X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Compare Any Players
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Jon Anderson's Early Second Base Tiers & Rankings for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Marcus Semien - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS and Betting Picks

Jon Anderson gives his early second base rankings for 2023 fantasy baseball. Who should you draft high and whose value has gone lower than expected?

Welcome back RotoBallers to my early 2023 fantasy baseball second base rankings and projections. Today we are onto the second base position in my early positional ranks and tiers posts. So far, we have hit up catcher and first base, read those below:

Second base has long been a tough position to fill in fantasy baseball, but in recent years, things have strengthened a bit. I wouldn't call it a deep position yet, and there is not a single top-20 overall pick at the position, but there are strong options pretty far down the list.

Nothing more to say in the introduction, let's get to Tier 1.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

 

Tier 1 - Best Available

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Marcus Semien TEX 1 1 643 97 25 66 21 .250
Ozzie Albies ATL 2 1 555 69 18 69 17 .246
Jazz Chisholm Jr. MIA 3 1 587 85 29 72 36 .256

You could argue that Semien and Albies have had first-round caliber seasons in recent years, but they never actually project that way - and that's true again this year. Semien is great across the board, but he depends a ton on the volume of PAs for his fantasy production (he's not elite in anything, but good in everything - so when he plays 162 games as a lead-off hitter, he will inevitably turn in a great rotisserie season). The risk here is that he finally hits the IL and falls a bit shy of the lofty heights he's reached recently in scoring runs and stealing bags.

There's no reason to not think this ironman will play a full year, and he's locked in as the lead-off man in a capable lineup. With Albies having some injury-related concerns, Semien leap-frogs him for the top second baseman for me in 2023.

Albies and Chisholm are close to Semien in my estimation, and they get drafted significantly later. We are seeing a steep discount on Albies this year after all of the injury problems he had last year. Those concerns aren't really convincing me, however, as he came back late in the year from his original foot injury but then broke a finger. Finger breaks aren't a long-term concern, of course, so I'm willing to believe Albies will be 100% in 2023. That means he should put up some really great counting stat numbers in a loaded Braves lineup. This guy is just one year removed from a 30-20 season, let's not forget that!

My #3 here might make some waves, as I'm sliding Chisholm into Tier 1 territory. I just love his power and speed ability, very few hitters have the skills he has. I'm also not going to ding him too much for his injury history; to me, it's too early in his career for that. If he plays a full year, I don't see how he doesn't easily go 25-25 with a "fine" at worst batting average, and that's a Tier 1 bat.

 

Tier 2 - A Lone Stro

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Jose Altuve HOU 4 2 641 110 28 76 15 .278

Altuve certainly projects as a Tier 1 guy here, but I'm dinging him because of his age and questions about his power and speed. That said, he didn't have any trouble in 2022 as at the age of 32. He scored 103 runs, hit 28 homers, stole 18 bags, and hit .300. That's one of the better seasons of his Hall of Fame career.

The Astros lineup certainly allows a huge run projection here, and he's shown the ability to pull enough fly balls to easily get into the twenties in homers. The bigger bases and pickoff restrictions will probably get him above a dozen steals again in 2023 with ease, so there's no reason to not expect another great fantasy season from Altuve.

 

Tier 3 - Huge Upside with Risk

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Trevor Story BOS 5 3 614 75 23 74 23 .232
Andres Gimenez CLE 6 3 578 66 12 74 28 .279
Brandon Lowe TB 7 3 567 70 27 81 6 .232

You're giving up something at this point. Story had a brutal time with the strikeout and the batting average in his first year away from Coors, but still turned in 16 homers and 13 steals in just a bit more than a half season. With a full season of PAs and a slight improvement in whiffs (this is likely), he's an easy 20-20 player with a .240+ batting average. That would make him a perfectly good pick where he's being drafted, but it's hard not to hesitate a little bit after what we saw last year.

Then you have your young riser in Gimenez, who had a great season in 2022 but still fell a little bit short in homers with 17. The 21 steals were nice, and the .295 batting average was great. The projections have him losing some homers here, which is probably because of the 6% barrel rate we saw last year. Not a ton of swing speed here, but Gimenez could easily turn in a 20-20 season with a .290 batting average, so I'm perfectly happy to draft him where he's at.

The biggest discount of the year might be Brandon Lowe, who lost most of his 2022 season to injury. The Rays say he's healthy now, and I'm prone to believe them - but the fantasy community doesn't seem to fully buy into it as his ADP has fallen a ton. I'm happy to take the discount here since Lowe has proven to be one of the game's most consistent home run hitters since 2018.

 

Tier 4 - Late Talent

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Jorge Polanco MIN 8 4 594 77 25 81 10 .246
Max Muncy LAD 9 4 547 75 24 87 2 .235
Tommy Edman STL 10 4 621 92 10 63 37 .263
Gleyber Torres NYY 11 4 593 88 19 61 16 .266
Jonathan India CIN 12 4 656 70 15 60 11 .237
Ketel Marte ARI 13 4 620 82 16 70 5 .267

This is a pretty great tier as well. I think all of these names are starting-caliber second basemen in 2023, although they could certainly all find a way to fail (as they all have in the past). My favorite of the bunch is Polanco, who turned in a bad 2022 but the underlying numbers don't give us much to worry about.

 

Max Muncy could be a big beneficiary of the shift ban, and we still have lots of upside in those talented bats of Torres, Marte, and India. I love taking a player from this tier here - they're all great values at their ADP.

 

Tier 5 - Category Specialists

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Jeff McNeil NYM 14 5 622 69 9 77 5 .294
Thairo Estrada SF 15 5 577 72 12 50 20 .258
Luis Arraez MIN 16 5 639 85 9 58 4 .306
Josh Rojas ARI 17 5 519 59 10 66 18 .257
Gavin Lux LAD 18 5 537 65 11 64 8 .266
Vaughn Grissom ATL 19 5 405 58 11 51 14 .275
Nick Gordon MIN 20 5 355 42 13 42 12 .273
Christopher Morel CHC 21 5 477 53 16 52 14 .232
Brendan Rodgers COL 22 5 551 62 14 61 0 .260

We lose most of the power at this point, as none of these guys projects near 20 homers. Despite that, some guys here get it done with steals (Estrada, Rojas, Grissom?), and plenty of them offer a strong batting average (McNeil, Arraez, Lux). The most interesting of the bunch are the two young guys, Nick Gordon and Christopher Morel.

Gordon put up a pretty exciting 2022 season, going for a .271/.312/.426 line with a useful 9.7% barrel rate and a 45% hard-hit rate. Morel posted an elite 13.4% barrel rate but it came with a high strikeout rate of 32%. I really like taking a shot at Gordon this year (the PA projection here is admittedly too low, but I think he'll find his way to near everyday playing time - especially if he comes out of the gate hitting well), and I'm perfectly happy with Morel late in the draft as a guy you can at the very least squeeze some homers out of.

 

Tier 6

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Jake Cronenworth SD 23 6 629 70 15 78 3 .228
Luis Garcia WSH 24 6 484 52 15 51 3 .253
Whit Merrifield TOR 25 6 522 65 8 61 27 .244

We are approaching the point where players maybe shouldn't be drafted in standard leagues. Cronenwoth really doesn't contribute well in any category, and he will certainly not be a top-of-the-order bat in 2023, which makes him very interesting. Whit Merrifield's steal rate is slowing and the playing time is uncertain.

Luis Garcia is the most interesting of the trio, as a young hitter that puts a lot of balls in play and can hit the ball pretty hard. The 15-homer projection here is pretty strong for just 484 PAs, he could feasibly end up being a 20-homer guy if he can lift the ball a bit more, and his batting average should stay at least decent since had doesn't strike out a ton and hits the ball with good velocity.

 

Tier 7

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Kolten Wong SEA 26 7 521 59 14 58 18 .241
Jon Berti MIA 27 7 382 43 7 42 34 .227
Chris Taylor LAD 28 7 569 69 16 67 15 .223
Luis Urias MIL 29 7 557 62 19 62 3 .235
DJ LeMahieu NYY 30 7 493 64 7 63 5 .249

Not a lot here. You could see Chris Taylor and DJ LeMahieu having a useful season, but there are playing time and health concerns (major health concerns with LeMahieu right now). Wong and Urias just don't seem to be fantasy-relevant at this point, and with the increase in steals likely coming this year, Berti's one-category production seems like a bad idea for a fantasy pick.

And there you have it, 30 second basemen ranked and tiered. Let me know what you think!



Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!



More Fantasy Baseball Advice




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Compare Any Players
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Yordan Alvarez

Resumes Swinging -- Return Imminent?
Jake Burger

to Miss an Additional 2-3 Weeks
TreVeyon Henderson

Signs Rookie Contract
Christian Watson

Goes on PUP List
Austin Riley

Hopes to be Activated Next Week
Ketel Marte

Lands on Restricted List After Burglary
Ricky Pearsall

Heads to PUP List
Brandon Aiyuk

Placed on PUP List
Luther Burden III

Signs Rookie Deal
Washington Nationals

Eli Willits Expected to Sign Contract on Saturday
Grayson Rodriguez

Being Shut Down Again - Will We See Him Again This Year?
Ezequiel Tovar

Activated and Back in Lineup on Friday
Max Fried

"Hopeful" to Pitch Next Week - Looks Like He'll Avoid IL Stint
Steven Kwan

Receives Injection in Wrist, Considered Day-to-Day
CJ Abrams

Back to Start Second Half
Alec Bohm

Back From Rib Injury on Friday
Trey Hendrickson

Holdout to Spill into Regular Season?
Jalen McMillan

Bucs Offensive Coordinator Not Forgetting About Jalen McMillan
Levi Onwuzurike

to Miss at Least Four Games
Nick Emmanwori

Seahawks, Nick Emmanwori Reach Agreement on Rookie Deal
Max Holloway

Set For Main Event
Brandon Lowe

Back From 10-Day Injured List
Dustin Poirier

Set For His Final UFC Fight
Roman Kopylov

Set For Co-Main Event
Paulo Costa

Returns At UFC 318
Luis L. Ortiz

to Remain on Leave for Another Month - Will he Pitch Again?
Daniel Rodriguez

Looks For Third Win In A Row
Kevin Holland

Set For His Fourth Fight This Year
Dan Ige

Looks To Win Back-To-Back Fights
MMA

Patricio Freire Set For His Second UFC Fight
Daniel Zellhuber

Set To Open Up UFC 318 Main Card
Michael Johnson

Looks For Third Consecutive Win
Elijah Arroyo

Signs Rookie Deal
Jaydon Blue

Described as "Borderline Lazy"
T.J. Sanders

Bills Sign T.J. Sanders to Rookie Deal
Christian Wilkins

Raiders Put Christian Wilkins on PUP List
Jabari Small

Lions Add Jabari Small to Backfield
Quinshon Judkins

Remains Unsigned, Won't Report With Rest of Rookies
Mason Taylor

Agrees to Rookie Contract with Jets
Hendon Hooker

Leading Lions QB2 Battle Entering Training Camp
Ozzy Trapilo

Agrees to Rookie Contract with Bears
Tate Ratledge

Agrees to Rookie Contract with Lions
Jack Bech

Signs Rookie Contract with Raiders
Yegor Chinakhov

Requests Trade
Dakota Joshua

Maple Leafs Acquire Dakota Joshua
Lukas Dostal

Signs Five-Year Extension with Ducks
Shemar Stewart

Not Practicing With College Team
Eugenio Suárez

Eugenio Suarez Expected Back Friday
Damian Lillard

Returning to Portland
Paul Skenes

Pirates Could Preserve Paul Skenes in Second Half
Brooks Barnhizer

Grabs 19 Points, Nine Boards in Summer League Win
Jeremiah Fears

Scores 22 Points in Summer League Loss to Thunder
Isaiah Collier

Collects 17 Points In Summer League Win
Caleb Houstan

Joins Hawks
AJ Johnson

Erupts for 25 Points in Summer League Loss
Washington Wizards

Leaky Black Logs Double-Double in Loss to Jazz
Connor Norby

Undergoes Surgery, Expected to Miss 6-8 Weeks
Trey Alexander

Tallies 25 Points in Losing Effort
Johni Broome

Records Second Consecutive Double-Double
Jahmir Young

Has Historic Summer League Outing
Rob Dillingham

Plays Big Role in Wednesday's Win
Tyrese Proctor

Erupts for 35 Points Against Kings
Cody Williams

Leads Jazz to Victory Against Wizards
LeBron James

Mavs Not Interested in "Gutting its Roster" For LeBron James
Josh Hart

Undergoes a Procedure on Right Finger
Jake Burger

Goes on 10-Day Injured List With Quad Strain
Sal Frelick

Dealing With Grade 1 Hamstring Strain, TBD for Start of Second Half
Chris Sale

Plays Catch
Los Angeles Clippers

Bradley Beal Heading to Los Angeles to Join Clippers After Contract Buyout
Rayan Rupert

Scores 24 Points in Summer League Win
Derik Queen

Collects Third Consecutive Double-Double in Summer League Loss
GG Jackson II

Records 13 Points in Summer League Action on Tuesday
Johni Broome

Logs Double-Double Against Wizards
DaRon Holmes II

Records Double-Double in Summer League Loss to Raptors
Kyle Schwarber

Named All-Star Game MVP
Harris English

Takes Stellar 2025 Performance to The Open Championship
Aldrich Potgieter

Seeks Better Result in Northern Ireland
Cameron Young

Likely to Hang Around at The Open Championship
Cameron Smith

Just Trying to Make the Cut at Royal Portrush
Jordan Spieth

Is Jordan Spieth Still a Natural for Links Style Golf?
Patrick Reed

a Viable Option at The Open Championship
PGA

Sungjae Im Wants to Rebound from Last Experience at Royal Portrush
Xander Schauffele

Looks to Defend His Claret Jug at Royal Portrush
Tony Finau

Trying to Turn Tide at Royal Portrush
Daniel Brown

Seeks a Rebound at The Open Championship
Rory McIlroy

Will be the Most Watched Player This Week at Royal Portrush
Daniel Berger

Trending Poorly as The Open Championship Looms
Clayton Kershaw

Retires Both Batters In ASG Appearance
Robert MacIntyre

Hoping to Bounce Back at Open Championship
Shane Lowry

Hopes to Repeat at Royal Portrush
Brian Harman

Hopes to Rekindle Some Magic at the 153rd Open
UTA

Michael Carcone Returns to Utah on One-Year Contract
Bowen Byram

Signs Two-Year Deal with Sabres
Morgan Barron

Jets Re-Sign Morgan Barron for Two Years
PGA

Chris Gotterup Punches Ticket to Royal Portrush With Win at Scottish Open
Bryson DeChambeau

Hopes to Reverse Links Golf Struggle at the 153rd Open
Keegan Bradley

Needs to Find The Weekend at Royal Portrush for Ryder Cup Hopes
Justin Thomas

Finishes Tied For 22nd at Genesis Scottish Open
Scottie Scheffler

Finishes Tied For Eighth at Genesis Scottish Open
Jon Rahm

Finishes in Second at LIV Andalucia
Tallison Teixeira

Suffers First-Round TKO
Derrick Lewis

Scores First-Round TKO
Stephen Thompson

Loses Controversial Split Decision
Gabriel Bonfim

Wins Controversial Split Decision
Calvin Kattar

Gets Outclassed At UFC Nashville
Steve Garcia

Extends His Win Streak
Nate Landwehr

Gets Knocked Out
Morgan Charrière

Morgan Charriere Scores Third-Round Knockout
Austen Lane

Suffers Submission Loss
Vitor Petrino

Scores First-Round Submission In Heavyweight Debut
Tuco Tokkos

Earns His First UFC Win
Chase Elliott

Charges to A Finish of Third At Sonoma
Chase Briscoe

Finishes Second With his First Career Road-Course Top-Five at Sonoma
Christopher Bell

Rollercoaster Day Ends With Top-5 Finish at Sonoma
William Byron

Maintains the Regular-Season Points Lead
Kyle Busch

Earns A Hard-Fought Top-10 Finish At Sonoma
Alex Ovechkin

Not Thinking About Retirement
PIT

Penguins Acquire Arturs Silovs
NHL

Nikolai Kovalenko Returns to Russia
Tyler Reddick

Evades Near Upset to Remain Alive in In-Season Challenge
Ty Gibbs

One of Three Tylers to Make In-Season Challenge Semifinals
Kyle Larson

Curiously Mediocre at Sonoma Before Late-Race Crash
NASCAR

John H. Nemechek Edges Out Teammate to Make In-Season Challenge Semifinal
Alex Bowman

Ty Dillon Bumps Alex Bowman to Advance to In-Season Challenge Semifinal
Shane Van Gisbergen

Can Anyone Beat Shane van Gisbergen at Sonoma?
Tyler Reddick

Better at Sonoma Than Record Shows
Chase Elliott

a Prime DFS Option at Sonoma
Michael McDowell

Struggling a Bit at Sonoma
NASCAR

Christopher Bell Has Never Finished Better Than Ninth at Sonoma
Ryan Blaney

Has Top-10 Upside at Sonoma
NASCAR

Sunday at Sonoma Will Likely Be a Long Race for Bubba Wallace
Kyle Larson

Is A Likely Top-Five Contender for Sonoma
Ryan Preece

Points Position Could Affect Race at Sonoma
Todd Gilliland

Struggling to Find Speed at Sonoma
Ty Gibbs

May be an Underrated Favorite to Compete for the Win at Sonoma
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF