The rankings for the third basemen listed here are for standard 5×5 Roto leagues (mixed universe). This format may be obsolete for those who play Points leagues, Head-to-Head, Best Ball, DFS or sim games. I try to note where format makes a difference, but it’s called “standard” for a reason, and we have to start somewhere.
These rankings are for 2025 only. I ranked the players at the position they played the most but tried to note when they qualify elsewhere — and often, it makes more sense to draft them elsewhere.
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1. José Ramirez, CLE
I was worried about his production, but apparently for not. The huge 2024 campaign was not even his best season, and now he’s definitely on track for Cooperstown. Nothing changes — allowing for statistical regression, he’s still a first-rounder at what is a shallow position this year.
2. Rafael Devers, BOS
The monster year I’ve been expecting hasn’t happened, but don’t stop believing now — Devers’ age 28 season. If it doesn’t happen again, you still get four good categories. Devers is somewhat likely to be available as a No. 3 bat this year in 12-teamers, a proposition I will not refuse.
3. Austin Riley, ATL
Riley’s early ADP of 31 shows the market is not too distressed, and indeed, his 2024 was only down a little and probably would have ended up the same as his previous three seasons if not for the health hiccup. His injury was a fluke (broken hand), and he plays every game when he is healthy. Considering his trajectory, Riley’s a great pick.
4. Manny Machado, SD
Now that we know exactly who he is, Machado is a good bet for a big year. As a Hall of Famer in the making, we should expect greatness any given season.
5. Josh Jung, TEX
Jung is a hacker with a lot of bat-to-ball talent, and I don’t think he’ll be bad for a long stretch. He can hit 38 home runs with no changes, but strike zone mastery could lead to improvement. He had four stolen bases last season with average (at best) speed. Jung’s four surgeries in four years are a concern, but his injuries have been too fluky to prove anything. You may want to pay less for him this season, but Jung’s established enough to assume last year’s problems will stay there.
6. Mark Vientos, NYM
Vientos has enough sheer ability to beat his swing-and-miss tendencies. He’ll be slump-prone until he improves, but he can compensate. The result should be prodigious power with a respectable batting average — like 38 home runs with an average slightly south of .250.
7. Junior Caminero, TB
Caminero is a big guy with a big swing, so it’s noteworthy that he hit .307 in 282 minor league games — and, of course, he’s still only 21. You never know whether the Rays will hold him back, but they need a star, and Caminero can be that guy. Tampa Bay is finally out of that House of Gloom ballpark and into sunny and stormy Steinbrenner Field, a dimensional duplicate of Yankee Stadium. Caminero has no speed, but I’ll happily take a shot with him as a mixed-league corner infielder.
8. Jordan Westburg, BAL
Westburg qualifies at third base and second base (where it probably makes more sense to draft him), but I still think his ADP of 102 is way too high. Good-to-great hard-hit numbers trump bad strike zone behavior, but his strikeout tendencies limit him. The prospect plays this year at age 26, and his path to earning his ADP will be utilizing his 91st-percentile speed. But even in the minors, Westburg never ran much.
9. Alex Bregman, BOS
For three years now, Bregman has hit righties better than lefties — note this when tempted in DFS. He seems well-suited to Fenway Park (though it’s not kind to anyone in April and May) and should have another good year or two in him. But the usual warning applies to hitters who sign big contracts with new teams, and I doubt Bregman has a $20 million season, much less a $40 million one. He’s not that good. Since his last big year in 2019, he’s an .800 OPS guy. Plus, he’s moving from a position (3B) that he plays quite well to a position (2B) that, well … who knows, but it’s rightward on the defensive spectrum. I am not reaching.
10. Maikel Garcia, KC
Garcia was chased from the leadoff slot due to a .281 OBP, but I think he had an extremely unlucky season. Garcia is not a hacker. He swung at pitches outside the strike zone just 21.5% of the time, with an excellent 6.2% swinging strikes, plus 42.6% hard hits — yet his BABIP fell from the .344 you would expect to .268. He has little power but is not a complete zero there, and he looks safe for 35 SBs.
11. Alec Bohm, PHI
Bohm cooled off considerably in August, then hurt his hand and was ice-cold through the playoffs. He makes good contact and hits the ball hard — just not so much on the ground anymore. He does use the whole field and, therefore, qualifies as one of the mere 30% of players who figure to have a better year. He also occupies a great RBI slot in the lineup.
12. Matt Chapman, SF
Chapman is an extreme fly-ball hitter who strikes out too much, but when he keeps his K rate under 25%, he delivers serious power and doesn’t kill your BA. When he’s over 25%, he drops to decent power and does kill your BA. He’s streaky with two- or three-game bursts of wonderfulness, often plodding along otherwise.
But Chapman did not plod in 2024, chipping in 15 stolen bases (he had 11 career SBs heading into last season). Consider his five-year sprint speed percentiles in light of his age (he turns 32 in April):
- 2020 – 65
- 2021 – 77
- 2022 – 78
- 2023 – 80
- 2024 – 84
Chapman looks solid for 10 bags and can easily top 15. However, he must be discounted due to his home park and surrounding lineup; therefore, this is not the year to reach.
13. Max Muncy, LAD
Nothing has changed — he’s a statistical rock in a great RBI slot — but Muncy has never played more than 144 games, and now he’s 34. He’s a likely bargain this year, but only in shallow mixed leagues where you can find someone to cover his downtime. In Best Ball and Head-to-Head leagues, he moves up three slots.
14. Eugenio Suarez, ARI
His ADP has risen from 279 to 186 in reaction to his .256 BA in 2024, a mark that seriously juiced his production. Regression is the automatic call, but maybe the market is right. His career is of the very longest streaks and longest slumps. In the four years prior to last year, he hit .221. Before that, he hit .265. The percentage play is his career BA of .248, which means his production will tail off only a little. In that case, the market is right — or right enough.
15. Royce Lewis, MIN
I think Lewis can be a great hitter, as in legit high-average power. But he’s endured two torn ACL injuries (the same one), plus loads of missed time with soft tissue afflictions — hamstring, oblique and quad. Counting on even 100 games is risky and certainly not more, which means I won’t draft him. There is always DFS (which, if you care, I regard as the best format — by which I mean the format with the least luck over time and where special knowledge can be best put to use).
16. Matt Shaw, CHC
Playing time with a longish leash seems assured for Shaw. He’s 23 years old and, therefore, has nothing left to prove in the minors. He has a big leg kick to his swing but no glaring strikeout problem — at least not yet. He’s a five-tool talent with hustle who is great fun to watch. He may not be quite ready, but Shaw should still be an average Roto hitter.
17. Ke’Bryan Hayes, PIT
His 2024 season was lost due to back woes, so his health must be confirmed, but Hayes makes well-above-average contact with hard hits. He uses the whole field, with lots of ground balls that limit his power, but he can hit .300. He’s not a big walker, which means extra hits in AVG leagues. His price is way down this year because of the injury concern, and other managers may pass on him to hunt for power or pitching in his slot. If you already have Kyle Schwarber and Cal Raleigh, you know what to do unless you have already taken Luis Arráez.
18. Nolan Arenado, STL
A little less of the same was the correct call last year, and given that his xAVG and xSLG fell even more, less of the same looks like the call for this year, too, making Arenado an average hitter with no speed.
19. Joey Ortiz, MIL
Ortiz will soon qualify at shortstop; that’s the plan, anyway. He’s not bad, but not really good — in the old days, you could say he hits enough to play shortstop. Not anymore. Ortiz has an unusual profile: excellent 5.8% swinging strikes, and he swings at strikes but does not swing at balls. He also uses the whole field with 38.4% hard hits — just a tick below average. That’s a formula for AVG/OBP. What he doesn’t do is hit line drives, as his Sweet Spot% — balls hit with a launch angle between 8 and 32 degrees — is among the lowest. Ortiz appears to me as a batter who can hit for AVG/OBP or power, but not both. He runs very well but has never stolen a lot of bases. There is a wide range of plausible outcomes, which means you can take a flyer with him — within reason. He’s also a good reserve pick in mixed leagues.
20. Isaac Paredes, HOU
Paredes continues to hit home runs with abysmal hard-hit rates and even abysmal maximum exit velocity. That’s quite a feat. However, he lost almost 100 points of slugging, and his career SLG% is now .422. Where his alarming rates really show up is his career BABIP of .245, as he is the reigning Popup King in all of baseball. (Corbin Carroll and Lane Thomas are Nos. 2 and 3) Paredes takes his walks, but on a good team, he’s a weak-side platooner. For now, he’s the regular in Houston.
21. José Miranda, MIN
Miranda was much more of a fly ball hitter last year, but weirdly, he hit for less power with a better average. His 15.4% K rate props up the AVG, and he does have some power. What he doesn’t currently have is a position to call his own, but he’s a good reserve pick in mixed leagues.
22. Connor Norby, MIA
He has elite speed that he has barely used and real and rare power for a smaller guy, but with a 33% K rate, he was lucky to hit .236. With a 23% rate in the minors, Norby could go either way. His home park won’t help. But he’ll play every day and bat second, and he did a few things at age 24, as his Barrels and Sweet Spot% can attest. Still, to me, he’s a mixed-league reserve pick.
23. Ryan McMahon, COL
I wonder if he would have had a career playing for any other team but the Rockies. He certainly wouldn’t have 3,423 plate appearances. He just strikes out too much, and his lifetime 28.7 K% is worse than it appears since the excellent visibility at Coors cuts strikeouts by about 15%. His lifetime OPS at Coors is only .813, and that’s about the size of it. I suppose he could have a freak streak, and I suppose you can do worse at CI in a mixed league, but you can definitely do better. He gets an extra buck in NL leagues for durability. Famous last words.
24. Bryan Ramos, CWS
Ramos looked better in September than in May, and he was a regular. He turns 23 in March with 455 minor league games under his belt; I like that professional training. His stats are bad, but he hit the ball hard and didn’t chase at age 22. Given his build, he also produced a surprising 86th-percentile sprint speed, but he doesn’t offer much in the running game. Ramos should have a long leash, and given the hard contact, he might help a little as a mixed-league hole-filler.
25. Yoán Moncada, LAA
Moncada’s stock has fallen far, and deservedly so, but he looked pretty good at the end of 2024, like he might be an average kinda guy. That said, I’m not taking Moncada on two teams.
26. Lenyn Sosa, CWS
Sosa also qualifies at second base. He’s an ultra free-swinger but makes decent contact (20.9% Ks). He also offers decent power but with no speed. The best-case scenario is he lays off more bad pitches and hits .280 with 20 HRs, but it’s more likely he hits .260 with 15. There’s a place for that: mixed-league replacement. It appears he’ll be a regular for the White Sox.
27. Christopher Morel, TB
What the Rays see, besides a born designated hitter, may be that Morel cut his O-zone swings and his swinging strikes. Yet, he hit .196 in a full season. There’s no doubt that was largely due to a .233 BABIP. Although hard hits are not his problem, soft contact is indeed a problem that will often result in a low BABIP. Morel is still fooled a lot. He turns 26 in June, so he’s not yet carved in stone, but he doesn’t hit enough home runs to cover a .225 BA, nor does he run much, considering his 87th-percentile speed.
28. Oswaldo Cabrera, NYY
Along with 3B duties, Cabrera played 13 games at each 1B and 2B last season. It’s all but impossible to develop while playing sporadically, but he’s a major leaguer in the little-of-everything mold. He needs a trade or an injury.
29. Noelvi Marte, CIN
Marte is only 23, so he might grow up. It happens. I really liked him last year, but I’m doing a 180 now. He doesn’t lack physical talent (he’s got loads), but his success hinges on whether he can harness it. So what does he do? Performance-enhancing drugs, which means Marte worked on what doesn’t need work, while gambling he didn’t get caught — a gamble he lost. He needs to stop flailing at balls, and if I see that in March, I’ll add a lot to this price, but not a minute before. Also, Marte was terrible at third base, and that shortens his leash.
30. Darell Hernaiz, ATH
Hernaiz has some talent. He’s been a .295 hitter in the minors with (possibly) developing power. His contact was good in 135 PAs with the A’s, which is nice to see, but low-angle hard hits and a .234 BABIP did him in. Hernaiz got sent down to the minors and came back a little better — but not much better — the second time around. He’s a spring watch for now. Also, he played 19 games at shortstop.
31. Coby Mayo, BAL
He certainly earned his promotion at age 22 but did nothing with it. He was overmatched. Mayo is a big guy with a strikeout problem that does not figure to disappear anytime soon, yet he can come on fast and is a pretty good late gamble at CI if he makes the team. And if he makes the team, Mayo will play.
32. Miguel Vargas, CWS
Vargas is the owner of an exemplary minor league slash of .308/.396/.493 in 511 games, with 18-SB speed, but it’s now been 590 major league PAs of .175/.273/.312 with 6-SB speed. At age 25, he will probably get a chance to prove he is not the proverbial Quad-A hitter. He’s not the worst late reserve, but before putting him higher, I want to get a look as late in March as possible when major league pitchers are really trying to get him out.
Prospects with 2025 prospects
Cam Smith, HOU
If Smith wasn’t the real target in the Kyle Tucker trade, then it was a terrible trade. Paredes is a decent player, but Smith has real high-average power potential that might be big-league ready, even this year. He runs well enough to play the outfield.
Brett Baty, NYM
Baty lost the third base battle to Vientos, but all hope is not lost. He has trade value due to legit lefty power, but the eternal question is whether that power is limited due to major league mistakes. The results are not encouraging so far, but he may improve at age 25.
CJ Alexander, ATH
Alexander is an aging (28-year-old) prospect with some lefty pop, and he can also play first base and corner outfield. Moving from Oakland to Sacramento/Las Vegas will help A’s hitters.
(Top photo of José Ramirez: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
