Seattle Mariners’ Cano leads decorated group at second base

By Brody Hilgenkamp | May 25, 2016

May 23, 2016; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano (22) stands in the dugout before a game against the Oakland Athletics at Safeco Field. Oakland defeated Seattle, 5-0. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /

The Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano and Boston Red Sox’s Dustin Pedroia are the faces of a grizzled and successful group of second baseman.

The penultimate weekend of August in 2006 was a portentous time for second baseman in Major League Baseball. The Boston Red Sox were getting swept by the New York Yankees in a rare 5-game series—in Boston, no less—after which the Sox would fall 6.5 games behind their rivals. The Sox’s chances of winning the American League East essentially ended with that series.

During the series, a 23-year-old Robinson Cano was blistering every pitch in sight, knocking eight hits in the five games. He would leave Boston with a .327/.356/.480 slash line en route to a sterling sophomore season.

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On August 22, the day after the series ended, the Red Sox promoted Dustin Pedroia, who was hitting .305/.384/.426 in Triple-A. While Pedroia struggled that year in his first big league action, he would go on to win the AL Rookie of the Year and AL Most Valuable Player Award over the next two seasons.

Cano and Pedroia were two dynamic players for two storied teams in two of baseball’s best and biggest markets. A decade later, they’re still among the best at their position, and they aren’t the only veteran second basemen showing they’re still among the best in the game.

Talented young shortstops are everywhere, but there is a good chance your team’s prodigy has a grizzled and savvy double play partner. Take the Chicago Cubs’ Addison Russell: His counterpart is Ben Zobrist, a 34-year-old who leads the majors with a .449 on-base percentage. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Corey Seager is playing with Chase Utley, who from 2005 to 2010 was one of the game’s best players, let alone second baseman, as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

At a time when teams are growing more reliant on young talent, second base is being ruled old guys. Six of the top eight second baseman by FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement were over 31 years old entering play Tuesday. The other two in the top eight were 26-year-old Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Jason Kipnis (29) of the Cleveland Indians.

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The group of elder statesmen features Cano, Pedroia, Zobrist, the Tigers’ Ian Kinsler and the Nationals’ Daniel Murphy. Cano got off to a thunderous start in 2016 to relieve the concerns that came with his slow start to 2015, Murphy leads the majors in batting at .392, Kinsler has a .306/.354/.519 slash line in a deep Detroit lineup and Pedroia is having a typical Pedroia year.

This group of second baseman, Altuve and Kipnis included, might be the best assemblage of talent at the position since the late 1980s. During that time, the Cubs’ Ryne Sandberg, the Tigers’ Lou Whitaker, the Yankees’ Willie Randolph and the Astros’ Bill Doran were the premier names.

There have been other notable groups since the 80s, but the current group has them beat. In the 90s and early 2000s, Jeff Kent and Roberto Alomar were joined by Brett Boone and Ray Durham at the top of the position. The late 2000s were ruled by Utley, the Orioles’ Brian Roberts, the Tigers’ Placido Polanco, the Marlins’ Dan Uggla and the Angels’ Chone Figgins.

That last group supports the larger point that today’s second baseman are a historic class. The former group is based on FanGraphs’ WAR from 2005 to 2010. While that group makes up the top of the leaderboard, Cano, Pedroia and Kinsler are lurking at seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. All three jump into the top six when the time frame is extended one season.

With such a deep group still playing at a high level, it begs the question: How many Hall of Fame members are currently playing the position?

Cano is a lock. He’s hitting .292/.343/.573 this season and has regained the power stroke he seemed to have left at Yankee Stadium. His career numbers are already close to or have exceeded those of Sandberg. A few more seasons of similar production with the Seattle Mariners and it will be hard to keep him out.

Utley’s prime was one of the best performances at the position we’ll ever see. Even though that prime was relatively short, Utley still ranks 13th in fWAR all-time and is 15th in Baseball-Reference’s WAR. There isn’t much left in the tank as injuries have slowed him during much of the past five seasons, but his .291/.382/.412 line helps pad the resume.

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Pedroia and Kinsler will be close. They are 28th and 26th, respectively, in bWAR, but each has time to burnish his case for induction. The next three or four seasons will provide a clearer picture for them. Zobrist, Murphy and the others will be remembered as good players, but probably aren’t HOF worthy.