He played in Baltimore and New York. In addition, he played in the first six all-star games, beginning in 1933. That score is 114th all-time entering the 2020 season and puts him narrowly above the likes of Sal Bando (61.5), Willie Davis (60.8), and Gary Sheffield (60.5). Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011, Alomar is considered by many to be the greatest player in Blue Jays history, and he remains involved with the organization through the Blue Jays Baseball Academy and Tournament 12. Frankie Frisch (1920s) offensive Rating: A +. He led the league in WAR three times as a second baseman. And then there's Roberto Alomar. Kent was one of the best offensive second basemen of all time and arguably the position's best power hitter. After retiring in 1997, Reed went into coaching. He'll be . The only knock on Muncy is defense, as he rates below average at the position, and he's coming off Tommy John. .320/.404/.480, OPS -- .884, Hits -- 2,839, HRs -- 184, RBIs -- 1,427, They called him The Mechanical Man, a tribute to his consistency. The 10-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove Award winner remains the only player in Major League history to hit a walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series, which he did to lead the Bucs past the Yankees in 1960. And in 2013, he coached the Israeli national team in the World Baseball Classic. Walker won the Silver Slugger Award in 2014. Dodgers top 5 >, Giants: Jeff Kent, 1997-2002Key fact: Hit 351 of his 377 career home runs as a second baseman, a Major League record for the positionKent played for six teams over his 17-year career, but he enjoyed his most prolific stretch during his tenure with the Giants. San Diego Padres (1988-90), Toronto Blue Jays ('91-95), Baltimore Orioles ('96-98), Cleveland Indians ('99-2001), New York Mets ('02-03), Chicago White Sox ('03-04), Arizona Diamondbacks ('04), Honors In 1937, when he won the batting title, Gehringer was also the AL MVP after hitting .371/.458/.520. Pedroia, who has played for Boston for all of his 14 years in the big leagues, helped raise the World Series trophy in 2007 and 2013. Sandberg went on to manage Philadelphia from 2013 to 2015. Hi Nels. 1/9 Tommy Edman, St. Louis Cardinals - 96. Teams: Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers. Alomar made it to the big leagues at the tender age of 20 in 1988 as a Padre and retired 17 years later with the White Sox. Bottom line: "Ryno" was the gold standard for second basemen during his 16-year career. And in 2019, he won his first World Series ring, with the Nationals. His defensive rating on Fangraphs leads all second basemen all-time with over 1,000 plate appearances. -- David Schoenfield, ESPN.com senior writer, Cano can do it all: He hits for both average and power, tied with Rogers Hornsby among second basemen for the most seasons (five) with at least a .300 batting average and 25 home runs. Again, I can't remember which of his books. Hill excelled in 2009, when he rebounded from a concussion that ended his previous season and was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year after slugging 36 home runs and notching 108 RBI. He played 10 seasons; give him another seven or eight and he'd be right up there with Rogers Hornsby and Joe Morgan. In 1996, Morandini excelled in the field, participating in 87 double plays while making just six errors good for a .990 fielding percentage. Teams: Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants. Bottom line: After being drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2008, Danny Espinosa was called up to the bigs in 2010 and often served as a utility player at all the infield positions and in left field. He ranks second in all-time WAR-162 and sixth in WAR7 among second basemen, representing his dominance. .333/.424/.429, OPS -- .853, Hits -- 3,315, HRs -- 47, RBIs -- 1,300, Sacrifice Hits -- 512 (all-time leader), A great player in the first two decades of the 20th century, Collins hit for a high average, stole bases, drew walks and would have won Gold Gloves if they'd had them back then. He debuted in 1896 with the Phillies at first base but moved to second in 1898, where he would become famous. It was in that same timeframe that the As became a dynasty, winning back-to-back World Series titles from 1910-11 and a third in 13. Espinal came to the Blue Jays from the Red Sox in trade for Steve Pearce back in July of 2018, one of those trades that worked out well for both teams. Welcome to another edition of Top Ten! He ranks ninth on Fangraphs WAR for all offensive players and 12th on Baseball-Reference. Lajoie was a fierce competitor, often getting into it with umpires. There's a reason no one in baseball can wear No. Lajoie played most of the rest of his career in Cleveland, finally returning to the As for his final two seasons in 1915-16. To start the 2018 season, Panik set an MLB record by becoming the first player to hit solo home runs in back-to-back 1-0 victories. Oh, and he could hit, too, as his .316/.369/.432 slash line illustrates. As the Reds dynasty began to collapse, Morgan eventually moved on and played his final five seasons with four different teams. It didnt matter where Lajoie played in the field; he was excellent everywhere. We have gone to great lengths to make our All-Time Baseball Player Rankings as thorough as possible. In 2007, he tied the As team record for consecutive errorless games at second base (70). Grich also tops the Orioles' list for all-time best second basemen. The contribution to championship teams (player performance in seasons where his team wins the pennant) is a small factor in most cases. Coming back to the Cards was, you guessed it, Frankie Frisch. That's short for Three True Outcomes, also known as walks, strikeouts and home runs. ALL-TIME #MLBRANK, Top 100: 100-91 | 90-81 | 80-71 | 70-61 | 60-51 | 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1, Insider analysis: 100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41 | 40-21 | 20-1, Top 10s: LHP | RHP | C | SS | 3B | 2B | 1B | LF | CF | RF, My Top 10: Kurkjian | Stark | Olney | Crasnick | Schoenfield, Stark: The perception of greatness in the Top 100, Szymborski: Who's in the future 100? Hornsby got a taste of the show in 1915 and was a regular with the Cardinals the following season. In 2007, Phillips joined the 30-30 club 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in one season. Bottom line: Kudos to a player who never exactly excelled in the major leagues, but crafted a 15-year career with six different teams, playing both second base and shortstop. The best defensive second baseman of his time, and perhaps of all time, "Maz" is ironically best remembered -- and memorialized outside of PNC Park -- for his unmatched accomplishment at the plate. 17. Baseball Best MLB Defensive Players of All Time By Paul Ladewski, updated on March 11, 2020 Old-Time Baseball Photos / Facebook TTO has done more to hurt defense than Daniel Murphy ever could on his worst day. You know, before we realized they would float if dropped into the Hudson River, like Derek Jeter's Gold Gloves float. Philadelphia Phillies (1896-1900), Philadelphia A's ('01-02, '15-16), Cleveland Bronchos ('02), Cleveland Naps ('03-14), Honors Brooks Robinson and Scott Rolen. Castillo holds the Marlins' record hitting streak of 35 games, which went from May 8-June 21, 2002. St. Louis Cardinals (1915-26, '33), New York Giants ('27), Boston Braves ('28); Chicago Cubs ('29-32), St. Louis Browns ('33-37), Honors Bottom line: Dustin Pedroia is the first Boston Red Sox player to ever win four Gold Glove Awards. Kinsler was a star on the Rangers' two pennant-winning teams of 2010-11, but Julio Franco was also an outstanding second baseman, earning three All-Star selections and winning an AL batting title. Scott is a SoCal native who, after two decades of fighting L.A. traffic, decided to turn his passion for fantasy sports into a blog - the now-defunct Fantasy Mutant. They only made the playoffs twice in his tenure and never went to a World Series. And he did most of it under the most trying of circumstances. JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score system) was developed by sabermetrician Jay Jaffe as a means to measure a player's Hall of Fame worthiness. The all-time leader at third base in value generated on defense with 38.8 WAR on defense alone, Robinson is sort of like Bill Mazeroski at second base -- a big postseason performance or two plus . Once Jackie debuted with the Dodgers in 1947, it became clear that he belonged. D-backs top 5 >, Dodgers: Jackie Robinson, 1947-56Key fact: Only player whose uniform number is retired across MLBA true hero, legend, trailblazer and leader -- and thats before we even get into Robinsons stats. Kent, a career .290 hitter, holds the all-time record for most home runs by a second baseman with 351 (out of 377). -- Scott Lauber, ESPN.com Red Sox reporter, Second basemen aren't supposed to be great. I guess that's why many historians say that Reed was among the best defensive second basemen that have ever graced the field, I agree with them on Reed. Let's begin with the long ball. Big personalities? Brooks Robinson is generally regarded as the GOAT defensively at third. After a falling out with Giants manager John McGraw in 1926, he was traded to the Cardinals after the season. That's more than Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg . Teams: Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers. Bottom line: He played second base, shortstop and third base during a 16-year career that saw him net three Gold Glove Awards (2007, 2009 and 2011). AND he was one of the best defensive second basemen ever. Kent, a career .290 hitter, holds the all-time record for most home runs by a second baseman with 351 (out of 377). The most decorated second baseman of all-time, Sandberg has won more Silver Slugger Awards (7) than anyone at the position to date, beginning with his 1984 NL MVP-winning campaign in which he hit . He ultimately fell short and settled for .388, but theres no doubt the 18-time All-Star, seven-time batting champion, '77 AL MVP Award winner and first-ballot Hall of Famer was one of the best pure hitters in baseball history. They are both missing that third part of the equation that so many respected historians like (Length of Career). The Cardinals, Giants and Braves all got rid of him in a three-year span. Astros top 5 >, Athletics: Eddie Collins, 1906-14, '27-30Key fact: His 55.9 fWAR is third highest in franchise history among position players (first among second basemen)A member of the famed $100,000 Infield" assembled by owner Connie Mack in the early 1900s, Collins was an elite hitter who went six straight seasons (1909-14) without batting lower than .324. Philadelphia Phillies (1981), Chicago Cubs ('82-94, '96-97), Honors The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. I think his system is flawless, except he puts too much weight on Length of Career, but that's another article. In 1990, Oquendo recorded just three errors while playing in 150 games. You missed out on Tony Lazzeri in top ten second baseman. Not all historians will call him the best defensive second baseman in history, but they will almost all call him one of the 10 best ever. Still, he'll be totally fine and a top-three second baseman in . I just love that old quote from Hano. He played every position on the diamond before settling in at second base. The Sox made it to two World Series during that time in 1917 and 1919 winning the first one. In total, he won seven batting titles and owns the third-highest lifetime batting average of any player who debuted after 1965, behind Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs. Playing for the Colorado Rockies two years later in the best season of his career, Carroll committed just three errors at second base, and led all NL second basemen in fielding percentage. Zobrist was named MVP of the 2016 World Series. Bottom line: Robinson Cano won a World Series title with the New York Yankees (2009) during his nine-year run with the Yanks. In 2014, LeMahieu led the majors with 99 double plays. McPhee also recorded 529 putouts in 1886, a Major League record which still stands; no one else is within 40 putouts"-Bill James, respected baseball historian/Godfather of Sabermetrics and the modern rating system, 2002. Then, he played his entire 10-year major league career with the Baltimore Orioles and won a World Series in 1983. Charlie Gehringers nickname was The Mechanical Man. He was dubbed so because of his robotic consistency and durability. Get Jay Jaffe's book The Cooperstown Casebook where he outlines who should and shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame based on his JAWS metric used here.. "Frisch can knock down more balls with his elbows, knees, chest and head, and by dint of his fleet recovery throw out the runner, than any nine men we know"-Gordon Mackay, respected baseball historian, 1924. White, the best success story of the once famed Royals Baseball Academy in the 1970s, had a storied career with the Royals, earning eight Gold Gloves and a Most Valuable Player Award in the 1980 American League Championship Series. In the field, he's . Childs played in just over 1,450 games and Richardson played in just over 1,300 games. In 2006, Ellis broke the AL single-season record for fielding percentage (.9968) though oddly, he did not win the Gold Glove Award that year. New York Yankees (2005-13), Seattle Mariners ('14-present), Honors Rangers top 5 >, Braves: Marcus Giles, 2001-06Key fact: Giles .809 OPS ranks first among all Braves second basemen (min. 10-time NL All Star (1966, '70, '72-79), All-Star MVP ('72), five NL Gold Gloves ('73-77), two-time NL MVP ('75-76), one NL Silver Slugger ('82), Hall of Fame ('90), Career stats*