Rays top 5 >, Red Sox: Dustin Pedroia, 2006-presentKey fact: Only player to win MVP Award, Rookie of the Year Award, World Series title and Gold Glove Award within first two MLB seasonsHonestly, what a tough call this was. A broken finger finally forced him to wear a glove in 1896, and that year he fielded .978, a record fielding percentage for a second baseman until well into the 1900s. When it comes to the top three second baseman on our list of the Top 10 MLB Second Baseman All-Time Rankings, each is deserving of the top spot. "Frisch can knock down more balls with his elbows, knees, chest and head, and by dint of his fleet recovery throw out the runner, than any nine men we know"-Gordon Mackay, respected baseball historian, 1924. I guess that makes him an A + overall at Second Base. In 1997, MLB retired the number 42, which Robinson wore, across all of baseball. 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? He was then forced to apologize, he was allowed to call his Mother (upon his request) and then he was re-hired. The Tigers popped Jung with the 12th pick in last July's draft by way of Texas Tech. Lajoie was a fierce competitor, often getting into it with umpires. During the Yankees' 2009 championship season, Cano hit 20 home runs and notched 204 hits (first among all second basemen that year). You know, before we realized they would float if dropped into the Hudson River, like Derek Jeter's Gold Gloves float. Bottom line: Kudos to a player who never exactly excelled in the major leagues, but crafted a 15-year career with six different teams, playing both second base and shortstop. 2 jersey retired in '76 and has a sculpture with shortstop Luis Aparicio on the Guaranteed Rate Field concourse. .320/.404/.480, OPS -- .884, Hits -- 2,839, HRs -- 184, RBIs -- 1,427, They called him The Mechanical Man, a tribute to his consistency. Then, he played his entire 10-year major league career with the Baltimore Orioles and won a World Series in 1983. Bottom line: Jose Oquendo primarily played second base and shortstop, but made at least one appearance at every position during his major league career. Over that span, The Mechanical Man would lead the league in games four times; hits, runs, and doubles twice; and triples, stolen bases, and batting average once. His defensive rating on Fangraphs leads all second basemen all-time with over 1,000 plate appearances. Angels top 5 >, Astros: Craig Biggio, 1988-2007Key fact: Franchises all-time leader in games, hits, runs, total bases, doubles, extra-base hitsDrafted as a catcher, Biggio made the move to second base in 1992 and went on to win four Gold Glove Awards and four Silver Sluggers at the position. Anyway, most of you know that Bill James pretty much invented the Win Shares system, which so many take as gospel. Zobrist was named MVP of the 2016 World Series. Teams: Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers. Bottom line: Joe Panik was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2011 and didnt get called up until the 2014 season. Orioles top 5 >, Rays: Ben Zobrist, 2006-14Key fact: Two-time All-StarZobrist played all over the field during his time with the Rays, but the position he played the most was second base, so well label him as a second baseman. Polanco was named the 2006 ALCS MVP while playing for the Detroit Tigers. Herr played on three World Series teams and won with the Cardinals in 1982. It might be the only number as big as the game itself. Extrapolate that to an entire season, and you have an MVP candidate. He pretty much got the job done offensively, too. He is one of seven players in MLB history to win consecutive World Series titles with different teams: the Kansas City Royals in 2015 and the Chicago Cubs in 2016. Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, New Yor Yankees. In 2004, he scored the last-ever run for the Montreal Expos, before they relocated to Washington, D.C. No one loves a good debate quite like baseball fans, and with that in mind, we asked each of our beat reporters to rank the top five players by position in the history of their franchise, based on each player's career with that franchise. Bottom line: He played second base, shortstop and third base during a 16-year career that saw him net three Gold Glove Awards (2007, 2009 and 2011). NL All Star ('90), 11-time AL All-Star ('91-2001), 10 AL Gold Gloves ('91-96, '98-01), four AL Silver Sluggers ('92, '96, '99-00), All-Star MVP ('98), Hall of Fame ('11), Career stats The most decorated second baseman of all-time, Sandberg has won more Silver Slugger Awards (7) than anyone at the position to date, beginning with his 1984 NL MVP-winning campaign in which he hit . I will list them in order, from oldest to newest: Fred Dunlap (1880s), Nap Lajoie (1900s), Lonny Frey (1940s), Eddie Mayo (1940s), Gil McDougald (1950s), Jackie Robinson (1950s), Red Schoendienst (1950s), Fernando Vina (1990s), Craig Counsell (2000s)and Pokey Reese (2000s), 9. Nicknamed "The Frenchman," Nap Lajoie was one of the best hitters and second basemen of the early part of the 20th century. Join the discussion by using the #MLBRank hashtag, and follow along @BBTN and on Facebook. He went to four consecutive World Series with the club from 1921 through 1924, coming out a winner in the first two. 300 games).Its not easy to strongly argue who has been the Braves' best second baseman of all-time. Rod Carew was one of the greatest hitters of his generation. 4 -- Philadelphia (1910-11, '13), Chicago ('17), Career stats Rogers Hornsby 2. Bobby Doerr (1940s) offensive rating: A +. His long career puts him high in the record books among second basemen. The 2007 AL Rookie of the Year has been a significant contributor to the modern-day success of the Red Sox. To illustrate how big Lajoie was in his day, the Bronchos renamed themselves The Naps after their leader in 1903. -- Schoenfield, If Joe Morgan played today, he would be viewed as the ultimate Sabermetric player. Either way, Grich, Childs and Richardson are the three best second basemen in the history of MLB that are not in the Hall of Fame, with arguments from Davey Lopes (1970s) and Tom Daly (1890s). Matt Chapman /.9737/, 4. In the field, he's smooth and effortless with a strong arm. For his efforts, Marte finished fourth in the NL MVP race. He hit, ran, and played defense with the best of them. 42. Lazzeri played for six AL-pennant winners during his dozen years in pinstripes, batting .293 with 169 home runs and 1,157 RBIs. The way it really is. Jackie only played 11 professional seasons, including one with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League, where he didnt debut until he was 26. In 13 years with the Cardinals, Hornsby hit .359/.427/.568 with 193 home runs and 1,072 RBIs. In fact, that entire infield made it into the Hall of Fame, except for Critz. Teams: Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals. His defensive rating on Fangraphs leads all second basemen all-time with over 1,000 plate appearances. He hit .400 three times, including .424 in 1924, and .358 lifetime. Gantner was famously feisty, often tangling with opponents on the field and sometimes in the bar. However, as Robinsons career was relatively short, he lags in the counting stats. However, that same year, Lind committed a fielding error in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the NLCS that led to a come-from-behind win for the Atlanta Braves. 8. Sandberg went on to manage Philadelphia from 2013 to 2015. Brian Dozier is a lifetime .245 hitter, but he's hit 192 home runs and made $30 million in career salary. He has been mythologized, but if anything, he was exceptionally -- and an exceptional -- human. His best season came in 1977 when he took home the AL MVP after hitting .388/.449/.570 with a league-leading 16 triples and 100 RBI. Philadelphia Phillies (1981), Chicago Cubs ('82-94, '96-97), Honors Kinsler spent eight years with the Rangers while Franco was in Texas for five. The job description requires them to be nimble and quick in the field, with a good arm, range to pick up ground balls, and adept at turning double plays. Jeff Reboulet (1990s) offensive rating: D. A defensive specialist. -- Rob Peterson, ESPN.com senior MLB editor, Teams Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. -- Schoenfield, He won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1947. if u dont have Maz in the top ten,your list is bogus.NO-ONE did the double play pivot better,not to mention the only 9th inn walk off homer in a game 7 of the wrld series,not to mention ,against the highly favored New York Yanks! Hell, Matt Chapman. Kent was one of the best offensive second basemen of all time and arguably the position's best power hitter. SHORT PEAK = WAR in best three seasons. Cardinals top 5 >, Cubs: Ryne Sandberg, 1982-97Key fact: In the 22 seasons since Sandberg's retirement, 13 players have started at second base for the Cubs on Opening Day (none more than two years in a row)At the time of his retirement, Sandberg owned the MLB record for homers by a second baseman, while also having set the mark for consecutive games without an error (123). The entire Os infield was excellent defensively, and Grich was the anchor on the right side, helping Baltimore to consecutive division championships in 73 and 74. His 136 wRC+ last year would have placed him first out of all second basemen in 2021. ALL-TIME #MLBRANK, Top 100: 100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1, Insider analysis: 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1, Top 10s: LHP | RHP | C | SS | 3B | 2B | 1B | LF | CF | RF, My Top 10: Kurkjian | Stark | Olney | Crasnick | Schoenfield, Stark: The perception of greatness in the Top 100, Szymborski: Who's in the future 100? Collins was a member of the legendary Connie Macks Athletics until 1915. That leaves half or just under half from his long peak (seven best seasons), short peak (three best seasons), and prime (five best consecutive seasons). Career Fld% Leaders:1.Placido Polanco/.9834/, 2.Mike Lowell/.9743/, 3. If youre interested in any of the other positions weve covered to date, you can find them and a lot of other great content in the archive. Bottom line: Robinson Cano won a World Series title with the New York Yankees (2009) during his nine-year run with the Yanks. 3. Bid McPhee (1890s) offensive rating: A +, "McPhee never wore a glove until his last three seasons: he was one of the last players to play barehanded. PRIME = WAR in best five consecutive seasons. Just an opinion. Now that he's in the Hall of Fame, he's not only in, but he's a top tier second baseman. He returned sharp in 2005, batting .316 as the starting second baseman for the Oakland As. When the Hall of Famer retired in 1997, his .989 fielding percentage was a major league record. Astros top 5 >, Athletics: Eddie Collins, 1906-14, '27-30Key fact: His 55.9 fWAR is third highest in franchise history among position players (first among second basemen)A member of the famed $100,000 Infield" assembled by owner Connie Mack in the early 1900s, Collins was an elite hitter who went six straight seasons (1909-14) without batting lower than .324. Houston Colt .45s (1963-64), Houston Astros (1965-71, '80), Cincinnati Reds ('72-79), San Francisco Giants ('81-82), Philadelphia Phillies ('83), Oakland A's ('84), Honors 11-20: Here is a list of 10 other second basemen that were in serious contention of taking this 10th spot away from Frisch. Dauer held two American League single-season fielding records for a second baseman, including 86 consecutive errorless games and 425 straight errorless games, both in 1978. The top second basemen make the routine look easy and the difficult look routine. It's why he's a top-tier Hall-of-Fame second baseman, the earliest second baseman in the Hall of Fame and one of the 10 best second basemen in the history of MLB. Had Robinson played more seasons, he would have been towards the top of this list. He was close we have him at #12. 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. The pinnacle years for both came during the '75 and 76 World Series championship seasons for the Reds, as Morgan earned consecutive NL MVP Awards. Second Base JAWS Leaders. By that time, Carew had shifted to first base, where he would remain for the second half of his career. For his efforts, Marte finished fourth best defensive second baseman of all time the Hall of Fame, would... 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