He was a Top 10 MVP finalist five times. Bottom line: Neil Walker was drafted by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of the 2004 draft, and made his debut with the Pirates in 2009. Teams: New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets. Cron. Cano was a regular post-season participant in his time with New York and a member of the 2009 World Championship team. Eddie Collins debuted with the As just five seasons after Nap LaJoies jump. Lajoie retired following the 1916 season. It just wasn't his forte, well below average, offensively. The Sox made it to two World Series during that time in 1917 and 1919 winning the first one. 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. -- Christina Kahrl, ESPN.com MLB writer, Teams Welcome to All-Time #MLBRank, our ranking of the top 100 players in baseball history. Let's talk about who the best ever were at that position, defensively speaking. In 2004, he won the Silver Slugger Award and made his first of two appearances in the All-Star Game. I think he was the best ever, barehanded. Collins was a member of the legendary Connie Macks Athletics until 1915. White Sox top 5 >, Angels: Bobby Grich, 1977-86Key fact: 35.1 bWAR is fifth highest in club historyOne of the most underrated players of his era, Grich was the first inductee into the Angels Hall of Fame in 1988, and many believe he has a strong case to be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, as well. I'm taking him as the best second baseman ever. 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 There are three second basemen that often present themselves before me as should-be Hall-of-Fame second basemen. Fox, who was the 1959 AL MVP, had his No. Pratt set up Wilson, and Wilson forced the biggest fumble of his career. Welcome to another edition of Top Ten! Once Jackie debuted with the Dodgers in 1947, it became clear that he belonged. Teams: Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals. You might be surprised at who missed the cut. Yes, he broke in as a first baseman and rarely played second base over the final four seasons of his 10-year career, but Robinson was a second baseman in four of his six All-Star seasons, including his NL MVP-winning year of 1949. Bottom line: He played second base, shortstop and third base during a 16-year career that saw him net three Gold Glove Awards (2007, 2009 and 2011). More important than his stellar defense, though, was his ability at the plate. One of those players is Hall of Famer Roger Hornsby who was one of the best hitters of his generation and . He was the AL second baseman in the first six All-Star Games, when he was already in his 30s. 2 jersey retired in '76 and has a sculpture with shortstop Luis Aparicio on the Guaranteed Rate Field concourse. Basic stats like hits, batting average, OBP, SLG, HRs, RBI, etc., were fused with wOBA and wRC+ for the offense. His 136 wRC+ last year would have placed him first out of all second basemen in 2021. That's more than Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg . Hell likely face heavy opposition when he eventually becomes eligible for Cooperstown. He won rings in Toronto. He played 10 seasons; give him another seven or eight and he'd be right up there with Rogers Hornsby and Joe Morgan. Everything he did in the field was smooth, it was elegant and it was a joy to watch. Reds top 5 >, D-backs: Ketel Marte, 2017-presentKey fact: Selected as the 2019 NL All-Star starter at second baseIn a close race with Jay Bell, Marte gets the nod here. In addition to his batting titles, Hornsby led the league in runs five times, hits/doubles/RBI four times, triples/homers twice, and OBP/SLG nine times. He won rookie-of-the-year that season, finished fifth in the MVP voting, and led the league in stolen bases. Cano has not officially retired, but after being cut by the Mets and Padres this season, he may not get another chance. Philadelphia Phillies (1981), Chicago Cubs ('82-94, '96-97), Honors His 377 home runs are tops among second basemen, and he has more hits than several Hall . This week, were on to the keystone as we take a look at the best second basemen of all time. .271/.392/.427, OPS -- .819, Hits -- 2,517, HRs -- 268, RBIs -- 1,133, In 1975 and 1976, Joe Morgan towered over the National League, winning back-to-back MVP awards, with WAR totals of 10.9 and 9.6. The BBWAA wasted no time adding him to the group at Cooperstown, electing him in his first year of eligibility in 1990. You know, before we realized they would float if dropped into the Hudson River, like Derek Jeter's Gold Gloves float. -- Schoenfield, He won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1947. Since committing 17 errors in his rookie season in 2005, Cano has never committed more than 13 errors in a season and 123 total errors in 2,124 career games. But he cemented his spot on the roster by participating in the Giants' World Series win in 2014, was named an All-Star in 2015 and won a Gold Glove Award in 2016. Because of how different eras of baseball have been played, it's difficult to nail down the best defensive catcher of all time. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. I got sidetracked there. When it became evident Carew was destined to leave, the Twins traded him in February 1979 to the California Angels. The 32-year-old posted a career-high 118 OPS+with. Espinal came to the Blue Jays from the Red Sox in trade for Steve Pearce back in July of 2018, one of those trades that worked out well for both teams. Bottom line: "Ryno" was the gold standard for second basemen during his 16-year career. Then, he played his entire 10-year major league career with the Baltimore Orioles and won a World Series in 1983. 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. Let's begin with the long ball. Yet he remained an offensive force. ALL-TIME #MLBRANK, Top 100: 100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1, Insider analysis: 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1, Top 10s: LHP | RHP | C | SS | 3B | 2B | 1B | LF | CF | RF, My Top 10: Kurkjian | Stark | Olney | Crasnick | Schoenfield, Stark: The perception of greatness in the Top 100, Szymborski: Who's in the future 100? Because of how different eras of baseball have been played, it's difficult to nail down the best defensive catcher of all time. 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. By that time, Carew had shifted to first base, where he would remain for the second half of his career. Collins was not implicated in the controversy, but the scandal gutted the team. It was probably in his Win Shares book or his Baseball Historical Abstract book, I can't remember, forgive me. We use bWAR. He seemed destined to be a Yankee for life but shocked the baseball world in 2013 when he left New York to sign a $240M contract with the Mariners. Rod Carew was one of the greatest hitters of his generation. And hes been to the All-Star Game four times. In 2014, LeMahieu led the majors with 99 double plays. On top of his defense, Frisch was fast as lightning, leading the league in SBs three times. Big personalities? He was one of the most dominant second basemen of the '90s, helping the Astros win four division titles in five years (1997-99 and 2001), while also leading them to the postseason in 04 and the World Series in 05. Seven-time All-Star (2006, '10-14, '16), two Gold Gloves ('10, '12), five Silver Sluggers ('06, '10-13), Career stats* Collins career would last another 23 seasons before he eventually retired in 1930. After that season, he was traded to the Mets. 1. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. And boy could he play defense. Thus, in addition to career WAR, we looked at WAR7 (seven best seasons), WAR/162 (Avg WAR per season), and the number of seasons the player was among the WAR leaders in the league. Grich was a great offensive second baseman, an "A" offensively. Kent, a career .290 hitter, holds the all-time record for most home runs by a second baseman with 351 (out of 377). His lone All-Star appearance was 1985 the year he notched 110 RBI while hitting just eight home runs. 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? Hubbard played much of his career for those Atlanta Braves teams that had an overabundant amount of ground ball pitchers on their team. Teams: Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers. Who is the best defensive catcher of all time? Kinsler spent eight years with the Rangers while Franco was in Texas for five. The first is Bobby Grich. .308/.356/.497, OPS -- .854, Hits -- 2,129, HRs -- 260, RBIs -- 1,041, 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. I guess that makes him an A + overall at Second Base. In an era before awards, Lajoie led the league in key offensive categories several times during his 21-year career, including hits (4x), doubles (5x), RBI (3x), batting average (5x), SLG (4x), and HRs (1x). Despite his success in St. Louis, Hornsby was traded to the Giants after the Cardinals won the World Series in 1926. His best season came in 1977 when he took home the AL MVP after hitting .388/.449/.570 with a league-leading 16 triples and 100 RBI. 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). In fact, other than the pitcher, catcher and shortstop positions, it is probably the most important defensive position on the field. Bottom line: A three-time All-Star, Ben Zobrist is a well-rounded utility player. Indians top 5 >, Royals: Frank White, 1973-90Key fact: Five All-Star Games, eight Gold Glove AwardsOK, so theres absolutely no debate about this choice. Playing for the Rockies from 2012 to 2018, he was a three-time Gold Glove winner (2014, 2017 and 2018), and was an All-Star pick in 2015 and 2017 but not in 2016, when he wound up as the NL batting champion. 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