MLB Network’s The Shredder Gets Third Base COMPLETELY Wrong! Bryant Left Off!?

Each year, MLB Network covers the top 10 players at each position and has several of their personalities rank them. Then they have “The Shredder” do the same while taking in no human influence. As you can imagine, since the Shredder is only accounting for stats and it seems nearly 99.8% of fans only use biased opinion, the Shredder is rarely spot on.

Typically, I take notice of the standings, and I’ve even written about the rankings over the years. But ultimately they mean next to nothing at all and they aren’t as controversial as some fans make them out to be. Well… that is except this year…

The Shredder’s top 🔟 at the hot corner! #Top10RightNow pic.twitter.com/qlkcACmrvC

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 9, 2020

Where to even start!? Oh, how about the first name…

We just literally learned how much the Houston Astros depended on cheating and are learning how much more advanced and in-depth the cheating was. But here, somehow, Alex Bregman was elevated from the fifth-ranked third baseman in 2019 to the top spot in 2020. Bregman is incredible, don’t get me wrong. Bregman would be a very good player even if he had to guess at what pitches were coming… but… he didn’t have to guess. Now, as I mentioned, these rankings are based on stats and results and don’t have human influence so the top ranking isn’t a giant surprise. But, this isn’t a good look if the top spot is a cheater.

Anthony Rendon, Nolan Arenado, and Matt Chapman absolutely belong in the top five. Arenado has been the best third baseman for a while now, Rendon has been very good and had a giant 2019, and Chapman is that next in line type that does it on both sides of the ball.

But then we get to number five on the list in Jeff McNeil. Let me just show you McNeil’s career numbers at third base.

.351/.435/.568 4 HR 16 Runs in 27 GAMES. Yes, McNeil has played just 27 career games at third in the 196 games he’s played in the big leagues. 27 games and he’s rated as the fifth-best third baseman coming into the 2020 season.

Now, don’t get me wrong, McNeil can absolutely rake. But he’s only played 27 more games at third base than I have. While it has been announced that McNeil will be the primary 3B in New York, he still hasn’t done it enough to be considered a third baseman. This is like Kris Bryant qualifying for first base rankings since he’s played the position 19 times in his career.

I have a GIANT issue with McNeil being on this list. Maybe the 2021 list he finds his way onto, and after a full season ACTUALLY playing the position he would have earned it. Just not now, especially when there are many others that were left off.

I don’t take issue with Josh Donaldson, but I do feel there was two Chicago third baseman that should be on the list either just ahead or him sandwiched between. I already hit on Bryant, and while Donaldson finished with a 4.9 fWAR and Bryant finished with a 4.8, Kris had a higher wOBA and wRC+ than Donaldson. But, maybe the Shredder puts a higher emphasis on HR and games played (except, how would you explain McNeil then).

But that doesn’t excuse it from leaving Yoan Moncada off the list. Moncada had a 5.7 fWAR in 2019, slashed .316/.367/.548, and had a 141 wRC+. Donaldson did hit 12 more homers than Moncada in nearly 100 more plate appearances.

When looking at the next four, you can clearly see the Shredder puts too much weight into the HR. We see Eugenio Suarez (49 HR) on the list ahead of guys like Bryant (31), Moncada (25), and Rafael Devers (32) it just seems that they put far too much weight in the four-bagger.

But it doesn’t really explain Justin Turner being on the list above Bryant, Moncada, or Devers. Turner finished 2019 with 27 homers, and while he missed a good chunk of time, the rest of his numbers don’t really catch him up. If you rated these four, how would you rate them?

	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HR	R	wRC+	wOBA	WAR
Bryant	0.282	0.382	0.521	0.903	31	108	135	0.379	4.8
Moncada	0.315	0.367	0.548	0.915	25	83	141	0.379	5.7
Devers	0.311	0.361	0.555	0.916	32	129	132	0.377	5.9
Turner	0.29	0.372	0.509	0.881	27	80	132	0.37	3.4

If I were to reorder the top 10, this is how I would do it.

• Rendon
• Arenado
• Chapman
• Bregman
• Bryant
• Moncada
• Devers
• Donaldson
• Machado
• Suarez

I would finish off the next several like this; Ramirez, Turner, Vlad Guerrero Jr., McNeil. The list in 2021 could very well look a lot differently, but every player on this list has a better resume than McNeil, which is why he is last. I wouldn’t argue with anyone that wants to push guys like Mondaca and Devers up above Bryant. I think in that zone we are having discussions on tenure/resume vs 2019.

The third base position is packed, so it often comes down to what you prefer most. Defense, offense, homers, or arm. But just don’t tell me someone that hasn’t played the position deserves to be on the list ahead of seven others that have played the position at a very high level for years.