Silver Slugger, 3.1 fWAR, a 124 wRC+, 33 homers and 100 driven in. And yet, that’s how people view the 2023 campaign for Devers (myself included).
I think it’s safe to say the $300 million man won’t ever qualify for a Gold Glove at third base but that bat plays big time. Even amidst his down year, he had a .380 xwOBA, which ranked 12th among qualifying hitters regardless of position.
I don’t really care about defense as it pertains to Devers. His bat is too valuable to rank him any lower than No. 4.
3. Alex Bregman – Houston Astros
Bregman is one of the pinnacles of consistency at the position which, like the case with Paredes and the Rays, must bug a lot of non-Astros fans.
While he’s not an MVP-caliber player anymore, he’s still posted nearly 10 fWAR the past two seasons with well above-average offensive output. His defense is still more than passable as well. He’s not going anywhere.
2. José Ramírez – Cleveland Guardians
This is a Nos. 1 and 1A kind of deal for the third base crown. But, for the sake of the ranking, Ramírez comes in second barely.
He’s posted at least five wins above replacement six times in the last eight years and was well on the way to making it seven out of eight if 2020 was a full season.
He’s great at everything. He hits the ball hard, he hits it out of the ballpark, he hits for average, he’s a good defender and an elite baserunner. He sort of gets lost in the shuffle because the Guardians aren’t the team they were in the mid-2010s, but he quietly just maintains elite production in what I imagine will be a Hall of Fame career when all is said and done.
1. Austin Riley – Atlanta Braves
I just couldn’t overlook the fact Riley outpaced Ramírez in fWAR, rWAR, slugging, wRC+, wOBA and defensive runs saved last season.
He’s a machine and the Atlanta Braves will be happy with Riley at their hot corner for years. While Ramírez has the pedigree, Riley is younger with a likelier alleyway to ascension as a player. While Ramírez is certainly an elite player, there’s no true telling when he will start to decline.
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