The second base position is in rougher shape than I initially thought. There is useful depth available here for 2027, but it is light on real difference makers. And that is largely because of who isn't going to be eligible at second base.
C.J. Abrams won't be, at least to start, though he does seem very likely as of now to end up eligible at second base pretty early on in the season. That is, unfortunately, less true for the likes of Sal Stewart and Otto Lopez, two of the biggest breakout stars at the position, though for opposite reasons; Stewart because he just isn't good enough defensively to justify much time there, Lopez because he's probably too good at shortstop to move back to the keystone. You have something similar with Luis Garcia Jr. (likely just a first baseman moving forward) and Ceddanne Rafaela (too good in center field to play him anywhere else).
And they aren't the only ones losing eligibility for 2027. Curtis Mead, Casey Schmitt, Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis, and Zack Gelof were all at least useful starters at second base in 2026, and none of them played there enough to retain eligibility. Gelof's is the most frustrating case, because he played his 19th game at second base in late August and never appeared there again, coming just one appearance short of retaining eligibility. Even if you're skeptical of his 2026 breakout (as I am), losing him hurts the position.
Right now, I'd say there are maybe six second basemen I feel very good about as my starter for 2026, and then another few who seem like decent starters, and then a whole bunch of useful, but ultimately replaceable options. Does that mean second base is where we should play the positional scarcity game?
Well, if you are the type of Fantasy player who cares about such things, go for it. Second base looks like clearly the weakest position in Fantasy (non-catcher, anyway) for 2027, both in terms of impact bats and viable starting options. So, if you want to nudge Fernando Tatis up a few spots in your overall rankings to ensure you get elite production out of that lineup spot, go for it.
I don't really care all that much about positional scarcity, so I won't be doing much waiting there. I don't mind targeting Tatis in the first round, obviously, but the fact that he is second base eligible only plays a small factor. In part, that's because I just don't care that much about positional scarcity in drafts – we aren't as good as we think we are at projecting which positions will actually be weak and which will be strong in any given season, so I'll just try to draft the best players and not worry too much about which position they'll slot in at.
But I also don't care too much about positional scarcity at second base because plenty of guys unexpectedly gain eligibility there all of the time. Of all infield positions, it is the one where teams seem most willing to just toss a guy out there and see if they can handle it. Don't have enough range for shortstop or enough arm for third base? Get ready to learn second base, buddy.
Which is to say, second base is never actually as bad as it looks. Some hotshot shortstop prospect will probably find himself starting at second base on Opening Day that we can't see coming right now, or some veteran will find himself pushed there based on how his team's offseason goes. It happens every year, and while you probably shouldn't plan your draft around being able to plug someone in at second base unexpectedly, you surely will end up with more options than you expect once the games start. That's just the nature of the position.
For more on the state of the second base position, check out Scott White's rankings and thoughts on the top 20 in his way-too-early rankings for 2027 here.
2026 Second Base Review
- Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP: .289 - 96 - 25 - 83 - 38
- Brice Turang, MIL: .268 - 102 - 21 - 100 - 19
- Brandon Lowe, PIT: .260 - 94 - 35 - 96 - 2
- Otto Lopez, MIA: .305 - 94 - 11 - 71 - 34
- Luis García Jr., NYY: .277 - 69 - 30 - 92 - 5
- Ceddanne Rafaela, BOS: .285 - 67 - 16 - 70 - 17
- Kody Clemens, MIN: .239 - 74 - 27 - 81 - 10
- Jazz Chisholm Jr., NYY: .231 - 69 - 19 - 55 - 41
- Luke Keaschall, MIN: .282 - 86 - 10 - 52 - 20
- Luis Arraez, PHI: .310 - 67 - 6 - 64 - 10
- Bryson Stott, PHI: .256 - 71 - 10 - 67 - 27
- Zack Gelof, ATH: .256 - 76 - 22 - 55 - 16
If we remove the players who won't be second base eligible in 2027, Ketel Marte, Ozzie Albies, Ezequiel Duran, and Nick Gonzales slide into the top 12. Which kind of highlights the point about the position: There were plenty of useful options, but few true difference makers. The replacement level at second base tends to be pretty high. However, the difference between, say, the 10th-best option at the position in 2026 and the 20th was a little under $3 in value in the FanGraphs Player Rater – at shortstop, the difference between No. 10 and No. 20 was closer to $5, for example.
Biggest Breakout from 2026
Otto Lopez, Marlins
Lopez slowed down considerably in the second half of the season but still had the breakout many suspected was lurking. He won't hit .305 ever again, but something like a .280 average, double-digit homers, and 25-plus steals is still valuable from a second baseman. Unfortunately, he won't open next season with second-base eligibility. Unless he gets traded to a team with a very good shortstop, he isn't likely to add it anytime soon. So we'll pivot to …
Kody Clemens, Twins
I guess? Clemens finished as the No. 7 second baseman thanks to a huge power breakout that saw him hit 27 homers. The counting stats beyond that were pretty iffy because he didn't really play against lefties earlier in the season. His .233/.286/.393 line against lefties isn't a disaster, but coming from a 30-year-old with clear defensive limitations, the Twins wouldn't be out of line to spend the offseason at least looking for a platoon partner for him. I think there's a pretty good chance we just saw the best season of Clemens' career. I wouldn't be looking to draft him as a starter in 2027 at this point, but if it looks like he's primed for an everyday role, you could definitely get a Brandon Lowe-esque outcome from him in a best-case scenario.
Biggest Bust from 2026
Yeah, I think we might be done here. There were some signs of life from Altuve immediately after the All-Star break, as he hit .308/.373/.440 in August, but he collapsed back to a sub-.700 OPS in September and hasn't posted an OPS north of .800 in a month since July of 2025. He doesn't really steal bases anymore and the Astros lineup is underwhelming enough that you really don't get much of a boost there. Even at a relatively weak position like second base, it just doesn't look like there's much reason to even draft Altuve in 2027, sadly.
Biggest rankings movers from 2026 to 2027
Up: Brandon Lowe, Free Agent; JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals; Kody Clemens, Twins
I understand why Lowe's price was as low as it was entering 2025, with a long list of injuries that had held him to less than 110 games in three straight seasons. But he played 134 games in 2025 and hit 31 homers, and the Fantasy community responded by only moving him up to around 175th in ADP. And of course, he went out and had an even better season in 2026, so surely his price will rise, right? We'll see where he lands in free agency. Lowe proved he can still be an everyday player and still make a significant impact, and there are few players at any position who give you as big an edge on the competition as Lowe does with homers at second base; Clemens is the only other player eligible at the position for 2027 who had more than 25 homers last season.
Wetherholt's rookie season was mostly a success. A second-half wrist injury saw his production collapse in August and September when he was healthy enough to play, but he was hitting .259/.356/.399 with a 23-homer, 16-steal pace at the All-Star break and he did it as a 23-year-old. I'm not sure there are too many superstar-level outcomes for Wetherholt – that wasn't really projected for him as a prospect, either – but there's enough pop in his bat to project some 25-homer outcomes here, and he could emerge as a 20-steal guy hitting at the top of the lineup, too. The .242 final batting average is a red flag, but with his contact skills, it's not unreasonable to expect something closer to the .275 range as he grows. It's a sneaky-exciting skill set for a guy who might get lost in the shuffle a bit among other, more obviously exciting young bats.
Down: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks; Nico Hoerner, Cubs; Jose Altuve, Astros; Matt McLain, Reds
Marte's outlook for 2027 is at least somewhat in flux because he seems pretty likely to get traded away after all of the ... weirdness in Arizona. He took a step back in 2026, with his .249/.316/432 line clearly his worst since 2022. The underlying numbers were still plenty strong, if not quite as good as his previous few seasons. That's not unusual for a 32-year-old, and betting on a player multiple years into his 30s to bounce back after a down season is often a surefire way to invite disappointment. But if you go into next season expecting something like a .275 average and 25-plus homers (plus whatever run production his likely new home ballpark and lineup will allow), he should be a fine pick after the first four or so rounds are done.
Hoerner dipping down to just 23 steals in his age-29 season seems like a pretty bad sign. It doesn't mean he can't bounce back, but speed generally fades as a player hits their 30s, and the fact that it was combined with the lowest BABIP Hoerner has posted in any MLB season feels like an especially worrying sign. I don't mind betting on a bounceback when Hoerner will likely come very cheap, but if he isn't hitting near the top of the Cubs lineup, he might just be a Fantasy also-ran even if there is some positive regression; he scored just 62 runs in 2026!
There was some real hype around McLain after a massive Spring Training, which should serve as a reminder that, even with all of the information at our fingertips, your bias should still strongly tilt in the direction of dismissing Spring Training production. McLain still has a mildly intriguing power/speed combination, but after watching him flirt with the Mendoza Line in consecutive seasons, it's clear he just doesn't do enough well to make the 15 or so homers and 20 or so steals worth it.
Offseason preview
Who needs an upgrade most?
One thing to note with the Nationals specifically: They talked about moving C.J. Abrams to second base and played him there a handful of times in the second half of the 2026 season, so that might be a hole they fill internally. Shortstop would likely be filled by Nasim Nunez at first, with Seaver King as a candidate to win the job out of Spring Training and Eli Willits as the likely longer-term option.
Top impending free agents
- Jazz Chisholm
- Brandon Lowe
- Luis Arraez
- Gleyber Torres
A year ago, Chisholm looked like he might be a $200 million man when he hit free agency; now, it feels like a real question whether the Yankees will even extend a qualifying offer to him. He seems extremely likely to end up on the market for a long time before settling for the kind of one-year-plus-an-option contract that has become so common in recent years. He still has a very Fantasy-friendly skill set – 19 homers and 41 steals even in a down season! – but the batting average is actively harmful and the strikeouts really hurt his value in points leagues. I actually like the idea of betting on a bounceback in 2027, but Chisholm's poor contact skills will likely always leave him with a very low floor to worry about.
Trade candidates
- Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
- Otto Lopez, Marlins
- Ozzie Albies, Braves
- Bryson Stott, Phillies
- Brendan Donovan, Mariners
Albies is a very interesting one, because his contract is still dirt cheap (just $7 million in 2027), but it's not clear he's even worth much more than that at this point. He hasn't been worth more than 1.4 WAR in a season since 2023; he is just 26th in WAR among second basemen since the start of 2025. Entering his age-30 season, is there really much reason to bet on a bounceback? He's cheap enough that the Braves will probably just keep him around, but he also probably isn't good enough for a team that truly aims to contend to keep starting every day, especially with how little they've gotten from the shortstop spot over the past few seasons.
Top 2027 rookies to know
- Michael Arroyo, Mariners
- Demetrio Crisantes, Diamondbacks
- Devin Fitz-Gerald, Nationals
- Max Anderson, tigers
The thing we have to remember is that shortstops end up being overrepresented in prospect rankings, while second- and third-basemen are inherently underrepresented. Shortstop prospects inevitably end up moving off the position at much higher rates than at any other position, so at least some of the big, flashy names at shortstop will move to second base. And that's good news, because the list of top prospects at second base heading into 2026 is pretty underwhelming! But we could see more interesting names like Franklin Arias, Seaver King, Luis Pena, or Leo De Vries end up playing enough second base to qualify there some time in 2027.
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