Fantasy Baseball Top 15 Third Basemen for 2011: OBP Leagues

We’ve taken a look at third baseman for standard formats (click here to view) and for keeper leagues (click here to view).  Now, we have to turn our attention to those leagues that utilize OBP.  There aren’t too many changes to our standard rankings, outside of maybe an old favorite making his presence felt at the bottom.  Let’s take a look:

1. Evan Longoria – Tampa Bay Rays
2. David Wright – New York Mets
3. Ryan Zimmerman – Washington Nationals
4. Alex Rodriguez – New York Yankees
5. Jose Bautista – Toronto Blue Jays
6. Michael Young – Texas Rangers
7. Adrian Beltre – Texas Rangers
8. Pedro Alvarez – Pittsburgh Pirates
9. Martin Prado – Atlanta Braves
10. Aramis Ramirez – Chicago Cubs
11. Pablo Sandoval – San Francisco Giants
12. Casey McGehee – Milwaukee Brewers
13. Chipper Jones – Atlanta Braves
14. Mark Reynolds – Arizona Diamondbacks
15. Placido Polanco – Philadelphia Phillies

Thoughts:

• Chipper Jones would probably be ranked significantly higher if I felt better about him staying on the field.  He’s had at least 500 AB just once in the past seven seasons so, at 38-years old, it is hard to expect much more than 450, at best.  Of course, despite the consistent injury problems, Jones has continued to show that he knows how to get on base (.405 career OBP).  The past three seasons he has posted walk rates of 16.9%, 16.9% and 16.0%.  He can’t be drafted as a starter because of the injury concerns, but in an OBP format he is certainly worth owning.
• Who should be No. 2?  David Wright or Ryan Zimmerman?  I had the same debate for those in formats that utilize average, and despite Wright struggling a bit in ’10 (.354) his low the prior five seasons had been .381.  It’s tough to demote him over one poor year (though the increase in strikeouts is alarming).  However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Zimmerman outperform Wright in ’11.
• Want to believe that Mark Reynolds is a poor man’s Adam Dunn?  Well, he has a career OBP of just .334.  Power or not, he gets no real boost from being in an OBP league.
• Jose Bautista leapfrogs Michael Young in the rankings.  That’s not to say that I think Bautista has a chance of repeating his ’10 success, because he is almost a lock to regress, but his OBP will likely be on par with Young’s thanks to a better walk rate (Young has a career OBP of .347, while Bautista is at .342).  Considering he has more power and RBI potential, it’s an easy call to bump him up.

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Make sure to check out our 2011 OBP rankings

• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen

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