best defensive second baseman of all timebest defensive second baseman of all time

Teams: New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals. 1 -- St. Louis Cardinals (1926), Career stats

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Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. These glovemen in the middle of the infield made the routine look easy and the difficult look routine. Seriously? Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, MI, High School: Fowlerville HS (Fowlerville, MI), School: University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), Debut:

Bottom line: Brandon Phillips was an All-Star three times, and over a long major league career, he won four Gold Glove Awards and one Silver Slugger Award.

And Bill White almost certainly would have one more (1956) if the award had been in existence.

But Bill James presented this conclusion, Jody Reed is second all time in the history of MLB in defensive Win Shares per season for a second baseman, behind only Bill Mazeroski. 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.

When Bill James published his "New Historical Baseball Abstract" in 2001, his analysis at the time showed Robinson to be one of the best defensive second basemen of all time -- to a degree that . No player in history has a higher single-season batting average with as many plate appearances as Hornsby had in 1924.

Second base: Roberto Alomar (10) Alomar won 10 Gold Glove Awards in 11 seasons from 1991-2001 while playing for the Blue Jays, Orioles and Indians. Teams: San Diego Padres (1978-81), St. Louis Cardinals (1982-96). vs. BOS 5 AB, 3 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB, Last Game:

History unblurred. Theres no shortage of great second basemen in the history of baseball.

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.311/.409/.474, OPS -- .883, Hits - 1,518, HRs -- 137, RBIs - 734, Here's the thing about Robinson: His legacy as one of the most important individuals in U.S. cultural history has obscured that he was an amazing player.

March 12, 1973

His 3,243 hits places him 15th all-time. Big personalities? These are the second basemen with the best fielding percentages in major league history. That's all there is, right?

Teams: Kansas City Royals (2004-10), Milwaukee Brewers (2011-12), Los Angeles Angels (2012), Los Angeles Dodgers (2013-15), Arizona Diamondbacks (2016-19), Houston Astros (2019-present).

In 1990, Oquendo recorded just three errors while playing in 150 games. The O's had Davey Johnson and Mark Belanger at second and short respectively, two of the best defensive players to ever work at their positions.

As an up the middle position, defense was a more significant factor for second base than first base, though offense was still the primary driver.

UM third baseman Yohandy Morales and closer Andrew Walters, two of the top players in the country at their positions, were named first-team All-ACC honorees.

And hes been to the All-Star Game four times. In the field, he's smooth and effortless with a strong arm. But it's his time in Cleveland that I think of first, when Alomar and Omar Vizquel mastered the dance of the double play as well as any duo I have ever seen.

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His number 42 is retired across baseball, the only player so honored. Carew retired after the 1985 season despite a still-productive season in which he hit .280 with a .371 OBP. Scott is a SoCal native who, after two decades of fighting L.A. traffic, decided to turn his passion for fantasy sports into a blog - the now-defunct Fantasy Mutant. He could run, hit, hit for power, and play stellar defense.

After a falling out with Giants manager John McGraw in 1926, he was traded to the Cardinals after the season.

I was surprised Ryne Sandberg wasnt on the list in place of Alomar or Cano. (Age 37-243d) If character counted in the compilation of this list, Jackie Robinson would be number one. (Exceeded AL/NL rookie limits during 1947 season).

Frisch broke in with the New York Giants in 1919 and played for 19 seasons.

Linwood Cemetery, Weston, MA, High School: Washington Irving HS (New York, NY), School: Columbia University (New York, NY), Debut:

Exceeded rookie limits during 1919 season.

September 9, 1897 Bottom line: After being drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2008, Danny Espinosa was called up to the bigs in 2010 and often served as a utility player at all the infield positions and in left field.

Positions: Fun fact: Hill is one of just five players to hit for the cycle twice in one year. 13,021st in major league history)

The way it really was.

Theres also his seven Silver Slugger Awards, the NL MVP season of 1984 and the year he led the NL in home runs (40 in 1990).

-- Schoenfield, Teams

Jacob Denner wasn't perfect in relief, but was pretty close.

Do you remember his incredible defensive skills? Career Stats (1919 1937) Kansas City Monarchs, Brooklyn Dodgers.

AL Triple Crown (1901), Hall of Fame ('37), Career stats He hit, ran, and played defense with the best of them. Kent has a.290 batting average, 1518 RBI and 1320 runs scored.

He was also named an All-Star that year, and won the first of two Silver Slugger Awards.

Teams: Tampa Bay Rays (2006-14), Oakland Athletics (2015), Kansas City Royals (2015), Chicago Cubs (2016-19), Positions: Second base, shortstop, outfield.

We feel its important to acknowledge that baseball is harder to play today than it was 25 years ago, and 50 years ago, and so on.

us, Died:

Teams: Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays. Jeff Kent holds the MLB record for homeruns as a second basemen with 377. Teams: Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees.

June 29, 1970 Want a crazy stat?

His 4.4 dWAR in 1927 is the eighth highest single season dWAR in history, and he had a steady bat and great speed. 42. Induction ceremony in Cooperstown held in 1939.

13,965th in major league history)

February 7, 1959

F inal. in Spokane, WA Lets also not forget how the "Little General" revolutionized the position with his hinged glove and one-handed technique. Positions:

The best left fielder of the millennium ranks behind only Barry Bonds and Carl Yastrzemski on the career Total Zone Runs list.

-- Schoenfield, He won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1947.

However it turns out, he should be remembered as a great hitter albeit one who may have had help along the way. 5.

Second Baseman, Shortstop and First Baseman, Born:

Kent was a tremendous offensive second baseman, leading all second basemen with 377 home runs. He played for seven franchises but is best known for his stints with the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Indians.

Ryno, Kid Natural or Gabby.

Teams: Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs.

That's why he's a top-tier Hall-of-Fame second baseman, one of the 10 best ever, overall, at the position. No player did so at a higher rate in the free-agent era. Draft: Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1st round (19th) of the 1967 MLB June Amateur Draft from Woodrow Wilson HS (Long Beach, CA). Teams: Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants.

Thats right more than Ozzie Smith even. At the hot corner was the esteemed Brooks Robinson, probably the greatest defensive third baseman ever, and at first base was Boog Powell, a fine defender.

He was the catalyst for an As team that won three World Series in four years, and then he won another with the White Sox in 1917. Hughie Critz (1930s) offensive rating: D -, "The New York Giant infield of Hughie Critz, Bill Terry, Travis Jackson and Freddie Lindstrom, the million dollar infield as it was called, and it used to perform up to its namethey were so deft, so quick, so breathtaking that the fans would sit, first in stunned silence, and then in gathered bedlam"-Arnold Hano, respected baseball historian.

Its importance in the field is shared by the player associated with it, the second baseman. Heck, he may be number one in all of baseball when considering what he meant to the game. He started at second for four. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine.

Teams: Chicago White Sox (1956-1965, 1969-1973), Baltimore Orioles (1966-68), Gold Glove Awards: 9 (1958-62, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970). Some second basemen turned defense into an adventure every time they were involved in a play.

The way it really is. And in 2019, he won his first World Series ring, with the Nationals.

Exceeded rookie limits during 1896 season.

It might be the only number as big as the game itself. His 4.0 dWAR in 1973 with a .995 fielding percentage. (Aged89-255d)

Sign up for our newsletter and get curated stats, recaps, and more from the Baseball Reference to your inbox every morning. He won rookie-of-the-year that season, finished fifth in the MVP voting, and led the league in stolen bases.

In 2008, he was the AL MVP and won the Silver Slugger Award.

Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1962. Bringing you stats, trivia, and more on all our channels daily. Welcome to All-Time #MLBRank, our ranking of the top 100 players in baseball history. Frisch had 641 assists during the 1927 season and it still stands as the MLB record for a Second Baseman. Before we get to the players, below is some background on how the list was compiled.

Here is Anne Rogers' ranking of the top 5 second basemen in Cardinals history.

After retiring in 1997, Reed went into coaching. Many thanks to him.

That stat alone might be enough to put him on this list, but when you add seven top-6 MVP finishes, 3,300 hits, a career .424 OBP, and 124.4 WAR, hes a no-doubter. Frisch became a player-manager for St. Louis in 1933 and continued managing after he retired.

And they can be a pitcher's best friend. How We Ranked Baseballs Greatest Players, PRIME = WAR in 5 Best Consecutive Seasons.

Rookie Status:

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).

Now heres the stat that you never hear: Over 12 seasons, Maz played 1,722 complete games (86 percent), the kind of durability (overuse?) (Aged66-253d)

10.

Nap Lajoie, Joe Morgan, and Ryne Sandberg are also in the conversation from different eras of the game.

He had three top-4 MVP finishes, and back-to-back 100 RBI seasons.

Teams: Toronto Blue Jays (1981-89), New York Yankees (1989-92).

It just wasn't his forte, well below average, offensively.

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. We use bWAR. I think his system is flawless, except he puts too much weight on Length of Career, but that's another article.

After retiring, he became a minor league coach and worked his way up to be first-base coach for the Phillies in 2015. Do you want big names? Second basemen are an important part of a baseball teams defense. Hes also the all-time leader in Total Zone Runs from here to Funkstown. The Hall of Famer was a magician at second base, and it was a particular treat to watch him while he partnered with another legendary defensive infielder -- Omar Vizquel -- up the middle for Cleveland.

(Age 21-349d, With those numbers its no wonder that he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1990. Only seven players have more 200-hit seasons than the seven he has, and only one player has more 100-rbi seasons than his seven.

689 stolen bases is good for eleventh all time.

Joe Morgan had a few brief stints with the Houston Colt 45s before latching on with the now Astros in 1965.

However, as Robinsons career was relatively short, he lags in the counting stats.

His .371 OBP was seventh highest in baseball for players who had at least 8,000 PA from 1970-86. His 106.9 career WAR places him behind only Hornsby and Collins at second base, and his 1,599 RBI is tops. Now guess whos second to Robinson in career Total Zone Runs at the position. After losing the 1914 World Series, Mack broke up the As and sold Collins to the White Sox for $50k. Unfortunately for Carew, he wouldnt find much post-season success in Anaheim either. -- Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN.com senior writer, Honors

He debuted in 1896 with the Phillies at first base but moved to second in 1898, where he would become famous.

October 2, 1986

Bottom line: This guy never played a postseason game, so unlike Brooks Robinson in the 1970 World Series, Buddy Bell never had a chance to showcase his skills in front of a national audience.

Hornsby bounced around considerably for the rest of his career for a player of his caliber. In 2008, the Dominican-American received his U.S. citizenship in a ceremony before a Tigers-Indians game.

Much of his career came in the low-scoring 1970s, and he won seven batting titles, hit .328 lifetime and chased .400 in 1977, when he finished at .388.

Of course, once they point this out, they then proceed to rate him an "A +" defensively and call him one of the best defensive second basemen of all time.

.333/.424/.429, OPS -- .853, Hits -- 3,315, HRs -- 47, RBIs -- 1,300, Sacrifice Hits -- 512 (all-time leader), A great player in the first two decades of the 20th century, Collins hit for a high average, stole bases, drew walks and would have won Gold Gloves if they'd had them back then. No commitment, unsubscribe at any time.

This didnt slow him down, though. He debuted with the Yankees in 2005 on a star-laden team and quickly made his presence felt, finishing second in the rookie-of-the-year voting.

Only Keith Hernandez won more Gold Gloves among National Leaguers at his best position.

We present them here for purely educational purposes. Generally, a players Career Value is worth about 50-60% of the ranking score we assign him.

Zobrist played all over the field during his time with the Rays, but the position he played the most was second base, so we'll label him as a second baseman. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Brian Dozier is a lifetime .245 hitter, but he's hit 192 home runs and made $30 million in career salary. 4. January 21, 1993 As opposed to the puss arm who couldnt throw out Sid Bream with the 1992 NLCS on the line.

Eddie Collins has more games played at second base than anyone in the history of the game: 2,650.

Despite his success in St. Louis, Hornsby was traded to the Giants after the Cardinals won the World Series in 1926.

11-20: Here is a list of 10 other second basemen that were in serious contention of taking this 10th spot away from Frisch.

It doesnt make sense, in our opinion, for most of the great baseball players to have played prior to World War II, when MLB was segregated. He went to four consecutive World Series with the club from 1921 through 1924, coming out a winner in the first two.

Daytona Memorial Park, Daytona Beach, FL, Debut:

Exceeded rookie limits during 1908 season, View Player Bio

Molitor played more DH in his career than third base, but that was more due to his propensity to get injured than subpar defense. At 35, Alex Gordon is a good bet to rank second when all is said and done.

"The Glove" is the MLB career leader in Total Zone Runs and double plays at the position and it would take a search party to find the next in line. That leaves half or just under half from his long peak (seven best seasons), short peak (three best seasons), and prime (five best consecutive seasons).

Positions: He's top 10 at the position, headed to top five, and leaving the Yankees shouldn't affect his ultimate legacy as one of the best at the position. Everything he did in the field was smooth, it was elegant and it was a joy to watch. Offensive Success (Individual awards, above-average career totals, etc.) He also has 560 doubles, 2461 base hits, and a.290 batting average.