Where do Jose Ramirez, Alex Bregman and Manny Machado fit among the top 10 at the position?
Three A's, a whole lot of B's and one F -- but who got them? Final MLB offseason grades for all 30 teams Three A's, a whole lot of B's and one F -- but who got them? Final MLB offseason grades for all 30 teamsJose Ramirez is making a strong case to be considered one of the best third basemen in baseball history.
Spring training camps are underway, which means it is time to look at the state of baseball. As part of our 2026 MLB season preview, ESPN's Buster Olney surveyed those around the industry to help him rank the top 10 players at every position as part of his annual positional ranking series.The objective of this exercise is to identify the best players for the 2026 season, not who might be best in five years or over their career. We will roll out a position per day over the next two weeks. Here's the rest of the schedule: starting pitchers .He finished third in the MVP voting last year, the seventh top-6 finish in his career. He's won six Silver Slugger awards. He's approaching 2,000 career hits. I asked colleague Tim Kurkjian about Ramirez's place in history."He is a certain future Hall of Famer," Kurkjian said."He is already on the Mount Rushmore of baseball in Cleveland. "Only Bob Feller made more All-Star teams than Ramirez, and when contract ends, he will have spent 24 years with the organization. He has a chance to replace Feller as the greatest player in Cleveland history." Terry Francona managed Ramirez for the first 11 seasons of his career."He is what every manager is looking for," Francona wrote in a text."You don't manage him -- you wind him up and stay out of his way. I love everything about him. He commanded the clubhouse."There's long been a debate about whether there is such a thing as clutch, and we're not going to pretend to know the answer to the larger question. But it's indisputable that Ramirez has been a more productive hitter with runners in scoring position over the last two years.-- and Caminero is 22 years old. The guy just wrecks fastballs -- he batted .333 with a .742 slugging percentage against four-seam fastballs last year, and 27 of his homers were against four-seamers or sinkers. With the Rays moving back into Tropicana Field this season, it will be interesting to see how Caminero fares in a park less favorable as the team's 2025 home of Steinbrenner Field, where Caminero batted .313, as opposed to .218 on the road.The expectation that Bregman would excel at Fenway Park, a place that theoretically fits his swing, never came to pass -- he had a .761 OPS at home last year, but .875 in road games. So maybe the adjustment to the pitcher-friendly Wrigley Field won't be as difficult for Bregman as some have predicted. Bregman turns 32 at the end of March, but he has nudged his exit velocity upward in recent seasons -- last year's 90.1 mph average matched his career high -- and as an above-average defender, he becomes part of what is expected to be MLB's best defense with the Cubs.Like Ramirez, Machado is climbing the list of the best third basemen of all time. He needs 41 homers to reach 400, an achievement that will probably happen sometime in 2027, and he's at 61.7 WAR for his career. He's about to pass Hall of Famer Todd Helton on that list, and during the season, he may pass Dave Winfield, Jackie Robinson, Andruw Jones and Shoeless Joe Jackson, among others.Last year was a breakout season for the Kansas City infielder, who had 60 extra-base hits among 170 for the season, with an OPS+ of 123.is generally considered to be the best defender at this position, but Garcia led AL third basemen in defensive runs saved with 13 and in outs above average at 18, winning the AL Gold Glove Award.The five-time Gold Glove winner saw his WAR drop from 7.1 in 2024 to 4.1 last year, but that was still among the leaders at the position. Chapman is going through some gradual changes at the plate. He cut his strikeout rate to 23.6% last season, his lowest since he played for Oakland in 2019, and his 13.3% walk rate was the highest of his career.Bichette demonstrated in the World Series that no matter how much of a layoff he has had, he still has rare ability as a hitter. Even after he had missed seven weeks, he became an immediate threat -- he had eight hits in 23 at-bats, with four walks and four homers -- and the Mets bought in big for a player who has led his league in hits twice and has a .294 career average. He'll be a nice fit to bat behindin the Mets' lineup. The defensive challenges for Bichette are real, as he moves from shortstop to third base. Rival evaluators have noted that at shortstop, he almost never dove for ground balls -- the-step-and-dive is elementary for playing third in the big leagues -- and he has some inconsistency with his throwing. Stars as great as Cal Ripken and Alex Rodriguez initially struggled in the move from shortstop to third base.Dodgers coach Bob Geren has bestowed special customized seats at the front of the L.A. dugout, devoting those spots to players who are locked in to every pitch during the course of a game. One of those bears's name; the other belongs to Muncy, who is deeply focused on how opposing pitchers are trying to work. Muncy continues to be devastating against right-handed pitching: Last year, he had a slash line of .267/.409/.514 vs. righties.Three A's, a whole lot of B's and one F -- but who got them? Let's hand out offseason report cards.Riley had season-ending core surgery in August -- an issue previously referred to as a sports hernia -- and this spring he has told staffers that he feels much better. The Braves hope so because they need Riley to be the player he was from 2021-23, when he generated a staggering 18.7 WAR, with 104 doubles and 108 homers, for an OPS+ of 135. Riley is under contract for the next seven seasons.When Correa failed his physical examinations with the Giants and Mets as a free agent prior to the 2023 season because of an issue with his ankle, the concern was that a past injury would begin to affect him in his early 30s. His production was very good in 2024, when he had an OPS of .905 for the Twins, but last year, his numbers dipped to .276/.332/.402, with 42 extra-base hits in 584 plate appearances. He'll play most of this season at age 31, his first full year playing third base. The Astros really value his leadership in the infield. A nod here for Westburg's production when he's been on the field, and his potential. But he's hurt again, with a torn ligament in his elbow -- a brutal injury for Baltimore. If he responds to treatment, it will be interesting to see if he remains at third base when he comes back, or if the O's shift him to second to take pressure off his throwing., it may be that Barger won't see as many reps at third base this season after starting 67 games there in 2025 and coming off the bench to play in 24 others. We'll see. But so many evaluators came away from the World Series believing that no matter where Barger plays, he's going to dent opposing pitchers. He went 22-for-60 in October, with 3 homers, 8 walks and 12 strikeouts, showing off a lot of skills at the plate. Durbin will fit right in with the Red Sox's push to build a pitching-and-defense team, and like many others in the Boston lineup, he's good at getting on base and putting the ball in play. Shaw vastly outplayed expectations on defense last year, but with the addition of Bregman, he will move into more of a utility role, including playing in the outfield.Hayes is here because of his defensive dominance. He led all third basemen in defensive runs saved and outs above average last season. This is a big year for Philadelphia's third baseman. He'll be a free agent this fall, and the Phillies at least explored the idea of bringing in another infielder,, which may have impacted Bohm's status. Bohm had a wRC+ of 105 last season but he was markedly better in the second half, batting .305 with a .358 OBP in his last 64 games. New York had hoped McMahon would be helped by the Yankee Stadium boost for left-handed hitters, but he had an OPS+ of 81 after being acquired from Colorado. But his extraordinarily smooth defense earns him a spot here.With Hayes such a strong defender, we're going to assume for the sake of these lists that Suarez will get the bulk of his plate appearances at DH.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
MLB 2026: Everything to know about MLB's pitch-tipping crazeWith a new rule already in place, MLB front offices are cracking down on another tiny way to get an advantage.
Read more »
Buster Olney's 2026 top 10 at every MLB position: Third basemenWhere do Jose Ramirez, Alex Bregman and Manny Machado fit among the top 10 at the position?
Read more »
MLB 2026: Everything to know about MLB's pitch-tipping crazeWith a new rule already in place, MLB front offices are cracking down on another tiny way to get an advantage.
Read more »
Celebrities Front Row at the Burberry Fall 2026 2026 Ready-to-Wear Show PhotosSee photos of celebrities front row at the Burberry Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear Show: Skepta,
Read more »
Buster Olney's 2026 top 10 at every MLB position: ShortstopsBuster Olney's ranking of the top players at every position continues with the premier infield position: shortstop. Find out who comes out on top of this star-studded field.
Read more »
Buster Olney's 2026 top 10 at every MLB position: ShortstopsBuster Olney's ranking of the top players at every position continues with the premier infield position: shortstop. Find out who comes out on top of this star-studded field.
Read more »