Fantasy Baseball 2016 > Rankings > Second Basemen > Rankings Archive 2015

2015 Fantasy Baseball Rankings Archive: Second Base

(Standard 5 x 5 Fantasy Stats)

Okay, okay, quit crying about Robinson Cano. His year wasn't that bad. For him, it was, but for a second baseman, you could have done worse. But here's the "I told you so" moment: Dee Gordon was a total stud in 2015, and so was Brian Dozier, and we told you so. Ian Kinsler was kind of a wreck, but Jose Altuve was great again, Jason Kipnis had an unbelievable comeback year in 2015 and even carried some fantasy teams to a championship. Neil Walker had a better year than we expected, and for all you Dodger fans out there, we're happy to report that Howie Kendrick didn't disappoint. We still think letting Dee Gordon go was a huge mistake, but Howie Kendrick ended up having a good year, too. Anyway, use the fantasy predictions below to help form your opinions for your upcoming 2016 draft, too.

RANK	Player	G	AB	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG
1	Cano, R	157	595	77	14	82	10	0.314
2	Altuve, J	158	660	85	7	59	56	0.341
3	Kinsler, I	161	684	100	17	92	15	0.275
4	Dozier, B	156	598	112	23	71	21	0.242
5	Gordon, D	148	609	92	2	34	64	0.289
6	Kipnis, J	129	500	61	6	41	22	0.24
7	Walker, N	137	512	74	23	76	2	0.271
8	Wong, K	113	402	52	12	42	20	0.249
9	Phillips, B	121	462	44	8	51	2	0.266
10	Schoop, J	137	455	48	16	45	2	0.209
11	Kendrick, H	157	617	85	7	75	14	0.293
12	Murphy, D	143	596	79	9	57	13	0.289
13	Gennett, S	137	440	55	9	54	6	0.289
14	Pedroia, D	135	551	72	7	53	6	0.278
15	Cabrera, A	146	553	74	14	61	10	0.241
16	Odor, R	114	386	39	9	48	4	0.259
17	Gyorko, J	111	400	37	10	51	3	0.21
18	Utley, C	155	589	74	11	78	10	0.27
19	Hill, A	133	501	52	10	60	4	0.244
20	Zobrist, B	146	570	83	10	52	10	0.272
21	Infante, O	135	528	50	6	66	9	0.252
22	Panik, J	73	269	31	1	18	0	0.305
23	LeMahieu, D	149	494	59	5	42	10	0.267
24	Bonifacio, E	110	394	47	3	24	26	0.259
25	Alcantara, A	70	278	31	10	29	8	0.205

Robinson Cano, top fantasy second baseman

Predictably, Robinson Cano's HRs dropped, but, predictably, he's still the best fantasy second baseman.

A lot of good second basemen took an extra stride in 2014 to become potentially great fantasy second basemen. Brian Dozier had a monster year at second base for the Twins, even though he only hit .242; Jose Altuve had a career year, but he turns only 25 years old this May, so there's a ton of time left for him to continue to perform exactly as he did in 2014.

Another surprise was Dee Gordon, showing up at second base to allow Hanley Ramirez to stay at shortstop. Not only did Dee Gordon accommodate for the better of the team, he was arguably the best offensive player in Los Angeles.

Another second baseman in Los Angeles who had a relatively big year was Howie Kendrick, although we're not sold on his act, long-term, and we think his switch from the Angels to the Dodgers is going to bite the Dodgers in the ass.

Howie Kendrick had a very productive season for fantasy owners in 2014, and the biggest help for Howie and his associated fantasy teams was, unfortunately, the injury to Josh Hamilton. When Hamilton went down with a bad thumb ligament, Manager Mike Scioscia decided to put Howie Kendrick in the cleanup spot in a pretty potent Angels lineup. Don't get us wrong: Howie Kendrick is no slouch on offense, but don't expect 75 RBI again this season for the Dodgers. The main reason is that he's definitely not going to be hitting cleanup for the Dodgers. He may hit in the 2 spot so he may score more than 85 runs (although we doubt it), but he will definitely not have the same RBI opportunities in 2015 as he did in 2014.

Doesn't it seem like Neil Walker should be in his mid-30s? 2014 was only his 5th season, but it seems like he's been around longer. Maybe it's just me. Nonetheless, Neil Walker put up some badass fantasy stats last season, especially for a guy who no one expected more than 12-15 homers from, if that. By the way, Walker is only 29 years old this season, so there's no reason to think he won't build on last season. He, too, fell into the cleanup spot with the injuries to Pedro Alvarez, and with Josh Harrison, Starling Marte, and Andrew McCutchen hitting in front of him, he saw plenty of opportunities. Neil Walker certainly capitalized on his chances in 2014, much to the delight of pleasantly-surprised fantasy owners everywhere, and we see no reason why he can't duplicate those numbers. It's not like he suddenly jumped to a 30+ home run season out of nowhere, nor are we suggesting he will hit 30 homers in 2015. We project Neil Walker to hit around 18 home runs in 2015, but don't be shocked to see 25.

Neil Walker had a breakout fantasy season with 23 Home Runs in 2014 and there's no indication he won't do it again in 2015.

Surprise Fantasy Second Basemen

Are Brian Dozier and Kolten Wong For Real?

Kolten Wong simply had to get rid of the heinous memory of getting picked off of first to end a World Series game in 2013, so he came out ready to rock in 2014. Once he hit the stage, he was all systems go... for the most part. He did miss a few weeks with injuries, but when he was in, he was above-average and reliable. Projecting him out to a 600 at bat season put him at a pace of 78 runs, 18 HR, 63 RBI and 30 stolen bases. Keep that in mind on draft day. When the others are looking at his actual, raw stats (which look pretty run-of-the-mill for a young second baseman), keep in your head the projected 600 at bats statistics because those, we think, are more likely. He's only 24 years old this season, so a full, healthy season is more likely than his abbreviated 2014 fantasy campaign.

Brian Dozier was, quite simply, all over the place in 2014, and we mean that in a good way. His .242 batting average is mediocre, but the dude gets on base. In 2014, Dozier upped his on-base percentage to .345 by walking 89 times (as opposed to just 51 the previous season). Dozier also improved from 14 to 21 stolen bases, and an astonishing 72 to 112 runs from '13 to '14. His 112 runs scored was second only to Mike Trout in all of baseball in 2014. He also clubbed 23 home runs in the 2-spot of the Twins' lineup, and he's still only going to be 28 years old in May. Draft him, put him in your lineup and forget about him. He's money.

Jason Kipnis was one of the biggest disappointments in all of fantasy baseball in 2014. Prior to the season, there was no indication that he would fall apart. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Everything looked solid for Kipnis going into last season, but as it turns out, he reportedly hit the weight room and tried to add power to his swing. Instead of the added power, he ended up screwing up his naturally-fluid swing. Now, keep in mind that's all alleged stuff. He also spent some time on the shelf last season (he only played in 129 games), but he's also just 28 years old this season and we're going to predict a comeback season for Jason Kipnis in 2015. Expect solid fantasy production out of Kipnis in 2015, and given last year's sub-par season, you may get him at a bargain in this year's draft, too.

Other Positions:

C 1B 2B 3B SS OF DH All Hitters SP RP

Top 20 Fantasy Second Basemen: Runs Scored

RANK	Player	Runs
1	Dozier, B	112
2	Kinsler, I	100
3	Gordon, D	92
4	Kendrick, H	85
4	Altuve, J	85
6	Zobrist, B	83
7	Murphy, D	79
8	Cano, R	77
9	Walker, N	74
9	Cabrera, A	74
9	Utley, C	74
12	Pedroia, D	72
13	Kipnis, J	61
14	LeMahieu, D	59
15	Gennett, S	55
16	Beckham, G	53
17	Wong, K	52
17	Hill, A	52
19	Infante, O	50
20	Schoop, J	48

Top 20 Fantasy Second Basemen: Home Runs

RANK	Player	HR
1	Dozier, B	23
1	Walker, N	23
3	Kinsler, I	17
4	Schoop, J	16
5	Cano, R	14
5	Cabrera, A	14
7	Wong, K	12
7	Rodriguez, S	12
9	Utley, C	11
10	Zobrist, B	10
10	Hill, A	10
10	Gyorko, J	10
10	Alcantara, A	10
10	Walters, Z	10
15	Murphy, D	9
15	Gennett, S	9
15	Beckham, G	9
15	Odor, R	9
19	Phillips, B	8
19	Weeks, R	8
19	Espinosa, D	8
19	Hicks, B	8

Top 20 Fantasy Second Basemen: RBI

RANK	Player	RBI
1	Kinsler, I	92
2	Cano, R	82
3	Utley, C	78
4	Walker, N	76
5	Kendrick, H	75
6	Dozier, B	71
7	Infante, O	66
8	Cabrera, A	61
9	Hill, A	60
10	Altuve, J	59
11	Murphy, D	57
12	Gennett, S	54
13	Pedroia, D	53
14	Zobrist, B	52
15	Gyorko, J	51
15	Phillips, B	51
17	Odor, R	48
18	Schoop, J	45
19	Beckham, G	44
20	Wong, K	42
20	LeMahieu, D	42

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Top 20 Fantasy Second Basemen: Stolen Bases

RANK	Player	SB
1	Gordon, D	64
2	Altuve, J	56
3	Bonifacio, E	26
4	Kipnis, J	22
5	Dozier, B	21
6	Wong, K	20
7	Kinsler, I	15
8	Kendrick, H	14
9	Murphy, D	13
10	Sogard, E	11
10	Garcia, L	11
12	Cano, R	10
12	Utley, C	10
12	Cabrera, A	10
12	Zobrist, B	10
12	LeMahieu, D	10
12	Ramirez, J	10
18	Infante, O	9
19	Alcantara, A	8
19	Espinosa, D	8

Top 20 Fantasy Second Basemen: Batting Average

RANK	Player	AVG
1	Altuve, J	.341
2	Cano, R	.314
3	Panik, J	.305
4	Kendrick, H	.293
5	Gordon, D	.289
5	Murphy, D	.289
5	Gennett, S	.289
6	Pedroia, D	.278
7	Kinsler, I	.275
10	Weeks, R	.274
11	Zobrist, B	.272
12	Walker, N	.271
13	Utley, C	.270
14	LeMahieu, D	.267
15	Phillips, B	.266
16	Bonifacio, E	.259
16	Odor, R	.259
18	Infante, O	.252
18	Solano, D	.252
20	La Stella, T	.251