Position players report to camps in the upcoming days. Baseball season is back! Second base has become more of a skilled position recently, and offensively second basemen have been providing more and more production. Here are the top second basemen in Major League Baseball today.
2018’s Top Second Basemen in MLB
10 Javier Baez
Baez is on this list in large part for his stellar lockdown defense. He is yet to take home a Gold Glove, but certainly will some day soon. Javy also took some major positive strides at the plate in 2017. He hit a career high 23 home runs and 24 doubles, while slashing .273/.317/.480. At 25, Baez is only going to keep improving.
9 DJ Lemahieu
Lemahieu is a gamer, he puts the ball in play. Over his career, he is a .302 hitter with 879 hits in seven seasons. Lemahieu is consistently hovering near the top in hits and batting average. After winning a batting title by hitting .348 in 2016, Lemahieu hit .310 in 2017. The home/road splits are a bit separated (.333 H, .270 A), though Lemahieu is still a consistent on base threat.
8 Dee Gordon
The only way to describe Gordon’s game is straight pure speed. He led the league in stolen bases for the third time in his career in 2017, with 60 stolen bases. For his career, Gordon has a total of 278 stolen bases in seven years. Gordon is also a tremendous leadoff hitter as he always seems to find a way on base. In 2017, the speedster hit .308. Despite the expected move to center, Gordon has been a second baseman his whole career, hence the involvement on this list.
7 Rougned Odor
In his third year in the league, “Roughie” had his first season to forget. Appearing in every game, Odor hit .204 with 30 home runs, 21 doubles, and 75 RBI’s. Though, Odor did have the lowest batting average on balls in play amongst qualifiers. The 25 year old certainly has loads of ability. He’ll certainly bounce back after a tough luck 2017 campaign.
6 Jonathan Schoop
Schoop completely broke out in 2017, his fifth year in the league. He set career highs in batting average (.293), home runs (32), hits (182), and runs (92). At only 25, Schoop has plenty of room and time to grow. He is very quickly developing into one of the top second basemen in all of baseball.
5 Brian Dozier
Dozier is a pure power hitter, as he has hit 42 and 34 home runs the past two seasons. He broke out in 2015, making his first All-Sat game and has risen since. In 2017, Dozier hit a career high .271 with 30 doubles and 34 home runs. Brian Dozier’s power is going to help the Twins rise.
4 Daniel Murphy
Daniel Murphy has been a consistent offensive performer his whole career. However, it wasn’t until his 2015 playoff performance that he got noticed. After that, in 2016 he completely broke out with the Nationals. Since joining Washington, Murph is a .334/.387/..569 hitter with 48 home runs, 90 doubles, and 197 RBI’s. He has won a Silver Slugger the past two years, and has finished in the Top-20 in MVP voting.
3 Robinson Cano
Robbie Cano owns one of the sweetest left handed swings in the game. He is easily one of the best offensive second basemen in the league today. Cano does it all, as he hits for both power and average. He is a career .305 hitter with 301 home runs, 512 doubles, and 1,183 RBI’s. The 13 year veteran is a five time Silver Slugger, an eight time All Star, and a two time Gold Glove winner.
2 Jose Ramirez
Receiving regular playing time the past two years, Ramirez has enjoyed stellar 2016 and 2017 campaigns. At only 24 years old, Ramirez has become one of the brightest young stars in the game. In 2017, Ramirez finished third in AL MVP voting after hitting .318 with 56 doubles, 29 home runs, and 83 RBI’s. Jose Ramirez is going to shine in the league for a long time.
1 Jose Altuve
Altuve is the 2017 AL MVP, and the best and most consistent performer in baseball today. He has led the league in hits and taken home a Silver Slugger each of the past four years, is a three time batting champ, and a two time stolen base champ. Altuve has also developed some power, despite being one of the smallest players in the game today. Altuve is rightfully so the next face of baseball.
Check out our 2017 version of the top second basemen in baseball from last year here!
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