Second Base

April rankings:

1. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
2. Jonathan Schoop, Orioles
3. Brad Miller, Rays
4. Devon Travis, Blue Jays
5. Starlin Castro, Yankees

At second base, the Orioles were second to none. Schoop broke out with a sensational season, crushing 32 home runs and placing sixth in the AL with 105 RBIs en route to winning Most Valuable Oriole honors. He started 158 games at the position, 50 more than any other AL East second baseman.

Pedroia’s offensive numbers dipped a bit, but he played his usual strong defense, while Castro rebounded offensively from a miserable 2016, but continued to struggle with the glove. Both players missed significant time with injuries. And you can’t mention injuries without discussing the Blue Jays’ snakebitten Travis, who — for the third time in his three big league seasons — spent much of the year on the DL. He underwent knee surgery that ended his season in June. His primary replacements, Darwin Barney and Ryan Goins, didn’t hit, but played strong defense.

That’s more than can be said of the Rays’ Miller, who did nothing well. Coming off a 30-homer season in 2016, he dipped to nine long balls in 2017 while batting .201. He also was one of the worst defensive second basemen in the game.

End-of-season rankings:

1. Schoop, Orioles
2. Pedroia, Red Sox
3. Castro, Yankees
4. Travis/Barney/Goins, Blue Jays
5. Miller, Rays

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