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The Top Unsigned Second Basemen

By Darragh McDonald | January 26, 2024 at 5:35pm CDT

Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training in about three weeks but a slow offseason means there are still plenty of free agents out there. MLBTR already took a look at the catchers, first basemen, shortstops, third basemen, center fielders and starting pitchers still available and will now take a look at some notable second basemen.

  • Whit Merrifield: A late bloomer who also signed an extension with the Royals, Merrifield is now a free agent for the first time at the age of 35. He’s never been a huge power guy, nor does he take many walks, but he’s tough to strike out and has had some success with the contact approach. He’s also provided defensive versatility by playing the keystone and the outfield, along with some brief time at the infield corners. In each of the past three years, he’s hit either 10 or 11 home runs while walking less than 7% of the time, but his strikeout rate has never climbed above 17.1%. He’s stolen 82 bases over those three seasons while getting solid defensive grades at second and passable marks in the outfield corners. His .284/.330/.420 career batting line translated to a 101 wRC+.
  • Tim Anderson: From 2019 to 2022, Anderson hit .318/.347/.473 for the White Sox for a wRC+ of 123. But his batting line dropped all the way to .245/.286/.296 last year. That translated to a wRC+ of 60, the worst mark of any qualified hitter in the league. His glovework also seemed to decline, relative to his previous work. He’s a prime bounceback candidate, with an April knee injury perhaps helping to explain his poor results last year. The lack of available shortstops could lead to him getting a job at that position but he has expressed a willingness to move over to second going forward.
  • Amed Rosario: Mostly a shortstop in his career, Rosario got his first taste of second base in the latter stages of the 2023 campaign. His glovework received solid marks at the keystone, albeit in a small sample of 190 innings. But since he was never considered a strong defensive shortstop, he’s probably best suited to move across the bag regardless. Like Anderson, the weak shortstop market might get him a gig at that spot but he could be a solid option on the other side if that’s his best bet. He’s also a bounceback candidate, having hit .263/.305/.378 for a wRC+ of 88 last year but .282/.315/.412 for a 101 wRC+ in the four previous seasons.
  • Donovan Solano: Somewhat quietly, Solano has been an excellent utility piece over the past five years. Since the start of the 2019 season, he has hit .296/.355/.413 for a wRC+ of 112. His on-base percentage hasn’t been below .339 in any of those seasons and his wRC+ never below 100. He’s done that while playing all four infield positions, though he hasn’t played shortstop in the past two years. The majority of his time in the field has come at second base, where he’s received passable reviews for his glovework.
  • Adam Frazier: Somewhat similar to Merrifield, Frazier doesn’t walk much or run up huge power numbers, but he’s tough to strike out and does a few things well. His 13 homers in 2023 were a career high and he has career walk and strikeout rates of 7.4% and 13%, respectively. He’s hit .269/.331/.393 overall for a wRC+ of 98, though his 2023 output was slightly below that, except in the power department. DRS likes his glovework at the keystone but OAA doesn’t, though both like his work as an outfielder. He’s tallied double-digit steal totals in each of the past three seasons.

Honorable mentions: Elvis Andrus, Enrique Hernández, Tony Kemp, Kolten Wong

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2023-24 MLB Free Agents MLBTR Originals Adam Frazier Amed Rosario Donovan Solano Elvis Andrus Enrique Hernandez Kolten Wong Tim Anderson Tony Kemp Whit Merrifield

Rangers Sign Travis Jankowski To One-Year Deal
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Rangers Designate Daniel Duarte For Assignment
View Comments (42)
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42 Comments

  1. Motor City Beach Bum

    2 years ago

    Poor Tim Anderson. Pretty hard to be worse than Javy Baez last year but he did it.

    4
    Reply
    • nukeg

      2 years ago

      Poor TA indeed. Dude is not getting a break from the media. They’re like…

      2016: up and coming stud
      2017-2020: stud
      2021-2022: all-star stud
      2023: biggest piece of dogs.hit ever

      4
      Reply
      • I.M. Insane

        2 years ago

        Jackie did it to himself.

        2
        Reply
    • Murphy NFLD

      2 years ago

      Yea im only watching baseball about 20 years or so it reminds me of Dee gordon in a way, were he was amazing i thought then just fell off. Jose Reyes to a lesser extent aswell

      1
      Reply
  2. LambchoP

    2 years ago

    Polanco from the twins is available, we need pitching!

    1
    Reply
    • yeasties

      2 years ago

      It doesn’t help when everyone else knows the Twins want to cut salary at the same time.

      The offers the Twins are getting are probably along the lines of “We’ll do you guys a favor and take Polanco if you eat 75% of that contract”

      Reply
    • D-Nice

      2 years ago

      Not sure whether they’d wanna deal with Detroit, but I wouldn’t mind taking Polanco and his contract for Manning. He’s actually pretty good when not getting hit in the foot by line drives. That happened twice last season.

      1
      Reply
  3. Simm

    2 years ago

    So the best you can hope for from most of these guys is a league avg hitter.

    1
    Reply
    • avenger65

      2 years ago

      Simm: Yet more proof that expansion dilutes talent.

      1
      Reply
      • YankeesBleacherCreature

        2 years ago

        Dude… last expansion was 25 seasons ago. A crackdown on PEDs, baseball manipulation, and high -velo and -spinrate pitching are what led to an aggregrate offensive decline we see today.

        3
        Reply
    • D-Nice

      2 years ago

      I actually think Anderson could be a bounce back candidate. The knee injury in April may have just thrown everything out of whack for him. I mean, how do you go from batting champion to worst hitter in the league that fast. We’ll see how motivated he is, I guess.

      Reply
  4. LambchoP

    2 years ago

    I wouldnt mind a reunion with Solano, he was actually pretty clutch for us:)

    2
    Reply
  5. SFBay314

    2 years ago

    Donnie Barrels needs to come back to SF, gabe hates hitters.

    6
    Reply
    • oldgfan

      2 years ago

      Great clutch hitter.
      Always seemed to come up big when needed. That was a few years ago though.

      2
      Reply
  6. 88 Brooklyn Dodgers

    2 years ago

    If they really end up actually rejecting Pujols from the Hall of Fame, it will be an outrage Considering the fact that they just let joe mauer in which is laughable

    5
    Reply
    • Waldo29

      2 years ago

      Did I miss something? Is someone prominent saying Pujols isn’t a hall of famer?

      9
      Reply
    • pd14athletics

      2 years ago

      You could hear a lot of things for the first time if you spend time in a psychiatric ward, but I wouldn’t give credence to anything that is said.

      3
      Reply
    • DarkSide830

      2 years ago

      wut

      1
      Reply
  7. LambchoP

    2 years ago

    Pujols is a sure fire hall of famer

    6
    Reply
    • 88 Brooklyn Dodgers

      2 years ago

      One would think. One would think… don’t be surprised and you heard it here first

      2
      Reply
      • GhostofRandySavage

        2 years ago

        Man, wouldn’t that be something? Best of luck to Pujols.

        1
        Reply
        • 88 Brooklyn Dodgers

          2 years ago

          The new age pseudo stats might ruin it for him

          Reply
        • GhostofRandySavage

          2 years ago

          True. If Sheffield can’t get in, anybody’s fair game.

          1
          Reply
        • avenger65

          2 years ago

          analytics, metrics, statcsst, etc. SUCK!

          1
          Reply
      • avenger65

        2 years ago

        Get enough attention yet, Beach Fan?

        7
        Reply
      • DarkSide830

        2 years ago

        Pujols has a better shot of being unanimous than he has of getting last the 1st ballot.

        1
        Reply
    • Motor City Beach Bum

      2 years ago

      Pujols = First ballot unanimous vote.

      Reply
  8. MarkieFresh

    2 years ago

    Only two Giant second baseman have won silver sluggers.
    Jeff Kent and Donovon Solano.

    1
    Reply
    • sugoi51

      2 years ago

      @markie Little Joe Morgan won one for the Gigantes as a second baseman in 1982, the same season he was Comeback Player of the Year.

      Reply
    • Not a clever name

      2 years ago

      Wow and I thought I knew the Giants well. Surprised Robby Thompson isn’t in that group. Nice fun fact. Sure did love watching Solano, living in Solano county made him a fun player to root for.

      Reply
  9. KingZeke8

    2 years ago

    I’m surprised Merrifield is still out there. Granted, he just turned 35 and isn’t what he used to be but still has great speed and is versatile. I kind of see him as a poor mans Ben Zobrist who could be a super utility guy

    8
    Reply
  10. filihok

    2 years ago

    Contracts

    I hope the 29 teams I do not root for go for brand names, whatever that means

    I absolutely hope the team I root for uses all the information available when valuing players

    2
    Reply
  11. Murphy NFLD

    2 years ago

    For these it would be nice to talk about the handedness hitting wise and show if they have any platoon type advantages. Im sure most of the guys left are 2nd division/rebuilding team starter types, platoon guys who hammer 1 hand but not the other or defensive wizards.

    Reply
  12. Zippy the Pinhead

    2 years ago

    So let’s say you’re ridiculous enough to run the Mariners. If you had a choice of rolling out some combination of Josh Rojas and Dylan Moore at 2B or anyone on this list except Frazier (who might well be cooked), who do you start at 2B on opening day?

    Reply
    • DarkSide830

      2 years ago

      I find it crazy Dipoto gets the credit he gets for consistently making at best average teams. It’s a shame too, SEA has a great system and development pipeline.

      Reply
  13. King123

    2 years ago

    Donnie Barrels is underrated. He’s a great player.

    2
    Reply
  14. DarkSide830

    2 years ago

    If KC is making a real playoff push this year then Whit makes a ton of sense.

    Reply
  15. D-Nice

    2 years ago

    I agree. Especially when the sabermetrics can’t even agree. DRS and OAA almost never agree, it seems.

    Reply
    • filihok

      2 years ago

      D-N

      Yes. Better use the eye test where everyone always agrees

      Reply
  16. D-Nice

    2 years ago

    Solano or Merrifield look like the best options here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Anderson bounced back. The knee injury in April may have threw him out of whack. Hard to believe that he’d go from batting champ to worst qualified hitter that quick. He should be motivated to prove everyone wrong.

    Reply
  17. 178iq

    2 years ago

    The Yankees would love a 2nd basemen that hits .320. But will they sign tim Anderson for his bat & very decent fielding? Or stick with the .260 hitting Gleybor-day because he’s cheap and controllable? Is he worth anything? Can they even Trade him ?

    1
    Reply
  18. bigfatandugly

    2 years ago

    as a jays fan whoever signs whit will not be disappointed. a solid contact hitter, great team guy, leader, plays his ass off has good speed between the bags and is good at baseball despite a middling wrc+

    Reply

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