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And the Shallow Position is…..3B
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From www.thebaseballfix.com
And the Shallow Position is…..3B
It changes year to year, unless you count catcher that is. But hey, who counts catcher? Sure, Chase Utley is still better then any other second baseman but there is now a tier two and even decent tier three for second. Same for first and short, which leaves us with third base. Tier one is flat out nasty. Consisting of A-Rod, David Wright and Miguel Cabrera. All will be first rounder’s and all should be top ten picks. Tier two is also very solid, featuring a slue of third baseman that could easily perform as well as the tier one. However, they all come with question marks that keep them slightly below the three headed monster that is tier one. Tier two look’s as follow’s in no particular order(will save those for a separate article)
Tier 2 Ryan Braun, Chipper Jones, Aramis Ramirez, Garrett Atkins, Chone Figgins
Tier three is where it get’s tricky in your draft. You could end up with Ryan Zimmerman and probably feel good, but keep in mind he has been slow to recover from a wrist injury that required surgery. Next up, maybe you grab Mike Lowell or Alex Gordon. Well, Lowell set many career high’s last year (in a contract year) so expect some drop off and as for Gordon. He should be solid and he will be a stud, but is next year the year? Probably want to leave that gamble to some one else based on the pick you would have to spend to get him (adp reports him as 8th rounder in 15 team lqs). Tier three is as follows
Tier 3 Ryan Zimmerman, Mike Lowell, Alex Gordon, Adrian Beltre
Beyond Tier three is a sea of question mark’s. Guys like Eric Chavez, Troy Glaus, and Joe Crede. Sprinkle in some young players who show promise like Kevin Kouzmanoff and Mark Reynolds and you have a high risk/high reward at the hot corner. This is fine for a Corner Infielder, but should not happen for a starting third base man.
What does all this mean? My advice to dealing with the scarcity of the position it to do one of two things. First, if you are picking in a spot in the first round where either of the big three are available grab one, if it is a toss up at your pick between them and either OF/1B. Next, if your first round pick falls after the top tier is gone you need to grab a tier two in the third round. Now some may feel that this is a round or two to early for say Jones or Atkins. However if you wait and grab from a deeper slot you maybe starting a tier three who dos not pan out, all year long. Some fantasy players have already identified this trend as well. The evidence can be seen in ADP reports. All of tier two 3B have moved up a round at least. So be mindful and remember you are building a team, not filling out an all star ballot. So draft for need and scarcity to really allow yourself to push a positional edge all year. Trust me, I know the urge to grab B.J. Upton in the third is hard to resist. But, I also know that Atkins and Weeks are a much better bet heading into the year then Upton and Beltre.
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