In 2014, LeMahieu led the majors with 99 double plays. Rangers top 5 >, Braves: Marcus Giles, 2001-06Key fact: Giles .809 OPS ranks first among all Braves second basemen (min. His offensive prowess is among the greatest of all players, not just second basemen. 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 played for seven franchises but is best known for his stints with the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Indians. Joe Gordon (1940s) offensive rating: A +, "Among modern second basemen, Joe Gordon, Billy Herman and Charlie Gehringer were the best on the double play pivot. Frisch went to four more World Series with St. Louis, this time coming out on top in the latter two. Ozzie Albies might soon be considered the franchises best. Adrian Gonzalez (Tied) Adrian Gonzalez was a five-time All-Star. He was the AL second baseman in the first six All-Star Games, when he was already in his 30s. In 2006, Ellis broke the AL single-season record for fielding percentage (.9968) though oddly, he did not win the Gold Glove Award that year. D-backs top 5 >, Dodgers: Jackie Robinson, 1947-56Key fact: Only player whose uniform number is retired across MLBA true hero, legend, trailblazer and leader -- and thats before we even get into Robinsons stats. Playing for the Colorado Rockies two years later in the best season of his career, Carroll committed just three errors at second base, and led all NL second basemen in fielding percentage. Polanco was named the 2006 ALCS MVP while playing for the Detroit Tigers. Between the lines, Alomar was about as good as it gets. Glenn Hubbard (1980s) offensive rating: D +. 1 -- St. Louis Cardinals (1926), Career stats 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. Kinsler spent eight years with the Rangers while Franco was in Texas for five. Team (s): St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs & St. Louis Browns. 300 games).Its not easy to strongly argue who has been the Braves' best second baseman of all-time. Bottom line: A three-time All-Star, Ben Zobrist is a well-rounded utility player. And he was the best the Rays have ever had. To create our list, an ESPN expert panel voted on thousands of head-to-head matchups of 162 players, based on both peak performance and career value. Rogers Hornsby Jackie Robinson Joe Morgan Rod Carew Alomar made it to the big leagues at the tender age of 20 in 1988 as a Padre and retired 17 years later with the White Sox. Marlins top 5 >, Mets: Edgardo Alfonzo, 1995-2001Key fact: His .318 average with runners in scoring position is highest in Mets historyAlfonzo might be the trickiest Met to rank because he appeared in 524 career games for the team at second base and 515 at third, spending three full seasons as the starter at each position. There are three second basemen that often present themselves before me as should-be Hall-of-Fame second basemen. Hornsby bounced around considerably for the rest of his career for a player of his caliber. 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. His 377 home runs are tops among second basemen, and he has more hits than several Hall . Teams: Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays. He moved to first base halfway through his career, but would rate higher as a second baseman. Teams: St Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants. Brian Dozier is a lifetime .245 hitter, but he's hit 192 home runs and made $30 million in career salary. During the 2012 season, Barney committed just two errors, and tied the major league record for consecutive errorless games at second base with 141. He ranks first in stolen bases; second in games played, plate appearances, triples, and runs; third in batting average; and sixth in RBI. The Big Red Machine also made it to the World Series that year, losing in seven games to the Oakland As. Frankie Frisch was a superb athlete and probably the best defensive second baseman in the Top Ten. Frisch broke in with the New York Giants in 1919 and played for 19 seasons. Second basemen are an important part of a baseball team's defense. He wasn't a failure offensively, but he was certainly below average, unfortunately. If you want to know how bad things got, over Kilian's first nine starts in Iowa, he went 2-0 with a 2.06 ERA. And hes been to the All-Star Game four times. Dodgers top 5 >, Giants: Jeff Kent, 1997-2002Key fact: Hit 351 of his 377 career home runs as a second baseman, a Major League record for the positionKent played for six teams over his 17-year career, but he enjoyed his most prolific stretch during his tenure with the Giants. The top second basemen make the routine look easy and the difficult look routine. Gehringer debuted in 1924 but wasnt a regular until 1926. He's played half his innings at second base, and the rest at shortstop and various outfield positions. Bottom line: A first-round draft pick in 2003 by the Toronto Blue Jays, Aaron Hill was called up in 2005. Only Ty Cobb has a higher lifetime batting average than Hornsbys .358. Some will balk at Canos inclusion on the list, given his two suspensions for PED use. JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score system) was developed by sabermetrician Jay Jaffe as a means to measure a player's Hall of Fame worthiness. Teams: Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays. He won rookie-of-the-year that season, finished fifth in the MVP voting, and led the league in stolen bases. Teams: Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays. Walker won the Silver Slugger Award in 2014. Some well-known second basemen have career fielding percentages that are just a bit outside the top 25 in baseball history. -- David Schoenfield, ESPN.com senior writer, Cano can do it all: He hits for both average and power, tied with Rogers Hornsby among second basemen for the most seasons (five) with at least a .300 batting average and 25 home runs. Cano has eight .300 seasons and a ninth possibly on the way, has a good chance to top 3,000 career hits and probably will pass Jeff Kent for most home runs by a second baseman. Teams: Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants. His lone All-Star appearance was 1985 the year he notched 110 RBI while hitting just eight home runs. Once established, the Tigers wouldnt have to look for a second baseman until 1942. Matt Chapman /.9737/, 4. As is always the case, we tried to balance the rankings between longevity and dominance to get a good cross-section. I'm glad he's in, but what took you so long, Veteran's Committee? And they can be a pitchers best friend. Blue Jays top 5 >, Orioles: Bobby Grich, 1970-76Key fact: Franchise-best 36.0 bWAR among second basemenThere might not have been a better middle-infield tandem in the mid-1970s than Grich and Mark Belanger, each of whom won four consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1973-76. All-Star game appearances, MVP awards, and seasons where the player finished in the Top Ten in MVP voting covered the honors. Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst was great after being acquired midway through the 1957 world championship season, but he began being worn down by tuberculosis the next year. Giants top 5 >, Padres: Mark Loretta, 2003-05Key fact: Loretta, who hit .314 in three seasons with San Diego, and Tony Gwynn are the only qualifying Padres with a batting average above .300Overall, Loretta vs. Roberto Alomar isnt much of a debate. -- Schoenfield, Rogers Hornsby batted .424 in 1924. Coming back to the Cards was, you guessed it, Frankie Frisch. Grich was a great offensive second baseman, an "A" offensively. Bottom line: Rich Dauer was a winner. He was also named an All-Star that year, and won the first of two Silver Slugger Awards. Based upon Gold Gloves won, Ivan Rodriguez is the clear victor, while based upon fielding percentage, numerous players who spent more than 10 seasons in the Majors have a . Do you want big names? 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 He pretty much got the job done offensively, too. Last season was a breakout one for the 26-year-old Marte, as he finished sixth in the Majors in fWAR among position players with a 7.1 mark, trailing only Mike Trout, Alex Bregman, Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger and Marcus Semien. Nine Gold Gloves ('83-91), MVP (1984), 10-time All-Star ('84-93), seven Silver Sluggers ('84-85, '88-92), Hall of Fame ('05), Career stats Lajoie retired following the 1916 season. Bobby Grich (1970s) offensive rating: A, "Grich won four Gold Gloves, and won them over stiff competition-Frank White"-Bill James, respected baseball historian/Godfather of Sabermetrics and the modern rating system, 2002. That was the lowest BA of his title years. He also won rookie-of-the-year that season for the Twins. We believe our rankings are the most comprehensive, fair, and accurate. Zobrist was named MVP of the 2016 World Series. Royals top 5 >, Tigers: Charlie Gehringer, 1924-42Key fact: 78.6 career fWAR ranks fifth all-time among MLB second basemenBorn and raised in Michigan, Gehringer played his entire 19-year career in Detroit, where his consistent greatness earned him the nickname The Mechanical Man. The Hall of Famer batted .306 or better in 13 of his 16 full Major League seasons, led the league in games played four times, played at least 150 games in nine seasons, and posted a .900+ OPS eight times. His long career puts him high in the record books among second basemen. Oh, and he could hit, too, as his .316/.369/.432 slash line illustrates. And in 2013, he coached the Israeli national team in the World Baseball Classic. Kinsler was a star on the Rangers' two pennant-winning teams of 2010-11, but Julio Franco was also an outstanding second baseman, earning three All-Star selections and winning an AL batting title. Teams: Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers. Why? -- Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN.com senior writer, Honors The Tigers popped Jung with the 12th pick in last July's draft by way of Texas Tech. Bottom line: Known for his distinctive batting stance where he holds his bat high above his head, Craig Counsell has the distinction of being on base twice when the World Series ended with a walk-off hit with the Florida Marlins (1997) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (2001). 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: Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs. Bill Mazeroski (1960s) offensive rating: C -. Hubbard played much of his career for those Atlanta Braves teams that had an overabundant amount of ground ball pitchers on their team. After retiring, Scott Fletcher managed in the minor leagues and later became the Colorado Rockies' infield coordinator. -- Mark Simon, ESPN Stats & Info, Honors Nap Lajoie 6. Also, took HOF too long to put Lazzeri into HOF, 1991 by vets committee. 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. San Diego Padres (1988-90), Toronto Blue Jays ('91-95), Baltimore Orioles ('96-98), Cleveland Indians ('99-2001), New York Mets ('02-03), Chicago White Sox ('03-04), Arizona Diamondbacks ('04), Honors He led the league in WAR three times as a second baseman. The only question these days is will he make the National Baseball Hall of Fame? At that point, he was in his 40s and starting to show his age. What's more, he played in at least 150 games at the position in eight consecutive years, something only five second basemen have ever done, and in seven of those he had positive defensive WAR. Anthony Rendon /.9715/, 6.Brooks Robinson+ . In 1962 he was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. Had Robinson played more seasons, he would have been towards the top of this list. Collins can also boast an MVP win in 1914 and six top 5 MVP finishes. He won an MVP in 1949. 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Already in his first year on the ballot Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays was already in first! You mix his offense and his defense together but is best known for best defensive second baseman of all time with. Hits than several Hall in 1919 and played for 19 seasons than several Hall St....: D + rookie-of-the-year that season for the Twins Colorado Rockies ' infield.! Brian Dozier is a lifetime.245 hitter, but what took you so long Veteran...
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best defensive second baseman of all time