For a long time, third base was the middle ground position in the infield. The bats were never quite as strong as they were at first base, but they weren't quite as one-dimensional, either. You'd find more slugging at third base than at second (and often shortstop), but with worse batting averages and significantly less speed.

But 2024 and 2025 saw some changes in that regard. It was a real fallow period for the third base position, as the .305 and .307 wOBA produced in 2024 and 2025, respectively, represented the worst collective marks from third basemen since at least 2002. No other season saw production from the position dip below .310, and in 2026, we saw some regression to the mean, as the position managed a .316 mark.

That's not great, mind you. But where third basemen were collectively below average hitters in 2024 and 2025, they reverted to being right on the average line for the league. And you saw it reflected in Fantasy production, with 13 third basemen contributing at least $10 in value, per the FanGraphs Player Rater; it was only nine in 2024 and, somehow, only six in 2025. 

And, unlike at second base, which was hit with a tidal wave of attrition this offseason, most of the key names at third base in 2026 will retain eligibility for 2027. The most notable name who won't is Jazz Chisholm, and you'd rather just play him at second base at this point anyway. Sal Stewart, Miguel Vargas, and Kevin McGonigle may not stay at the position in the long run, but at least for 2027, you'll be able to use any of the three there. And that young trio is a big part of why the position is in better shape than the previous couple of seasons. 

Of course, given their lack of track records, it wouldn't be a shock if any of those three took a step back in 2027. Ditto for Kazuma Okamoto, as well as for older players like Nolan Arenado or Alex Bregman, both of whom counted among the number of pleasant surprises at the position last season. 

That's all to say that there's no guarantee this trend sticks. It feels pretty good right now, but Jose Ramirez and Manny Machado felt like pretty safe picks this time a year ago, and we saw what happened there. Things are pointed in the right direction, to the point where, if you want to play the positional scarcity game, you're better off doing it at second base than third. But that doesn't mean the arrow won't flip again this time next year. 

For more on the state of the third base position, check out Scott White's rankings and thoughts on the top 20 in his way-too-early rankings for 2027 here. 

2026 Third Base Review

  1. Junior Caminero, TBR: .276 - 100 - 42 - 101 - 3
  2. Miguel Vargas, CHW: .250 - 106 - 33 - 93 - 22
  3. Sal Stewart, CIN: .263 - 87 - 32 - 112 - 15
  4. Alex Bregman, CHC: .265 - 92 - 28 - 93 - 3
  5. Nolan Arenado, ARI: .255 - 80 - 30 - 86 - 4
  6. Kevin McGonigle, DET: .278 - 97 - 18 - 72 - 12
  7. Kazuma Okamoto, TOR: .232 - 81 - 33 - 92 - 1
  8. Isaac Paredes, HOU: .262 - 69 - 25 - 94 - 0
  9. Max Muncy, LAD: .252 - 81 - 29 - 76 - 3
  10. Jazz Chisholm Jr., NYY: .231 - 69 - 19 - 55 - 41
  11. Manny Machado, SDP: .217 - 82 - 30 - 91 - 5
  12. Bryson Stott, PHI: .256 - 71 - 10 - 67 - 27

Caminero isn't a perfect player. His batting average is a little lower than you'd prefer from a first-rounder, and he's closer to a true zero in steals than he is to most of the other first-round picks. But with Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani facing questions about how their seasons ended, Caminero is right there with Kyle Schwarber as the best bet for power in the majors coming off consecutive 40-plus-homer seasons. Add in that he won't even be 24 years old until next July and plays one of the weaker positions in Fantasy, and he's going to be a top-10 pick in every single draft, and possibly a top-six one.

Arenado is an interesting one because he had a legitimately great season, hitting 30 homers and combining for 166 runs and RBI, his best season since 2022 in both regards. To say nobody saw that coming would be a massive understatement, and I think for that reason, very few Fantasy players are likely to take this age-35 turnaround seriously. The underlying skill set didn't really look much stronger in 2026 than in previous years – he barreled the ball up more often, but actually saw his average exit velocity drop to 85.2 mph, more than 1 mph worse than his previous career-low mark, while his strikeout rate jumped to a career-worst 20%. Arenado gets the most out of his skill set by hitting the ball in the air to the pull side about as often as anyone in baseball, but as we saw in 2025, the margin for error here is incredibly slim. Even after a season like that, I would be kind of surprised if he had a top-200 ADP in 2027. 

Biggest Breakout from 2026

Miguel Vargas, White Sox

Who else could it be? Vargas more than doubled his previous season homer total, while stealing nearly four times as many bases. He bumped his walk rate up from an already solid 9.8% rate to an elite 14.3% mark, and he did that without a spike in his strikeout rate, a tougher trick to pull off than you might think. He took a huge step forward in basically every way he possibly could, and if you buy into the underlying numbers, he might have even left some meat on the bone – his .378 xwOBA was actually better than his .363 actual mark. Betting against one-year wonder-style breakouts is usually a good idea. However, Vargas' production in 2026 feels more legit than most, especially since his minor-league track record and batted ball data always suggested this kind of upside was possible. 

Biggest Bust from 2026

Austin Riley, Braves

There are other options we could go with here, but Riley was the most actively detrimental third baseman in 2026. His OPS had declined in his previous two seasons, but you could at least write that off as being the result of nagging injuries that limited him to 110 games or fewer in each of 2024 and 2025. But Riley played 159 games in 2026 and managed just a .219/.290/.364 line, by far the worst of his career. Riley admitted in a mid-season interview that he just isn't the same hitter he was early in his career. While injuries have certainly played their part, I don't think it makes much sense to bet on a resurgence when he turns 30 shortly after Opening Day. His strikeout issues were worse than ever in 2026, and while he still hits the ball with plenty of authority, his expected wOBA on contact was also the worst of his career. A bounce-back isn't impossible here, but if you're going to bet on it, it needs to be as a low-end corner infielder or, preferably, even a bench pick. 

Biggest rankings movers from 2026 to 2027

Up: Miguel Vargas, White Sox; Sal Stewart, Reds; Curtis Mead, Red Sox

Stewart had a pretty up-and-down season if you look at the monthly splits. He managed a .943 OPS in March and April, didn't surpass a .760 mark in either May or June, then put up marks north of .800 in both July and August before collapsing down the stretch. That being said, I don't think we should view Stewart as an inherently inconsistent hitter just because that's how his rookie season played out. Take the whole picture into account and you've got a guy with a fairly broad base of skills, including pretty good plate discipline and at least plus raw power, plus an excellent home ballpark to give him a little boost. It might be tough to bet on a repeat of 15 steals when he was caught eight times and was in just the 27th percentile in sprint speed, and I wouldn't bet on a repeat of 112 RBI, but everything else about Stewart's breakout season looks legit. 

Mead's appeal is dimmed a bit by the fact that he won't open 2027 with second base eligibility, but I think he's more likely to play there for the Red Sox than anywhere else, so keep that in the back of your mind when it comes time to draft. That being said, he definitely has the bat to matter at third base, too, as he hit 17 homers in just 329 plate appearances in 2026, despite limited playing time early on due to unfounded platoon concerns and then an injury as soon as he got to the Red Sox. His right-handed swing should fit in well at Fenway Park – and if the gains he made in terms of both quality and quantity of contact in 2026 stick, he could be this year's Vargas-esque breakout. The skills are certainly there for it. 

Down: Jose Ramirez, Guardians; Austin Riley, Braves; Maikel Garcia, Royals

Ramirez won't fall much in the third base rankings – just from first to second in my rankings – but after being a locked-in top-five pick for more than half a decade, he might slide into the third round in some drafts in 2027. Ramirez ended up playing 125 games despite having surgery for a broken hand, but it's clear he just wasn't right for much of the season. He hit just .229/.296/.302 from his late-July return from surgery on, and at 34 years old, it would be reasonable to bet against a bounce-back. But the bounce-back is already happening, as Ramirez has hit .333/.419/.667 through his first seven games of the playoffs. The underlying skill set doesn't look much worse despite the injury, so while I don't think he should be a top-five pick again, I'm probably going to end up ranking Ramirez closer to the first round than the third when it's all said and done. 

For the first six weeks of the season, Garcia looked like he was mostly carrying his breakout over, as he finished play on May 10 with a .285/.353/.437 line. The power wasn't quite where it had been, but he wasn't far off his 2025 pace of 16 homers, and everything else looked solid enough. But the homer he hit on the final day of April would actually prove to be the last one of his season, as he spent much of the season battling through a variety of injuries, including a hand injury that landed him on the IL in June and then a hamstring injury that kept him out for nearly a month in August. As you might expect, the underlying skill set definitely took a hit amid all the injuries, but his .332 expected wOBA isn't far from the .346 mark he posted in 2026, if you're looking for reasons to be optimistic. Garcia should drop down the rankings, but I'll still have him as a top-12 option for the position, I think.

Offseason preview

Who needs an upgrade most? 

There are some heavy hitters looking for help at third base. The Mariners may opt to slide Colt Emerson over there if they re-sign J.P. Crawford, or they could play Emerson at shortstop and play Brendan Donovan at third. Either option would invite some risk, as Emerson is unproven at the MLB level and Donovan only played 39 games last season amid really worrisome, recurring concussion symptoms. 

The Reds fancied themselves potential playoff contenders coming into last season, but the .181/.254/.294 line they got from their third basemen (along with negative defensive value) played a big role in why they fell so far short. This is not a team that is willing to spend a lot of money, and with Ke'Bryan Hayes somehow still under contract for three more years, they might decide they aren't willing to invest more in the position. They should be, because even league-average production would be a huge upgrade for them, but they wouldn't be the Reds if it weren't at least a question. 

The Yankees are always notable, and they enter the offseason with third base as one of three key holes they need to fill, along with center field and second base. They have at least potentially viable in-house options for second and center. Still, they also still owe Ryan McMahon $16 million for this season, so they might well see if he can at least bounce back against righties (and defensively) and make do with a platoon split here, given the dearth of options in free agency. 

Top impending free agents

Speaking of … yeah, it's not great. Unless some team is willing to try the "Jazz Chisholm at third base" experiment again, this is the best of the bunch available right now. Bichette didn't rate out terribly in his move to third base, at least defensively, though the fact that he struggled through yet another weirdly down season offensively means he might be inclined to take the player option to return to the Mets. If that's the case, then you're looking at the whiff-prone Suarez, who is probably best used as a full-time DH, or the relatively punch-less Bohm, who is probably best deployed as a first baseman at this point. If your favorite team is looking for a third baseman, their best bet might be on the trade market.

Trade candidates

And there are some intriguing names out there. Chapman is still owed quite a lot of money, but he remains a good enough hitter when healthy and an elite defensive option. Plenty of teams will balk at the roughly $100 million left on his contract, but that is probably what he would garner on the free agent market and would represent a clear upgrade for plenty of teams who need a third baseman, so if the Giants decide to try to clear the decks – and, given the state of their pitching, their chances of competing in 2027 look exceedingly slim – Chapman could be the most interesting option out there for a big-spending team like the Yankees or Phillies. 

Paredes is one to keep a close eye on, given how closely tied his value is to his home park. His swing worked in Tampa with the short fence in Tropicana Field, and it works in Houston as well; it didn't work so well in Chicago, and that isn't a fluke. Paredes derives nearly all of his value as a hitter from his unusual bat control and ability to barely squeeze the ball past the fence in left field, and that skill is simply less valuable in ballparks with a deep left field fence. The Astros are another candidate to start tearing things down, and their crowded infield could make Paredes a perfect trade target. If he lands somewhere like Philadelphia, he would still have plenty of appeal; less so in Seattle. 

Top 2027 rookies to know

As with second base, the prospect ranks at third base often look thinner than you would think, because plenty of the shortstop prospects will eventually find their way to the hot corner. 

Bonemer is coming off a huge season where he hit 37 homers and stole 17 bases while reaching (and holding his own at) Double-A as a 20-year-old. There's some strikeout-related risk here, but not as much as with Fischer – Bonemer struck out 27% of the time (25% at Double-A, notably), while Fischer was up at 33%. The White Sox are set at the corners, but if they want to slide either Vargas or Munetaka Murakami to a full-time DH role, Bonemer could compete for a role at third base next spring. Taylor, Rojas, Gray, and Fischer could all also at least be in the conversation for Opening Day roles, depending on how their respective teams' offseasons shape up. 

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