2013 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Second Basemen

During his eight seasons in the majors, Cano has been one of the game's most reliable hitters and at a weak position like second base, he remains a no-brainer to go in the first round of standard Fantasy drafts, regardless of his postseason struggles.

While looking at the over second base position for the coming season, one could not help but notice how shallow it seemed initially. With the decline of Chase Utley, the disaster of Rickie Weeks’ first half of the 2012 season, and former prospects — Dustin Ackley, Jemile Weeks, and Gordon Beckham to name a few — have left the keystone position surprisingly thin when it comes to superstars in the fantasy world.

The 2013 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Second Basemen could offer some keen insight on how to bolster your Fantasy team's roster by taking a player with a high value, but not having to overpay to do so. For instance, a player like Jose Altuve (projects out at a +.310 average, +/- 10 HRs, +/- 50 RBI and +30 steals) will provide you some much needed value at second base, but not have the price tag of an Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia. Altuve's sophomore season was a success as he emerged as a top base-stealer and a reliable contact hitter. If he is able to add some pop in the years ahead -- he is 22, remember -- he could emerge as an elite Fantasy second baseman. He will be a top-10 option, at this position, entering next season.

The days of penciling in three (3) to four (4) players at this position that can hit +25 home runs and drive-in over 100 runs are long gone. In 2002, there was Bret Boone (24 HR, 107 RBI), Alfonso Soriano (39 HR, 102 RBI) and Jeff Kent (37 HR, 108 RBI). Today, Robinson Cano is a man amongst boys at this position and he is coming off a season in which he hit 33 homers and had 94 RBI. There have been only five (5) 100-RBI seasons in the past five (5) seasons at this position. Take that for what it is worth.

A move to keep your eye on:
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Jeff Keppinger had a relatively successful season with the Rays in 2012, but they could not keep him in the offseason. He’s now eligible at 1B, 2B and 3B. He will likely end up playing mostly third base for the White Sox in 2013. He hit .325 in 381 at-bats for the Rays last season, and if he does that again, he'll obviously matter in Fantasy. Given his lack of power or speed, though, he's a better player to target off the waiver wire when the need arises than to draft in standard mixed leagues.

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Here are the Top 60 two-baggers:

Updated 3/1/2013

Rank	Player	Team	Score
1	Cano,Robinson	NYY	101.48
2	Pedroia,Dustin	BOS	99.42
3	Kinsler,Ian	TEX	87.87
4	Hill,Aaron	ARI	87.33
5	Phillips,Brandon	CIN	83.74
6	Altuve,Jose	HOU	83.69
7	Kipnis,Jason	CLE	76.14
8	Weeks,Rickie	MIL	74.07
9	Kendrick,Howie	LAA	70.70
10	Utley,Chase	PHI	70.60
11	Walker,Neil	PIT	67.45
12	Izturis,Maicer	TOR	64.86
13	Infante,Omar	DET	64.29
14	Uggla,Dan	ATL	61.92
15	Scutaro,Marco	SF	60.10
16	Espinosa,Danny	WAS	57.35
17	Ackley,Dustin	SEA	56.07
18	Murphy,Daniel	NYM	55.67
19	Doumit,Ryan	MIN	55.02
20	Keppinger,Jeff	CHW	53.85
21	Getz,Chris	KC	45.76
22	Beckham,Gordon	CHW	43.24
23	Greene,Tyler	HOU	42.81
24	Barney,Darwin	CHC	41.90
25	Pennington,Cliff	ARI	40.43
26	Johnson,Kelly	TAM	37.59
27	Giavotella,Johnny	KC	36.33
28	Amarista,Alexi	SD	35.39
29	Carroll,Jamey	MIN	33.56
30	Nelson,Chris	COL	33.39
31	Forsythe,Logan	SD	32.84
32	Sizemore,Scott	OAK	32.76
33	Ellis,Mark	LA	32.61
34	Gyorko,Jedd	SD	32.42
35	Casilla,Alexi	BAL	29.87
36	Profar,Jurickson	TEX	29.13
37	Solano,Donovan	MIA	24.78
38	Roberts,Brian	BAL	24.40
39	Lombardozzi,Steve	WAS	22.25
40	Hairston,Jerry	LA	19.55
41	Descalso,Daniel	STL	17.61
42	Holt,Brock	BOS	17.42
43	Harrison,Josh	PIT	17.10
44	Cedeno,Ronny	STL	14.67
45	Schumaker,Skip	LA	14.32
46	Theriot,Ryan	FAN	12.31
47	Turner,Justin	NYM	12.19
48	Kobernus,Jeff	DET	9.95
49	LeMahieu,DJ	COL	9.74
50	Roberts,Ryan	TAM	8.49
51	Falu,Irving	KC	6.84
52	Flores,Wilmer	NYM	6.72
53	Wong,Kolten	STL	5.38
54	Flaherty,Ryan	BAL	4.34
55	Sanchez,Freddy	FAN	4.02
56	Weeks,Jemile	OAK	1.72
57	Hudson,Orlando	FAA	1.64
58	Rodriguez,Sean	TAM	1.42
59	Gennett,Scooter	MIL	1.18
60	Andino,Robert	SEA	0.55

Please see the original Fantasy Baseball article which helps explain the rankings system

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