2012 MLB Positional Rankings

posted 7/6/12  11:33 AM PST
by Joe Giglio

Over the years, baseball fans have been privy to different golden eras by various positional groups. The 1950’s -- led by Mantle, Mays, and Snider -- represented a chance to watch all-time great players patrol center field in New York. As the All-Star break hits our current game, which current group of position players is best? Are we watching any “special” groups?

Using FanGraphs WAR and your input on Twitter, the following is an attempt to rank the positions right now. Obviously, a study like this comes with limitations. Twenty-five years from now -- if Eric Hosmer and Anthony Rizzo become Hall of Famers -- we might be talking about the year we saw Hosmer, Rizzo, Pujols, Teixeira, Konerko, Fielder, and Votto all at the same time. It’s all about context. Alex Rodriguez, Evan Longoria, and Scott Rolen are three of the best third basemen in decades, but none -- through injury and/or age -- have been great in 2012.

This is a measure of how valuable the best players at each position have been thus far in 2012. It may be an accurate representation of future conversations in Cooperstown or just a small sample size thus far.

*In regards to FanGraphs WAR: Defense plays a major role in their numbers. Brett Lawrie’s ranking is aided by his otherworldly WAR this season. Curtis Granderson’s exclusion from the Top 10 CF list is due to his unspeakably bad defensive rating.

**All stats through 7/4

1. CF
Top 10 in WAR: Trout, Bourn, McCutchen, Jackson, Jones, Kemp, Rasmus, De Aza, Span, Fowler.
Total WAR: 31, Leader: Trout, 4.5
All-Star selections: Five
Average age: 25.9
Best player(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Granderson, Victorino, Upton
Twitter reaction: @MOanimalcracker: Right now it seems like CF. Similar to the spurt in the mid 90s, seeing speed, power, and defense.

McCutchen is one of many superstar CF's in his prime
Picture courtesy of US Presswire

2. RF
Top 10 in WAR: Heyward, Bautista, Reddick, Stanton, Beltran, Rios, Trumbo, Ethier, Blanco, Choo.
Total WAR: 28.1, Leader: Heyward, 3.3
All-Star selections: Five
Average age: 27.9
Best players(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Bruce, Upton, Werth, Markakis, Pence, Swisher

3. LF
Top 10 in WAR: Braun, Hamilton, Prado, Holliday, Cabrera, Gordon, Willingham, Gonzalez, Soriano, Kubel.
Total WAR: 30, Leader: Braun, 4.1
All-Star selections: Four
Average age: 29.9
Best players(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Morrison, Gardner

4. 3B
Top 10 in WAR: Wright, Headley, Cabrera, Moustakas, Lawrie, Beltre, A. Ramirez, Alvarez, Seager, H. Ramirez.
Total WAR: 27.2, Leader: Wright, 4.5
All-Star selections: Six
Average age: 27.5
Best player(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Rodriguez, Longoria, Sandoval

5. 1B
Top 10 in WAR: Votto, Encarnacion, Konerko, Goldschmidt, Teixeira, Fielder, LaRoche, Pujols, Freeman, Pena.
Total WAR: 19.5, Leader: Votto, 4.8
All-Star selections: Four
Average age: 29.7
Best player(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Gonzalez, Hosmer
Twitter reaction: @schockey08: I'm going 1B. Huge names more prevalent there than any position.

6. 2B
Top 10 in WAR: Cano, Hill, Kipnis, Zobrist, Uggla, Phillips, Kinsler, Altuve, Walker, Infante.
Total WAR: 23.8, Leader: Cano, 4.2
All-Star selections: Four
Average age: 28.6
Best player(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Utley, Pedroia
Twitter reaction: @oricchiol: 2B on a huge upswing to me personally.

7. C
Top 10 in WAR: Ruiz, Y. Molina, Mauer, Ellis, Pierzynski, Montero, Posey, Wieters, Santana, McCann.
Total WAR: 23.9, Leader: Ruiz, 4.3
All-Star selections: Six
Average age: 29
Best player(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Napoli

8. SS
Top 10 in WAR: Andrus, Desmond, Lowrie, Cabrera, Rollins, Castro, Aviles, Cozart, Y. Escobar, Reyes.
Total WAR: 20.5, Leader: Andrus, 2.8
All-Star selections: Six
Average age: 27.3
Best player(s) not in current Top 10 WAR: Jeter, Furcal, A. Escobar


Joe Giglio is a sports talk host at WNST in Baltimore, co-host of the Just a Bit Outside podcast on iTUNES, former intramural coordinator at DeSales University, husband, and baseball fanatic willing to argue Jeff Bagwell's Hall of Fame candidacy at a moment's notice. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports and check out his blog at joegiglio.blogspot.com.




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