Updated Fantasy Baseball Third Base Rankings - 5x5 Mixed Roto Leagues

Fall in line, RotoBallers, because we're heading to the hot corner on our final descent towards the 2022 fantasy baseball season. RotoBaller is constantly working to try and bring fantasy baseball managers the best advice, especially during draft season. A big part of that includes regular updates to our tiered rankings for all formats.

Our MLB rankers -- JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Ariel Cohen, Nicklaus Gaut, and Nick Mariano -- have recently updated our 2022 Mixed League rankings to help you prepare for draft day. And now we make our way to the third base rankings for fantasy baseball.

You can also find our other draft rankings for all sorts of league formats, continually updated throughout the preseason, right here in our main fantasy baseball Rankings Wizard tool. Also, make use of all our premium resources with our MLB Draft Kit.

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Updated 2022 Third Base Rankings

n case you missed it, our very own "Big Pick Nick" Mariano was named the #1 overall most accurate industry expert ranker for the 2018 season, and Ariel Cohen was the top ranker in 2019. In addition, ATC Projections by Ariel Cohen have been the #1 most accurate projections system for the past three years. Be sure to follow their updated rankings and projections all season long!

Tier One

José Ramírez operates in a tier of his own at the top. Even in a down 2019 season, he still hit 23 home runs with 24 steals! In the shortened 2020, JoRam went 17/10 with a .292 average, and last season he went ballistic with 36 longballs while going 27-of-31 on the basepaths. The Guardians are not a good team, but this switch-hitting superstar is worth the price of admission. He is also worth a top-five pick in drafts! I don’t need to convince you of much regarding the unanimous top pick at the hot corner. Given the shallower nature of 3B, he’s widely accepted as a top-three pick with no other giving you 20-plus steals alongside enormous pop.

Tier Two

In my mind, Tier Two is more of a 2A/2B situation rather than an evenly-struck tier between Rafael Devers and Manny Machado. While I’m encouraged that Machado hustled for 12 steals, he may not push beyond 30 home runs in San Diego. No matter how you slice things, missing Fernando Tatis Jr. is going to hurt the R+RBI production coming out of that order. That said, I’m thrilled when Machado’s solid pop and modest speed slide to the back end of Round 2 because the top-three are truly cornerstone bats.

But Devers is the one sneaking into some first rounds after thwacking 38 home runs and going for 214 R+RBI and five steals in a scary Boston lineup. Even as a left-handed bat, Fenway Park is still a strong place to swing it and Devers’ 2021 pull rate of 36.4% was his lowest figure since the short rookie campaign of 2017. After we saw him push in the shortened 2020 with career-worst marks in plate discipline (5.2% BB rate, 27% K rate, 16.1% SwStr rate), he rebounded on all fronts in ‘21. He remains inefficient on the basepaths (5-of-10), but that’s better than zero attempts in 2020. Remember, he’s only 25-years-old and we may see another level emerge from that swing! For what it's worth, he is demolishing spring pitching:

Rafael Devers leads the majors with 5 HR this spring, in only 22 plate appearances. To put that in perspective, if he homered at that rate last year (664 PA), he would have hit 150 HR.

— J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) April 1, 2022

Tier Three

Are you feeling lucky, punk? It can feel like a high-noon standoff out of an old Western film when staring down Adalberto Mondesi and his insane volatility. Are you willing to take such a big risk this early in drafts? With speed getting more difficult to get a stranglehold on, there will always be more than one drafter willing to fight for Mondesi’s skill set. 

In just 35 games last season, Mondesi muscled six home runs with 15 steals. Give that a casual 4x to reach 140 games played and you get a 24 HR/60 SB pace. Any pop above the 12-15 range feels like a bonus, but that 60-steal potential was echoed by 24 swipes in 59 games of 2020 and 43 in 102 games in ‘19. At 26-years-old, is this the year KC manages his playing time enough to keep him healthy?

Following last season, Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore and general manager J.J. Picollo made statements covered by The Athletic that outlined a desire to have Mondesi play in 125-140 games. Hopefully, the lockout didn't mess up their meticulous training regimen too much, but we'll see how often they trot him out in April.

If that’s not your cup of tea, you can go for another risky young player in Austin Riley. One of Atlanta’s stretch-run heroes, Riley abstained from walks and turned his aggression in the batter’s box up to 11. He was rewarded with a .333 batting average in the second half (.276 in the first) with 19 home runs and 18 doubles over 72 games. Atlanta is a hitter-friendly park, especially when it warms up in the summer, but if he orients his future approach on one that leaned on a .397 BABIP then I’m wary at this lofty price point.

Tier Four

You can see from this small grouping that you get a couple of steady floors who look to provide 25-30 home runs and a strong batting average to compensate for lead feet. The outlier is Alex Bregman, who has shown incredible upside but is coming off of a wrist injury that required surgery and whose Statcast profile has never supported the power shown. And yet, he’s shown said power! Was his recent downswing tied to an ailing wrist or natural regression given his Statcast data? That answer is usually a combination of factors, but that’s not what scares me. 

Even if you buy into Breg’s recent dip being more about the injury, he will now (allegedly) have to contend with a deader ball that shouldn’t sail so casually into the Crawford Boxes. Someone with his lackluster Statcast data isn’t the type who can write off a change to the ball by the weight of his swing alone. It’s something to note, though I still believe a healthy Bregman is worthy of this tier and Houston’s lineup remains a playoff-caliber machine.

Tier Five

I’m a fan of targeting this tier if I miss out on one of the top-three, especially with Josh Donaldson going to the Bronx and Matt Chapman heading to Toronto. If you had to choose two offenses to toss your mid-round flier onto, those would be at the top of the list. We’ll have to see how Chris Taylor responds to treatment. I remain hopeful, but if an IL stint is necessary, then so be it. His spot on a stacked Dodgers roster with all sorts of positional eligibility is worth the slot.

If you can need to sprinkle in a bit of speed, Ke’Bryan Hayes is the move. While Hayes is battling a minor ankle injury, he reportedly joined live batting practice on Saturday and looks to have a full rebound in 2022. That danged wrist injury sapped his swing in 2021 but we still saw him go 9-of-10 on the basepaths in 96 games. This is someone I expect to give us 30 HR+SB, generating plenty of fantasy value even on Pittsburgh.

Tier Six

Here’s where you really start to drill down into category-based needs. If you need a well-rounded average, then you’re going for Jeimer Candelario or hoping that Alec Bohm rebounds without defensive woes at third dragging his mindset down. But the Phillies may stick with him there instead of shifting him to 1B or DH, and then we keep those fingers crossed. Philly’s offense is so stacked that I’m okay taking the shot here.

We can’t ignore Jonathan Villar either, who brings double-digit power and speed to the table even without an everyday job. The Cubs boast a deep infield at the moment, with Frank Schwindel planted at first, Patrick Wisdom at third, and then Nick Madrigal, Andrelton Simmons, Nico Hoerner, and Villar all slotting in the MI slots. Of course, Villar can also play third and the DH provides another avenue. Target his talent late and let his versatility sort out where the playing time falls.

Tiers Seven, Eight & Beyond

How high do you need to aim here? Are you in deep leagues where you’re just trying to score cheap volume, looking for PAs from Yandy Diaz? Or are you like me, swinging for the fences with a Mike Moustakas resurgence in Great American Ballpark? There’s something for everyone, but we’ll hone in on a few others that interest me.

Some are ranked as accumulators, banking on a slow drip of contributions to get you by. A few are relatively-unknown players who could catch fire and ride a hot start to a full-time gig worthy of higher draft capital. That’s where you’ll get Ramon Urias in Baltimore, Ha-Seong Kim in San Diego, Josh Harrison in Chicago, Andy Ibanez in Texas, and Edwin Rios in Los Angeles.

The latter has seen the most recent spotlight shift following AJ Pollock’s trade. With one fewer bat between Ríos and steady playing time, the 27-year-old could unleash the hell we expected in 2020. His right shoulder had been a problem since college ball and things came to head with a partially torn labrum last May, which led to season-ending surgery. Now healthy, Ríos is 7-for-18 with three home runs thus far in spring training and demands additional attention. Prior to his surgery, Ríos had clubbed eight home runs in just 83 plate appearances back in ‘20. That is the kind of power on display!

Edwin Ríos' strong spring continues. Rios was going through a dreaded 1-40 slump before heading to the IL with the shoulder injury. Before '21 Babe Ríos posted a 150 wRC+, 12 HR, in 139 PA in 60 games from ('19-'20). Dodgers comeback player of the year.🔥pic.twitter.com/IzfH5cZ2gz

— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) March 30, 2022

When you go further than this, you’re simply hoping for a lucky break on a deeper prospect or someone like Jon Berti having a hot week with some speed. Most of you with never have to worry about treading so deeply into the player pool, but maybe we see Mauricio Dubon deliver on that ..908 OPS he snuck in at Triple-A last year! Hope springs eternal.

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