The Miami Marlins have a star that was acquired this off-season. It's not the one that is currently dealing with an injury but the reigning American League batting champion Luis Arraez. Fangraphs recently released their power rankings of second basemen so how did Arraez do? Is he at the top of the list? Is he at the bottom? Wwho is ahead of him? Let's take a look...
Luis Arraez is highly ranked on the Fangraphs 2B power rankings.
Number one on the Fangraphs list is Marcus Semien of the Texas Rangers. That's understandable as he batted .248/.304/.429 with 26 home runs and 83 RBI in 161 games and 657 AB. Personally I'm not a big fan of that production but he was worth 5.7 WAR, so I can understand the high ranking. Semien is projected for a .252/.317/.444 batting line for 2023 by Fangraphs.
Number two on the list is Cleveland's Andres Gimenez, which makes sense for 2022 but not really for 2023. Gimenez overachieved with 7.4 WAR and a .297/.371/.466 batting line with 17 home runs and 69 RBI in 146 games and 491 AB in 2022. In fact, he probably should be ahead of Semien for 2022...just certainly not for 2023. Gimenez is projected for a .262/.323/.405 batting line on Fangraphs. The reason is his inflated .353 BABIP in 2022.
#3 on the list is the Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, which is honestly pretty ridiculous. Lowe batted .221/.308/.383 with 8 home runs and 25 RBI in 65 games and 235 AB in 2022. He was worth 1.0 WAR. He's projected for a measly .244/.328/.461 batting line in 2023. I have no idea how h's rated this high. Perhaps the writer didn't do their research.
#4 is the New York Mets' Jeff McNeil, who batted .326/.382/.454 with 9 home runs and 62 RBI in 148 games and 533 AB in 2022. He was worth 5.7 WAR. He's projected for a .278/.339/.390 batting line in 2023. How is he behind Lowe again? #5 is the New York Yankees' Gleyber Torres, who batted .257/.310/.451 with 24 home runs and 76 RBI in 140 games and 526 AB in 2022. He was worth 4.1 WAR and is projected for a .264/.329/.445 batting line in 2023.
Luis Arraez is #6 on the list despite an AL Batting Title in 2022 and a 4.3 WAR along with a .316/.375/.420 batting line. He is projected for a .306/.367/.408 in 2023. I think that Arraez should be rated significantly higher than that.
The worst part about this list is that the rankings were organizational and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is on the list as an option for second base. That by itself should put the Miami Marlins and Luis Arraez higher on the list.