May 15, 2017

RotoBaller's updated fantasy baseball third base (3B) rankings and tiers for May, looking at rest of season ranks. Kyle also looks at some risers and fallers.

The comedian Lewis Black has a fantastic bit about the dumbest thing he’s ever heard in his life. After relaying the thing in question, he cautions the audience, “Don’t think about that sentence for more than three minutes, or blood will shoot out your nose.” This is more or less how it felt trying to make heads or tails of 2017’s weird and wild first month and produce updated rankings. It’s why, unlike my esteemed colleague Nick Mariano, I went only 300 players deep as opposed to 500. Had I pressed on, it might have broken my brain.

All of which is to say, if you disagree strongly with any particular ranking, know that there’s a decent chance you could talk me into adjusting mine. The sheer number of injuries and surprise performances (in both directions) made putting this update together a stiff challenge. Nick covered the keystone yesterday, and today I'll be looking at the hot corner.

You can find our full, updated rankings here. Note that they’re based on a standard 12-teamer, so you should make adjustment based on your specific league settings. Tiers, auction values, prospects, news and more. It's all free.

2017 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Third Base (May Updates)

Third Base Rankings Analysis: May

Our top six from the preseason holds steady, with the exception of Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant flip-flopping at the top. Let's be real, though - you're not complaining about having either guy on your roster. One player you might be losing patience with is Jonathan Villar, but both Nick and myself urge you to stay the course. Despite his struggles at the plate, he's still giving fantasy owners the pop and speed that made him such a hot commodity in drafts. There remains 20/50 potential here, though it may come with a .250 average.

There's plenty of movement in our valuations outside the top tier, though. Jose Ramirez cracks the top 10 after flashing surprising pop, though he's slumped so far in May. Justin Turner jumps from 12th to seventh, despite having just one home run to his name so far. He's hitting ropes again this year, and more of them will start clearing the fence soon enough. Jake Lamb and Miguel Sano both get a modest bump, which makes me feel both great and terrible. Great, because I championed both players over the winter; terrible, because I only managed to snag a single share of each in 2017.

Every action requires an equal and opposite reaction, so obviously we've had some players drop in the rankings as well. Evan Longoria and Anthony Rendon fell out of the top 10 after slow starts, though Rendon's incredible performance on April 30 likely soothed any ill will his owners had built up toward him. Assuming they started him, anyway. Adrian Beltre went from "won't need a disabled list stint" to "might not be back until June," after having Rich Hill's blister surgically grafted onto his calf (at least, that's my theory). Joey Gallo has filled in for him admirably, though Nick and I are both still giving him some side-eye. Alex Bregman and Todd Frazier get dinged a few spots each for their early struggles, though we still have them in the vicinity of the top 100 players ROS. Third base is stacked, y'all.

A few quick hits to close things out:

• Not buying Mark Reynolds. Sorry not sorry.
• I feel like the deluge of injuries this year just underlines the value of a guy like Kyle Seager, who so rarely misses time. The slow start was par for the course, and you can expect much better days ahead.
• I should have ranked Mike Moustakas lower. The eight homers are great, but he's striking out a lot more than usual and rocking a sub-.300 OBP.
• Keep Jung Ho Kang on your watch list just in case his visa issues get ironed out.

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