Moving along in our 2019 Position Rankings for the NL East, we’ll look at the hot corner — third base.
A position that once upon a time wouldn’t have even required a seasonal ranking such as this, as the Atlanta Braves paced the NL East at the third base position for so many years. Chipper Jones provided the Braves with consistent All Star-play at the hot corner, and quite frankly, performed in a league of his own.
For the last several years, the Braves have found themselves searching for a player to fill that void, employing players of all kinds; but only succeeding in finding merely placeholders that never really stick.
Even just last season, the Atlanta Braves run 4 different players out to 3rd: Johan Camargo (the one that kinda stuck), Rio Ruiz, Jose Bautista, Charlie Culberson, and Ryan Flaherty. We thought Camargo would be back there for 2019… but that’s getting ahead of myself.
You could say that the rest of the NL East have been in somewhat of the same situation as the Braves. Since 2012 (the year Chipper retired), only twice has there been multiple NL East teams finish in the top-5 in third base WAR (using Fangraphs).
To compare, the NL Central has done so six different times, with a team from their division leading in third base WAR in three separate seasons.
The NL East has had a team lead in third base WAR only once since 2012, and that was the 2013 New York Mets.
So times are a bit tough at third base for the division as a whole. That’s not to say that they’re aren’t great third basemen in the NL East, there just haven’t been as many all at once in a season.
Here’s how the 2018 season ended at the position:
- Washington Nationals — 6.1 fWAR
- Atlanta Braves — 2.8 fWAR
- Miami Marlins — 2.5 fWAR
- Philadelphia Phillies — 1.4 fWAR
- New York Mets — –0.2 fWAR
We’ll get look into him more in a minute, but it’s pretty apparent that third baseman, Anthony Rendon, propped the Washington Nationals up rather nicely at this position. With Rendon’s consistency, the Nationals are a tough team to overtake at the third base position.
The Braves, at second in the division, really should be proud of their finish in terms of third base production. We know about Johan Camargo‘s breakthrough last season, as he really performed better than I think a lot of people anticipated.
The rarely used backup, Charlie Culberson only played 20 games at the hot corner, but played very well when he played. Culberson filled in more often at other positions.
Miami may have a future superstar on their hands, in third baseman Brian Anderson. The 25-year-old was a success in his first full season for the Marlins.
The Phillies probably overlooked a position while they were trying to spend stupid money this offseason, as 26-year-old Maikel Franco hasn’t exactly ‘turned the corner’ yet. Although, if it wasn’t for his below-average defense, his fWAR would’ve looked more along the lines of what Camargo posted in 2018.
Lastly, those poor NY Mets. The Mets have really gotten the bad part of a great players career, in veteran Todd Frazier. The Toddfather used to be a lock for a 3-4 wins per season, but I’m afraid — at 33-years-old — his downward spiral is well underway.
But that’s enough about 2018. Last season means nothing right now, as Opening Day for the 2019 season is days away — we need to know how things may shake out for this season.
2019 Depth Charts
- Philadelphia Phillies: Maikel Franco / Scott Kingery
- Miami Marlins: Brian Anderson / Martin Prado
- New York Mets: Jed Lowrie/ Todd Frazier / Jeff McNeil
- Atlanta Braves: Josh Donaldson / Johan Camargo
- Washington Nationals: Anthony Rendon / Wilmer Difo
Before we dive in to the rankings for third base — in case you’ve missed out lately — here’s the other positions that have been covered so far: