MLB: Building the All 25 and Under Team
By Jason Reed
The Infield:
- C: J.T Realmuto
- 1B: Wil Myers
- 2B: Corey Seager
- SS: Francisco Lindor
- 3B: Manny Machado
Okay, I may be cheating here a little bit. Three of these players in the infield are shortstops. Machado, who has played more games at third than at short, isn’t as crazy as Seager at second base. The reason Seager is at second and not short, is Lindor is a phenomenal fielder. It is nothing against Seager, as he put up great numbers as well, it is just Lindor is meant for shortstop. With many already predicting that Seager will move to third later in his career, it’s easy to see why he is at second for this team.
J.T. Realmuto did amazing last year and no one outside of Miami seemed to notice. Realmuto posted a .303 batting average, 11 home runs, 44 runs batted in, and 12 stolen bases. However, he is the only qualified catcher that is 25 or younger, which definitely makes this choice the easiest. Same with Wil Myers, he still had a great overlooked season, but he is the only qualified first baseman. That doesn’t take away from his 28-28 season, 28 homers and 28 stolen bags.
The middle of the infield is absolutely phenomenal. Seager, in my opinion, is the most well-rounded of this infield. He led all shortstops in batting average (.308), displayed power with 26 home runs, and despite having low amounts of steals he is a great base runner; his 105 runs show that. Lindor is very similar to Seager, however with Lindor we substitute a little bit of power for more speed on the base-paths. Machado, well Manny Machado has been great for several years. He remained one of baseball’s bests this year with his 37 home runs, 96 runs batted in, and a .294 average.