2018 AL East Positional Rankings: Infielders

All 30 major league teams kick off the 2018 regular season Thursday, which means it’s time for my second annual AL East position rankings series.

The premise is simple. I’m comparing the Orioles to their four divisional opponents at every position on the field. Today I’m covering the infielders; tomorrow, the outfielders, designated hitters and benches; and Wednesday the pitching staffs and managers.

I ran this series before the 2017 season with laughably inaccurate results. (Ranking Jose Bautista over Aaron Judge was a particularly egregious one.) But, as they say, if at first you don’t succeed … well, see if you can be more wrong the second time around.

Let’s get started with the infield, where the Orioles rank first at two positions.

Catcher

1. Gary Sanchez, Yankees
2. Wilson Ramos, Rays
3. Russell Martin, Blue Jays
4. Caleb Joseph/Chance Sisco, Orioles
5. Christian Vazquez, Red Sox

The slugging Sanchez, coming off a 33-homer, 90-RBI, All-Star season, is far and away the frontrunner among AL East catchers, despite any defensive limitations. And, at 25, he’s one of the youngest of the group, too. It’s scary to think that Sanchez, who has 53 home runs in 177 career games, may only be the third-best slugger in the Yankees’ lineup this year.

On the other end of the spectrum is the punchless Rays, who lost the top four home run hitters from their 2017 lineup this winter. They’ll be counting on Ramos, the former Washington Nationals’ All-Star, to provide some power in his first full season since his 2016 ACL tear. Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Martin — a four-time All-Star — began to show his age for the Blue Jays in 2017. Injuries limited him to the fewest games of his career (91) and a mediocre .731 OPS.

Joseph, for the first time in his career, will enter the season as the presumptive starter behind the plate. He rebounded offensively in 2017 after a zero-RBI 2016 season, and he’s a good game caller, but will he be able to handle a heavier workload? He ultimately could split time with Sisco, the Orioles’ 23-year-old catching prospect, who looks major league ready with the bat but faces questions about his defense. Boston’s primary catcher, Vazquez, is adequate but doesn’t have much upside.

First Base

1. Hanley Ramirez/Mitch Moreland, Red Sox
2. Justin Smoak, Blue Jays
3. Chris Davis, Orioles
4. Greg Bird, Yankees
5. C.J. Cron, Rays

The AL East is, frankly, lacking in star first basemen. The player who’s being paid like a superstar, the Orioles’ Davis (who is entering the third season of a seven-year, $161 million deal), hasn’t produced like one. Since 2015, his home run totals have dropped from 47 to 36 to 26; his OPS has crashed nearly 200 points from .923 to .792 to .732. And his 2018 is off to an inauspicious start, thanks to a sore right elbow that sidelined him for much of spring training. He ranks third for now.

Boston’s Ramirez is one year removed from a 30-homer, 111-RBI season, but struggled through injuries in 2017. If he’s fully recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, he could siphon playing time away from the mediocre Moreland. At the very least, they should make for a decent platoon. Toronto is banking on Smoak repeating his excellent 2017, when he batted .270 with an .883 OPS, 38 homers and 90 RBIs. Did he have a breakout season in his eighth year in the bigs, or was it a one-year fluke?

The Yankees’ Bird, 25, might have the highest upside of any AL East first baseman. After a foot injury doomed him to a 6-for-60 slump to start last season, he was a completely different player when he returned from the DL. He hit eight home runs in his final 29 regular-season games, then three more in the postseason. Bird, though, has suffered more problems with his right foot this spring — with a recent MRI revealing inflammation — and could start the season on the shelf, so he’s fallen in the 2018 rankings.

Cron, acquired from the Los Angeles Angels, has big shoes to fill in Tampa Bay. He’s replacing departed free agent Logan Morrison, who was the Rays’ best hitter last season. It remains to be seen how Cron, whose career high in starts is 103, will respond to getting everyday at-bats.

Second Base

1. Jonathan Schoop, Orioles
2. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
3. Neil Walker, Yankees
4. Devon Travis, Blue Jays
5. Brad Miller/Joey Wendle, Rays

It’s a changing of the guard at the keystone position. Pedroia, who’s been the undisputed best second baseman in the AL East for years, now slips to second in my rankings behind Schoop. The 2017 Most Valuable Oriole posted 32 home runs, 105 RBIs and an .841 OPS during his breakout season, enough to outweigh Pedroia’s defensive advantage. Schoop, 26, is a better bet for the present and future than the 34-year-old Pedroia, who has been limited to 105 or fewer games in two of the past three seasons.

The Yankees made a shrewd, late-winter signing in Walker, whom they inked to a one-year, $4 million deal March 12. That’s a steal for a solid infielder who’s been a better than league-average hitter in all eight of his full seasons. The slow-developing hot stove season almost left Walker out in the cold before the Yankees swooped in.

Travis, the Jays’ hard-luck second baseman, is injured so often that he makes Nolan Reimold look like Cal Ripken Jr. Since debuting in the majors on Opening Day of 2015, Travis has yet to play a full season, suffering from shoulder and knee injuries that have limited him to 213 games in three years. If he can finally stay healthy — a gigantic if, to be sure — he’s likely a better player than the Rays’ Miller, who had a miserable season at the plate in 2017 and is no better with the glove. Wendle, a utility type who is with his third organization, could get more starts if Miller isn’t up to snuff.

Shortstop

1. Manny Machado, Orioles
2. Didi Gregorius, Yankees
3. Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
4. Troy Tulowitzki, Blue Jays
5. Adeiny Hechavarria, Rays

Now at a new — well, technically, old — position, Machado joins his double-play partner and close friend Schoop atop the position rankings. Sure, Machado hasn’t played shortstop regularly in the majors aside from a two-month stint in 2016. But it’s the position he played throughout the minors and has always been dear to his heart. With the departure of veteran J.J. Hardy, Machado is finally getting his chance to be an everyday shortstop in the bigs (which will make his free agent resume next winter all the more impressive). It’s a good bet he’ll succeed.

Gregorius, who replaced Derek Jeter in the Bronx three years ago, has become a better player than Jeter was in his final few seasons before retirement. (I write that at the risk of incurring the wrath of Jeter’s legion of fans.) In 2017, Gregorius set career highs in average (.287), OPS (.796), homers (25) and RBIs (87) while playing a capable shortstop. In Boston, Bogaerts, after an All-Star campaign in 2016, took a step back last season with the lumber, and he’s never been a great fielder. But he’s still only 25.

What has happened to Tulowitzki? Once a perennial MVP candidate, his career has sputtered since the Blue Jays acquired him from Colorado in 2015. He’s missed time every season with injuries and that will be the case again in 2018, which he’ll start on the disabled list with a bone spur in his right foot. Manning shortstop for the Rays, meanwhile, is the defensively gifted but offensively challenged Hechavarria, who was acquired last season from Miami.

Third Base

1. Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays
2. Rafael Devers, Red Sox
3. Tim Beckham, Orioles
4. Brandon Drury, Yankees
5. Matt Duffy, Rays

If Donaldson weren’t already the best third baseman in the AL East, the rest of the division removed all doubt by eliminating his top competition this winter. The Orioles moved Machado to shortstop and the Rays traded Evan Longoria to San Francisco, leaving Donaldson in a class by himself at the hot corner. In each of his three seasons with Toronto, Donaldson has racked up at least 33 homers and an OPS of .939 or better, all while playing stellar defense.

The Red Sox, after bringing the brutal Pablo Sandoval Era to a merciful end last season, fast-tracked Devers to the majors at age 20. He was a quick study at the plate, batting .284 with an .819 OPS and collecting 30 RBIs in 58 games. Although his defense was erratic, he should improve as he matures.

The Orioles’ Beckham apparently didn’t get the memo that AL East third basemen must have last names beginning with D. He’s also the biggest question mark defensively of the group, considering he’s started only five career games at third base, and none since 2016. Still, if he can swing the bat like he did in 2017 — when he put up career bests in nearly every offensive category — the Orioles can forgive a few mistakes with the leather.

Drury, too, will be moving to a position he barely played last year, when he had just one start at third base for Arizona. He does, though, have 41 career games at the hot corner. Meanwhile, the Rays’ Duffy hasn’t played any position since 2016; he missed the entire 2017 season after having two surgeries on his Achilles’ tendon.