July 14, 2017

RotoBaller's updated fantasy baseball second base (2B) rankings and tiers for July, looking at rest of season ranks.

With the first half of the season in the books, it’s time for one last RotoBaller rankings update. As with our May edition, these rest-of-season rankings come from yours truly and my esteemed colleague Nick Mariano. We’ll tackle each position individually. Today, we continue our tour of the infield with a look at the keystone.

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2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Second Basemen (Midseason Update)

Midseason Second Base Rankings Analysis

Early in my tenure here at RotoBaller, I wrote a Bold Predictions column for the 2015 season. This piece contains one of the most incorrect things I have ever said in my life (and believe me, there's stiff competition there). It concerns Jose Altuve, who had just won a batting title and stolen 56 bases. I was not convinced that this breakout was legitimate, and pointed out that Altuve's performance in the prior two seasons basically made him "Jeff Keppinger with wheels." Well, Altuve is now a superstar and the unquestioned #1 option at second base, and Keppinger hasn't played a professional baseball game since. Anyway, now that I've reminded you to never listen to my advice, here are several hundred words of it.

Nick and I mostly agree on the alpha dogs, but he has Dee Gordon significantly lower on his board. Speed being the scarce commodity that it is, Gordon's 32 stolen bases are incredibly valuable. He's one of only four players with more than 20 steals at the break. Trea Turner is hurt, Cameron Maybin probably will be soon, and Billy Hamilton still couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. Gordon makes up for his complete uselessness in HR and RBI by being an asset in the other three standard categories, and is elite in the one category that's toughest to find in today's game.

The second tier finds us mostly in lockstep again, though I'm much less enamored of Jean Segura, Starlin Castro, and DJ LeMahieu than my counterpart in this exercise. Segura is hitting .349, but that's thanks to a .399 BABIP he has no hope of maintaining. His production in the other categories has fallen off considerably from last season's breakout performance, particularly his work on the base paths. Segura swiped 33 bags in 2016, but he's just 9-for-16 this year and is coming off a high ankle sprain. Castro is likewise benefiting from some batted ball fortune, as he's hitting .313 with peripherals that have barely budged from last season, when he hit .270. He also is currently dealing with a hamstring injury and hasn't homered in a month. As for LeMahieu, he's taken a step back after winning a batting title last year. He's still good for a .300 average, but is well off last season's 104-run pace and has just four homers and four steals to his name.

We're diametrically opposed in the two-man third tier, though my personal convictions are by no means strong here. Both Ian Kinsler and Jason Kipnis could bounce back from subpar first halves. Or, they could both continue to be bad. Neither outcome would come as a shock. Given my track record with forecasting Kipnis, you're probably better off betting on Kinsler here.

Moving into MI territory in standard leagues, my quarrel with Pedroia is the same as with LeMahieu. Great batting average, what else ya got? I'm giving Jedd Gyorko's .300 average some serious side-eye, while Nick refuses to get on the Scooter (Gennett bandwagon). Gennett's definitely not this good, but he's flashed usefulness before and appears to have made some legitimate adjustments for added pop. Plus, if you play in a league with more lax positional requirements, he's also eligible at third base and in the outfield. I'm also a bit higher on Jed Lowrie, despite his injury history. Not sure how a 10/10 first half doesn't get Josh Harrison into Nick's top 350, but Joe "Zero-Cat Contributor" Panik makes the cut. I've been a Ben Zobrist fan since before it was cool, but he's looked super old this year - give me the new model (Logan Forsythe) instead, despite his own struggles.

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