Buster OlneyFeb 23, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
Spring training camps are underway, which means it is time to look at the state of baseball. As part of our 2026 MLB season preview, ESPN’s Buster Olney surveyed those around the industry to help him rank the top 10 players at every position as part of his annual positional ranking series.
The objective of this exercise is to identify the best players for the 2026 season, not who might be best in five years or over their career. We will roll out a position per day over the next two weeks. Here’s the rest of the schedule: starting pitchers (Feb. 16), relief pitchers (Feb. 17), catchers (Feb. 18), first basemen (Feb. 19), second basemen (Feb. 20), shortstops (Tuesday), corner outfielders (Wednesday), center fielders (Thursday), designated hitters (Friday).
Brooks Robinson set a standard for defense at third base. Eddie Matthews and Mike Schmidt were the best power hitters to play the position. Adrian Beltre should have been a unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame. There’s George Brett, Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones and Alex Rodriguez (who was a shortstop for half of his career).
He finished third in the MVP voting last year, the seventh top-6 finish in his career. He’s won six Silver Slugger awards. He’s approaching 2,000 career hits.
“Only Bob Feller made more All-Star teams than Ramirez, and when [Ramirez’s] contract ends, he will have spent 24 years with the organization. He has a chance to replace Feller as the greatest player in Cleveland history.”
Last year was a breakout season for the Kansas City infielder, who had 60 extra-base hits among 170 for the season, with an OPS+ of 123. Ke’Bryan Hayes is generally considered to be the best defender at this position, but Garcia led AL third basemen in defensive runs saved with 13 and in outs above average at 18, winning the AL Gold Glove Award.
The five-time Gold Glove winner saw his WAR drop from 7.1 in 2024 to 4.1 last year, but that was still among the leaders at the position. Chapman is going through some gradual changes at the plate. He cut his strikeout rate to 23.6% last season, his lowest since he played for Oakland in 2019, and his 13.3% walk rate was the highest of his career.
Dodgers coach Bob Geren has bestowed special customized seats at the front of the L.A. dugout, devoting those spots to players who are locked in to every pitch during the course of a game. One of those bears Freddie Freeman’s name; the other belongs to Muncy, who is deeply focused on how opposing pitchers are trying to work. Muncy continues to be devastating against right-handed pitching: Last year, he had a slash line of .267/.409/.514 vs. righties.
Jordan Westburg, Baltimore Orioles: A nod here for Westburg’s production when he’s been on the field, and his potential. But he’s hurt again, with a torn ligament in his elbow — a brutal injury for Baltimore. If he responds to treatment, it will be interesting to see if he remains at third base when he comes back, or if the O’s shift him to second to take pressure off his throwing.
Caleb Durbin, Boston Red Sox: Durbin will fit right in with the Red Sox’s push to build a pitching-and-defense team, and like many others in the Boston lineup, he’s good at getting on base (.334 OBP in his rookie season) and putting the ball in play.
Matt Shaw, Chicago Cubs: Shaw vastly outplayed expectations on defense last year, but with the addition of Bregman, he will move into more of a utility role, including playing in the outfield.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cincinnati Reds: Hayes is here because of his defensive dominance. He led all third basemen in defensive runs saved (19) and outs above average (22) last season.
Alec Bohm, Philadelphia Phillies: This is a big year for Philadelphia’s third baseman. He’ll be a free agent this fall, and the Phillies at least explored the idea of bringing in another infielder, Bo Bichette, which may have impacted Bohm’s status. Bohm had a wRC+ of 105 last season but he was markedly better in the second half, batting .305 with a .358 OBP in his last 64 games.
Ryan McMahon, New York Yankees: New York had hoped McMahon would be helped by the Yankee Stadium boost for left-handed hitters, but he had an OPS+ of 81 after being acquired from Colorado. But his extraordinarily smooth defense earns him a spot here.
Eugenio Suarez, Cincinnati Reds: With Hayes such a strong defender, we’re going to assume for the sake of these lists that Suarez will get the bulk of his plate appearances at DH.
When Correa failed his physical examinations with the Giants and Mets as a free agent prior to the 2023 season because of an issue with his ankle, the concern was that a past injury would begin to affect him in his early 30s. His production was very good in 2024, when he had an OPS of .905 for the Twins, but last year, his numbers dipped to .276/.332/.402, with 42 extra-base hits in 584 plate appearances. He’ll play most of this season at age 31, his first full year playing third base. The Astros really value his leadership in the infield.
Buster OlneyFeb 23, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine/ESPN.com Analyst/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”Follow on X
Ramirez is the king of the mountain on our list of top third basemen.
2025: 143 plate appearances .321 BA/.458 OBP/.519 SLG 2024: 170 PA .326/.394/.597