Listed below are the positional rankings put together by Ryan Boyer, Nate Grimm, Nick Nelson, Matthew Pouliot, D.J. Short, Dave Shovein and Drew Silva. There are ultimately going to be some disagreements, presenting an opportunity for the writer to explain why they’re higher or lower on that player than the rest of the group.
| Player | Boyer | Grimm | Nelson | Pouliot | Short | Shovein | Silva | Staff | Composite |
| Nolan Arenado | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.29 |
| Kris Bryant | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.71 |
| Josh Donaldson | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Kyle Seager | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4.14 |
| Anthony Rendon | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Todd Frazier | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Adrian Beltre | 5 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Alex Bregman | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8.86 |
| Miguel Sano | 12 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 9.29 |
| Evan Longoria | 9 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 9.86 |
| Maikel Franco | 13 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 10.29 |
| http://www.nbcsports.com/edge/player/MLB/7556/Jose-RamirezJose Ramirez | 10 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12.14 |
| Justin Turner | 11 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 12.86 |
| Ryon Healy | 16 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 13.57 |
| Jake Lamb | 15 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 15.14 |
| Nick Castellanos | 18 | 16 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Mike Moustakas | 14 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 16.71 |
| Yulieski Gurriel | 17 | 20 | 16 | 18 | 18 | NR | 20 | 18 | 18.57 |
| Eugenio Suarez | NR | NR | 17 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 19.14 |
| Yangervis Solarte | NR | 19 | NR | NR | 20 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 19.71 |
Third Base Outliers
Nate Grimm had Todd Frazier 8. The composite ranking was 6.
I’ll start by saying I’m not enamored with this year’s third base crop beyond the top three, so ranking Frazier lower than my peers isn’t exactly a hot take -- there’s a group of players, of which Frazier is a part, that you could throw a dart and convince me that guy will have a better season than the rest. My problem with Frazier is a contact issue that seems to be getting worse. And it’s not just the career-worst strikeout rate; even when he made contact last season, Frazier wasn’t hitting the ball hard. Of course, 40 of those batted balls were hit hard enough to leave the park, but the rest, basically, were weak, poor contact. In his breakout 2014 season, Frazier was making hard contact to all fields, one of the reasons he hit .273 and was on base enough to steal 20 bases. A .236 BABIP last year is fluky, but not to the extent that Frazier is suddenly going to hit for a respectable average again. The homers will be there, sure, but the batting average drain will make all the rest a little less attractive. – Nate Grimm (@Nate_Grimm)
Nick Nelson had Adrian Beltre 11. The composite ranking was 7.
Let’s start here: Beltre is amazing. A career that kicked off at age 19 is now entering its 20th season, and some of Beltre’s best work has come in the latter portion. The future Hall of Famer has proven extremely durable at a stage where so many players break down, continuing to deliver stellar production year in and year out. However, even historic talents cannot run away from the diminishing impacts of time forever. Beltre will turn 38 on April 7th. He’s on the sharply descending portion of the hitter’s aging curve, and while that clearly hasn’t done much to slow him down yet (2016 was his best campaign in years, by many measures) he’s going to imminently start losing a little bit of his strength, quickness and recovery speed. Already the rarely injured iron man has shown up at Rangers camp with a strained calf, suffered while working out at home. He can obviously continue to be a quality asset even in a somewhat reduced state of effectiveness, but I’m opting for the younger rising players at the position this spring. – Nick Nelson (@NickNelsonMN)
Dave Shovein had Miguel Sano 14. The composite ranking was 9.29
Sano was considered an elite, can’t-miss prospect with near unlimited power potential. Since arriving on the scene in Minnesota, he has flashed plenty of that top-notch power tool, but he has also missed the baseball far too often to have any sort of sustained success or reliability in my estimation. He was limited to only 116 games in 2016, and still managed to knock 25 balls over the wall. That’s an impressive feat, as is his 22.9% career home run/fly ball ratio. The issue that remains is the strikeout rate, which sat at 36% in 2016 and is 35.8% in his big league career. He whiffed 178 times in only 495 plate appearances in 2016. Sano is slated to serve as the Twins’ everyday third baseman in 2017 and should function as their cleanup hitter. He’s a terrific bet to provide elite production in home runs while adding ample counting stats in runs and RBI. That’s where his fantasy value ends though, he’s a three-category player. In the best-case scenario, he’ll provide a neutral batting average, with the downside of being a huge drain. He is also devoid of speed, attempting just three stolen bases in his big league career to date. While there’s value in that skillset, I prefer the stability and more well-rounded production from the likes of Evan Longoria, http://www.nbcsports.com/edge/player/MLB/7556/Jose-RamirezJose Ramirez, Maikel Franco or Justin Turner. – Dave Shovein (@DaveShovein)
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