MLB Network works together to create a top 10 list at each position every offseason. I typically try to avoid these because they are so incredibly pitiful, but this list of the top 10 second basemen in the history of the game—which notably excluded Ozzie Albies—just could not be ignored.
Ozzie Albies wasn’t included either last year, but since he missed the majority of the 2022 season due to injury, I could at least tolerate it a little. The question of whether he would return as the same player seemed valid in some ways.
Albies, however, did more than just recover; he may have had the finest season of his career, launching 33 home runs with a.849 OPS and earning 4.7 WAR. Not only did he place 16th in the race for NL MVP, but he was made an All-Star for the third time in his career yet isn’t even among the game’s top 10 second basemen.
There are some names on the list in front of him that are just mind-boggling. Although Nico Hoerner is a good player, you should drop your defence and ignore it. The man is employed.723 OPS and has never finished a season with more than ten home runs.
Zack Gelof? Is this a joke of any kind? Gelof has played in 69 games in his career. Why are we in this place? That also applies to Edouard Julien. Despite having just played 109 games, he is still not outperforming Albies despite being a promising player.
I could go on forever, but you get the idea. Without a doubt, one of the game’s top 5 second basemen is Ozzie Albies. Many second basemen have had successful seasons or hot streaks, but they always seem to end. Albies has not. Every complete season he has participated in, he has essentially guaranteed 25+ home runs, an OPS above.800, and 4+ WAR. Over the course of more than five years, there aren’t five other second basemen who can make that claim.
It just goes to show that hiring “analysts” by a business with MLB in the name doesn’t imply that these people are baseball experts. To be honest, it’s very pitiful and depressing because they either need the clicks so badly or they are so stupid.
This is starting to feel a little deja vu, as the Braves agreed to trade Jordan Luplow on Wednesday. In contrast to the $1.4 million, one-year contract he signed as a free agent with the Braves in December 2022, Luplow’s new deal is a minor-league agreement that should offer him a genuine chance to contend for the team’s fourth outfield berth.
