Fantasy Baseball: Top Ten Third Basemen for 2017 Season
By Jason Evans
10. Evan Longoria– Tampa Bay Rays
2016 stats: 160 games .273/.318/.521 36 homers 98 RBI
2017 steamer: 146 games .263/.325/.460 26 homers 87 RBI
The 31 year old Longoria had a power renaissance in 2016, hitting over 30 homers for the first time since 2013 and driving in over 90 runs for the first time since 2014. It was pretty impressive, considering he only had a .298 BABIP. Longoria also eclipsed 40 doubles for the first time since 2010.
There are some things that make you nervous if you have him in fantasy. Although, he’s durable (over 160 games the past four seasons), his strikeout rate is climbing, back over 20% for the first time since 2013, while his walk rate was the lowest of his career at 6%.
Longoria continues to be lone stable piece in Tampa as the rest of the team continues to be a revolving door around him. He’s the face of the Rays and is locked up through 2022, so it may be difficult to deal him if they decide to.