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| TODAY: Monday, May 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player ratings: Second base | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the ESPN.com player ratings. Our panel of baseball authorities will rank the top 10 players at each position. The basic question is this: Which player do you want at that position for the 2000 season?
For more about our panel, check the the catchers page. The numbers used in the chart below are explained at the bottom of the page.
Other positions: C | DH | 1B | SS | 3B | LF | CF | RF | SP | CL
Position comments David Schoenfield: We talk about the Holy Trinity of shortstops, but the deepest position in baseball may be second base. Players like Randy Velarde, Luis Castillo, Damion Easley, Quilvio Veras and Jose Vidro, all solid regulars, couldn't make our top 10. Pokey Reese barely did -- and certainly deserves to if he hits like he did last season. Apparently, most of our panel thinks he won't hit that well again. Underrated: Jose Offerman was mocked as the "replacement" for Mo Vaughn last year, but Dan Duquette knows the value of a good leadoff hitter and that's what Offerman brings to the Red Sox. Overrated: Pokey Reese is overrated by at least two GMs -- Jim Bowden and Pat Gillick. You wonder if Gillick could have gotten Scott Williamson and/or Travis Dawkins in the Griffey trade if he hadn't kept insisting on a player with an on-base percentage and slugging percentage both below the league average. Brandon Funston: It seems unfathomable now that Luis Castillo barely edged out Craig Counsell for Florida's starting job at the beginning of last season. Of course, he went on to steal 50 bases and bat over .300 from both sides of the plate. What I appreciated most about Castillo, however, was his major-league leading 4.8 ground balls per every fly ball hit, which allowed him to maximize the use of his blazing speed. If you combine that with his abilty to work a count, you have the makings of a fine leadoff hitter. Underrated: Ron Belliard. Showed the complete package as a rookie: patient, line-drive hitter, draws more walks than strikeouts, plays second base like you'd expect from a cousin of Rafael. Overrated: Bret Boone batted just .209 in late innings and was 0-for-10 with the bases loaded last season. His on-base percentage will always be low because he won't abandon his all-or-nothing swing. Graham Hays: St. Louis got plenty of attention for bringing in big-name pitchers with questionable arms, but the addition of Fernando Vina might be a hidden gem. Vina needs to stay healthy and show the same plate discipline he did in 159 games for Milwaukee in 1998 (.386 OBP). Those are two enormous question marks, but Vina could give the Cards an All-Star candidate at second when taking into account his stellar defense. Underrated: It's remarkable that Jeff Kent is still considered in some circles as an offensive fluke despite playing in a bad hitter's park (.246/.332 home/road splits). Kent's defense continued to be solid while he played through pain in 1999. Overrated: Ray Durham is a terrific fantasy second baseman, but the White Sox could use a better defensive player given their instability at shortstop and third base. Rany Jazayerli: Ronnie Belliard quietly had the best rookie season that no one noticed last season. He does nothing spectacularly but everything well, hitting for average (.295) and gap power (29 doubles in 124 games) with more walks than strikeouts (64-59). If he recovers fully from his broken thumb, he'll have a great year. Not that anyone will notice. Underrated: Frank Catalanotto should have been an everyday second baseman three years ago, and now that he's finally left Detroit, he should push Luis Alicea away like an annoying mosquito and be the best second baseman in the AL West. Overrated: Homer Bush has 71 great at-bats with the Yankees in 1998, and the Blue Jays insisted on him as one of the keys to the Clemens deal. Then Bush hits .320 last season, but with an OBP and slugging average virtually identical to .227-hitting Jose Valentin -- and the Blue Jays reward him with a three-year deal. Some teams need to be reminded that the team with the most runs, not the most singles, wins. Keith Law: After setting the minors on fire in '96, Todd Walker scuffled in '97 and ended up in a Tom Kelly Doghouse? that he has yet to completely escape. He seemed to break out in '98, only to lose all of his power in '99. He should receive another chance, but at 27 his shot at stardom is almost gone. Underrated: Don't forget that Edgardo Alfonzo was considering an excellent-fielding shortstop in the minors until his Reyness showed up. Overrated: Luis Castillo. Batting averages are fickle, and if his drops, all the steals in the world won't make him a useful hitter. The numbers We've avoided most of the traditional numbers in favor of "sabermetric stats": Pts: Total points from our panel (10 for first, etc.) G: Games played OBP: On-base percentage SLG: Slugging percentage OPS: On-base + slugging RC: Runs created. Using all of a player's offensive statistics, tells how many "runs" a player was responsible for. Added together, individual runs created match closely with a team's overall run total. OW%: Offensive winning percentage. The percentage of games a team would "win" with nine of that player in the lineup, given average defense and pitching. |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||