2B: Early Draft Results

After 15 rounds in Rotographs’s 12-team ridiculously early draft, 13 second basemen have been drafted. A few surprises have popped up, but again in 2013, the 2B position has it talent spread out pretty evenly.

Note: Aaron Hill was not included when the article first ran. He has been now included.

To begin with, here are the Oliver Projections for the 2B qualified players who have been drafted from rounds 1 to 15:

Draft Position	Name	PA	AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
7	Robinson Cano	686	623	104	30	97	5	3	.303	.362	.525
30	Dustin Pedroia	609	538	90	16	64	17	6	.287	.358	.448
36	Ian Kinsler	662	582	110	22	64	20	6	.258	.341	.441
49	Ben Zobrist	658	560	82	17	86	17	6	.261	.357	.435
56	Jason Kipnis	536	480	69	13	58	15	4	.254	.324	.395
68	Brandon Phillips	653	598	92	18	74	15	7	.279	.328	.429
69	Jose Altuve	467	434	55	10	46	19	19	.278	.322	.407
81	Aaron Hill	547	498	73	19	64	10	4	.265	.323	.448
86	Danny Espinosa	632	567	75	20	62	17	9	.242	.312	.413
94	Rickie Weeks	598	522	84	22	59	10	3	.250	.342	.436
135	Neil Walker	588	529	65	13	79	8	5	.266	.328	.415
145	Dan Uggla	655	566	88	26	85	3	3	.238	.336	.423
165	Marco Scutaro	541	485	76	6	53	7	3	.264	.313	.353
167	Howie Kendrick	598	553	65	12	73	12	5	.275	.318	.410

Also, here are the players with their projected stats prorated to 600 PA each. I feel last year’s rookies are being overly penalized, so I evened out the playing time.

Rank	Name	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG
7	Robinson Cano	600	91	26	85	4	0.303
30	Dustin Pedroia	600	88	15	63	16	0.287
36	Ian Kinsler	600	100	20	58	18	0.258
49	Ben Zobrist	600	75	16	78	15	0.261
56	Jason Kipnis	600	78	14	65	17	0.254
68	Brandon Phillips	600	84	16	68	14	0.279
69	Jose Altuve	600	70	12	59	25	0.278
70	Aaron Hill	600	80	21	70	11	0.265
86	Danny Espinosa	600	71	19	58	17	0.242
94	Rickie Weeks	600	85	22	59	10	0.250
135	Neil Walker	600	67	14	81	8	0.266
145	Dan Uggla	600	81	24	78	3	0.238
165	Marco Scutaro	600	84	7	59	7	0.264
167	Howie Kendrick	600	65	12	73	12	0.275

No real surprise with Cano going in the first round. I was a little surprised it took until the end of the 3rd round for the pair of Kinsler and Pedroia to get picked. The next three taken were Zobrist, Kipnis and Phillips. Personally, I have Phillips ranked higher than Kipnis. After that point, the 2B just slowly got drafted, about 1 every round.

After looking at our draft, it looks like there are 4 tiers of 2B so far:

Tier 1
Robinson Cano

Tier 2
Dustin Pedroia
Ian Kinsler

Tier 3
Ben Zobrist
Brandon Phillips

Tier 4 – everyone else.
Jason Kipnis
Jose Altuve
Aaron Hill
Danny Espinosa
Rickie Weeks
Neil Walker
Dan Uggla
Marco Scutaro
Howie Kendrick

Looking at the 600 PA weighted projection, the first player drafted in Tier 4 was Jason Kipnis (pick #56) and Howie Kendrick (pick #167) was the last. Their projections have them producing almost the same stats.

Stat: Kipnis, Kendrick
Runs+RBI: 143, 138
HR: 14, 12
SB: 17, 12
AVG: .254, .275

Yes, Kipnis looks to be better, but not by much. He is definitely not 110 picks better. After the first five 2B go, all the rest of the players have multiple warts. Just draft the player to help your team at the time. Need power, get Uggla. Need steals, draft Altuve. Don’t care, wait to get the last one available.

One issue with looking at just these 13 is Zobrist and Espinosa have SS eligibility and they are likey to be drafted as shortstops. Even more decent, but not great 2B are available like Daniel Murphy and Chase Utley.

In 2013, 2B looks to be nice and deep, especially in 12 team leagues. If a team doesn’t get one of the top five 2B, don’t fret and worry about them for while. Fill out the other positions of need and get one of the relatively equal second basemen 8 to 10 rounds later.