As you prepare for your fantasy baseball drafts, figuring out who you want to target in drafts and who you want to avoid is important. Culling your draft list is crucial to make it go seamlessly.
Third base is often talked about as being a bad position in fantasy this season. However, it is not as bad as it seems, but it does have very serious drop-offs from the top of the pool to the middle to the bottom. Here are my picks for third basemen to target and avoid at the first base position in 2023.
- ADP Target & Avoid: Catchers | First Base | Second Base | Shortstop
- Fitz’s Positional Primers
- Justin Mason’s Draft Day Cheat Sheet
- Players the Experts Draft
- Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Third Basemen to Target/Avoid
Targets
Manny Machado (3B – SD) ADP 15.11
I can’t understand why more people don’t like Machado as a first-round pick. If you don’t count the shortened 2020 season, he has hit at least 28 home runs each season. He adds 100 RBIs and like 100 runs scored along with chip-in speed as well as a very good batting average. You can’t really ask for much more from a third baseman.
Ryan McMahon (2B, 3B – COL) ADP 207.65
McMahon has settled into being a 20-homer guy that is great in Coors and not so great on the road, but what he has quietly done is add a nice little speed component to his game. He stole six bases in 2021 and seven last year, and that has made him a lot more valuable in a position that offers very little speed. If you play in NFBC or in a daily moves format, you can optimize his home road split really nicely this season as well.
Jordan Walker (3B – STL) ADP 239.82
Walker is one of the top prospects in baseball. While there is a crowded situation in the outfield, where he is transitioning to because of Arenado, he is crushing in spring training with three home runs and a .429 average in 29 at-bats. He has very little to prove in the minor and could force his way into the Opening Day roster. If they announce he will be up on Opening Day, expect him to be drafted in the top 50 picks and be well worth that price. Grab him in your drafts as soon as possible.
Justin Turner (3B – BOS) ADP 257.24
I felt better about this call before Turner got hit in the face with a pitch this last week, but it sounds like he is going to be ready for opening day. Turner is always underrated, but now he is moving to a nice park in Boston where he is going to be a full-time DH, which should help him stay on the field. He struggled early in 2022, but after August, he was fantastic, hitting .318/.384/.503 with five home runs. I am betting on him in deeper leagues for a nice first year in Beantown.
Avoids
Gunnar Henderson (3B – BAL) ADP 91.79
Henderson has been a favorite of many in the fantasy industry because he is a top-tier prospect. Long term, I don’t really have many concerns about him, but I am fading the 2023 price. I think he will hit for decent power but not overwhelming. He has speed, but we did not see him use it on the base paths in the Majors. The biggest issue is the platoon splits. Henderson crushed right-handed pitching but really struggled against lefties hitting .130/.231/.217 against southpaws, which is something that was an issue in the minors as well.
Max Muncy (2B, 3B – LAD) ADP 145.82
Muncy was one of the easiest fades last season, coming off of the elbow injury without getting surgery. However, he was pretty good from August on. So, why am I fading him? First, he still hasn’t gotten the elbow surgery, and I worry that it will catch up with him. Second, a lot of Muncy’s value previously was wrapped in his ability to cash in on the lineup around him. While it is not barren, the Dodgers lineup is no longer the juggernaut that it once was. He won’t kill your team, but he no longer helps it like he used to.
Eugenio Suarez (3B – SEA) ADP 158.95
We know what Suarez is at this point, a nice power source in a good lineup. However, he has the ability to crush your batting average. He did hit .238 in 2023, which is fine, but he also did with a higher BABIP than we have seen from him in recent years, and his xBA was just .220. The average drain is just too risky unless you are dying for power.
Anthony Rendon (3B – LAA) ADP 238.36
What is Rendon at this point? The problem is I don’t know. If he is healthy, maybe he returns to being the 30-homer guy with a good average, but I think there are just good odds that he is a mid-teens homer guy with a mediocre average, and that is IF he stays healthy, which he hasn’t been able to do in a while.
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