He ranks ninth on Fangraphs WAR for all offensive players and 12th on Baseball-Reference. Nolan Arenado /.9718/, 5. This incident ruined fan perception of Alomar for better or for worse. Not all historians will call him the best defensive second baseman in history, but they will almost all call him one of the 10 best ever. Teams: New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets. Let's begin with the long ball. Some will balk at Canos inclusion on the list, given his two suspensions for PED use. I remember reading something that Bill James had written about Jody Reed. He won the College World Series twice at USC. Bottom line: Jody Reed made his major league debut in 1987 with the Boston Red Sox as a shortstop, but switched to second base in 1989. Those were his only .300 seasons, but he had many other years he could have won an MVP award: He drew an astonishing number of walks, was one of most efficient base stealers of all time, won five Gold Gloves and had a power at a time when few second basemen did. He was the all-time home run leader among second baseman until Jeff Kent passed him. Jody Reed (1990s) offensive rating: C -. Cano has not officially retired, but after being cut by the Mets and Padres this season, he may not get another chance. Offense and defense? Philadelphia Phillies (1896-1900), Philadelphia A's ('01-02, '15-16), Cleveland Bronchos ('02), Cleveland Naps ('03-14), Honors Collins career would last another 23 seasons before he eventually retired in 1930. Former Yankees captains on what awaits Aaron Judge, Angelos says Orioles staying put, scolds reporter, Sources: Cubs, 1B Mancini agree on 2-year deal, Padres give 16-year-old catching prospect $5.6M, Jays bullpen coach Buschmann stepping down, Alonso: Mets on the brink of something special, Cubs to honor Sandberg, who sees issue for Sosa. He hit .400 three times, including .424 in 1924, and .358 lifetime. Pedroias Baseball Reference War is 51.6 compared to 51.1 for Doerr. Nicknamed "The Frenchman," Nap Lajoie was one of the best hitters and second basemen of the early part of the 20th century. What we do know is that Cano owns the second-highest OPS among second basemen whove played in the last 50 years (first was Jeff Kent, in case youre wondering). Yes, he broke in as a first baseman and rarely played second base over the final four seasons of his 10-year career, but Robinson was a second baseman in four of his six All-Star seasons, including his NL MVP-winning year of 1949. Mets top 5 >, Nationals: Jos Vidro, 1997-2004 (Expos/Nationals)Key fact: Vidro leads all second basemen in franchise history with a 16.5 bWARThe switch-hitting Vidro played for the Expos and Nationals for 10 of his 12 Major League seasons, slashing .301/.363/.459 with an .821 OPS, 1,280 hits, 550 RBIs and 115 home runs during that time. The first is Bobby Grich. 1. Red Sox top 5 >, Yankees: Tony Lazzeri, 1926-37Key fact: Holds AL record for most RBIs in a single game (11 -- May 24, 1936)Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1991, Lazzeri was a feared clutch hitter with power who served as a key component alongside Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the fabled Murderers Row lineups for the Yankees. Well, Grich has that, too. Anthony Rendon /.9715/, 6.Brooks Robinson+ . During the 2012 season, Barney committed just two errors, and tied the major league record for consecutive errorless games at second base with 141. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Pitcher GIFS Inc. All Rights Reserved. He went to four consecutive World Series with the club from 1921 through 1924, coming out a winner in the first two. Bottom line: Neil Walker was drafted by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 2004 draft, and made his debut with the Pirates in 2009. Career Fld% Leaders:1.Placido Polanco/.9834/, 2.Mike Lowell/.9743/, 3. And he was the best the Rays have ever had. Padres top 5 >, Rockies: DJ LeMahieu, 2012-18Key facts: He was a two-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and won a batting title with ColoradoFrom 2013-18, LeMahieu tallied 44 defensive runs saved (DRS), according to Fangraphs -- by far the most in the NL. Zobrist was named MVP of the 2016 World Series. I think so, maybe similar in style to Ichiro Suzuki, except playing a different position. The Big Red Machine also made it to the World Series that year, losing in seven games to the Oakland As. Teams: Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals. Hornsby's 127.1 WAR is the ninth-highest score all . For his efforts, Marte finished fourth in the NL MVP race. -- Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN.com senior writer, Honors I was surprised Ryno didnt make it too. However, his biggest fight came when he jumped his contract with the Phillies to join the insurgent American League Athletics in 1901. All-Star game appearances, MVP awards, and seasons where the player finished in the Top Ten in MVP voting covered the honors. He has been mythologized, but if anything, he was exceptionally -- and an exceptional -- human. In 1962 he was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. In his first season with Cincinnati, Morgan led the league in runs, walks, and OBP; and finished fourth in the MVP voting. As an up the middle position, defense was a more significant factor for second base than first base, though offense was still the primary driver. He won 10 Gold Gloves while, oh by the way, hitting .300 with speed AND power. And he did most of it under the most trying of circumstances. A teammate of Randal Grichuk on the Colorado Rockies, C.J. That's all there is, right? He wasn't a failure offensively, but he was certainly below average, unfortunately. His uniform and cleats were sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame after he became the first player to accomplish a unique feat in two different games: hit three home runs, knock in seven RBI and steal two bases. -- Rob Peterson, ESPN.com senior MLB editor, Teams He helped lead the Dodgers (the Brooklyn version) to the borough's only World Series title. It doesnt make sense, in our opinion, for most of the great baseball players to have played prior to World War II, when MLB was segregated. Carew was an all-star for an incredible 18 consecutive years, starting with his rookie year in 1967. This week, we bring you the Top 10 at each position. Teams: Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants. His offensive numbers werent quite as good as Cano & Alomar, but if there was a way to quantify leadership, hed probably leap both of them! He could run, hit, hit for power, and play stellar defense. Still, he'll be totally fine and a top-three second baseman in . -- Mark Simon, ESPN Stats & Info, Honors The three-time Gold Glove Award winner made the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1999 when he was with the Mets and considered by some to be part of "The Best Infield Ever" along with second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, shortstop Rey Ordonez and third baseman Robin Ventura. Teams: Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers. I just love that old quote from Hano. He played for seven franchises but is best known for his stints with the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Indians. In 1997, MLB retired the number 42, which Robinson wore, across all of baseball. There it is. Though never a star, Hardy certainly left his mark as one of the finest defensive shortstops of his time. The contribution to championship teams (player performance in seasons where his team wins the pennant) is a small factor in most cases. Bottom line: After being drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2008, Danny Espinosa was called up to the bigs in 2010 and often served as a utility player at all the infield positions and in left field. Royals top 5 >, Tigers: Charlie Gehringer, 1924-42Key fact: 78.6 career fWAR ranks fifth all-time among MLB second basemenBorn and raised in Michigan, Gehringer played his entire 19-year career in Detroit, where his consistent greatness earned him the nickname The Mechanical Man. The Hall of Famer batted .306 or better in 13 of his 16 full Major League seasons, led the league in games played four times, played at least 150 games in nine seasons, and posted a .900+ OPS eight times. I think his system is flawless, except he puts too much weight on Length of Career, but that's another article. 1. Do you want big names? .300/.371/.443, OPS -- .814, Hits -- 2,724, HRs -- 210, RBIs -- 1,134, It took Pat Gillick about only three hours -- not even enough time to write up a press release -- to trade for Alomar, who became the cornerstone of the Blue Jays' back-to-back World Series champs in 1992-93. He pretty much got the job done offensively, ever so slightly below average. All he did his sophomore season was bat .342, win a silver slugger, and play in the all-star game. Way-way-too-early 2023 MLB All-Stars: Predicting full rosters for both the AL and NL, 28 days, 3 teams -- and countless twists: Inside the Carlos Correa free agency saga, Pride, power and complaining about bad airplane food? McPhee also recorded 529 putouts in 1886, a Major League record which still stands; no one else is within 40 putouts"-Bill James, respected baseball historian/Godfather of Sabermetrics and the modern rating system, 2002. In 1996, Morandini excelled in the field, participating in 87 double plays while making just six errors good for a .990 fielding percentage. His defensive rating on Fangraphs leads all second basemen all-time with over 1,000 plate appearances. 4 -- Philadelphia (1910-11, '13), Chicago ('17), Career stats That and the trips to the World Series tip the decision in favor of Kinsler. Thus, in addition to career WAR, we looked at WAR7 (seven best seasons), WAR/162 (Avg WAR per season), and the number of seasons the player was among the WAR leaders in the league. In 1949, seven years after he played his last game, Gehringer was elected to the Hall of Fame. Nap Lajoie 6. Kent, a career .290 hitter, holds the all-time record for most home runs by a second baseman with 351 (out of 377). .320/.404/.480, OPS -- .884, Hits -- 2,839, HRs -- 184, RBIs -- 1,427, They called him The Mechanical Man, a tribute to his consistency. 3. How close was it? The 26-year-old is coming off his first career Gold Glove award, making him one of the top defensive players in the league. Bottom line: Brandon Phillips was an All-Star three times, and over a long major league career, he won four Gold Glove Awards and one Silver Slugger Award. Somehow, a quiet top-tier Hall-of-Fame second baseman because he was Ted Williams' teammate in Boston. 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