Ranking the 15 projected starting National League third basemen

Arenado has been in the big leagues for seven years. He has seven Gold Gloves. The premier defensive third baseman isn’t too shabby at the plate either. He’s won four Silver Sluggers and hit .315 with a .962 OPS and 41 home runs in 2019. Arenado has finished no lower than eighth in NL MVP voting since 2015.

Suárez had a magnificent 2019 and finished 15th in NL MVP voting. The 28-year-old clobbered 49 homers, drove in 103 runs, and posted a .930 OPS. He can be a tad error-prone but is far from a liability manning the hot corner.

The 2016 NL MVP, Bryant also will likely again spend some time in the outfield as he has occasional struggles at third base. Offensively, he continues to shine as last year he hit .282 with a .903 OPS, 31 home runs, 35 doubles, and 108 runs.

In his first year with the Padres last season, Machado didn’t necessarily have the impact that his previous play provided. He still was solid though with 32 home runs and a .796 OPS (down from .905 in 2018). The two-time Gold Glove winner remains a plus in the field at third base (not as much when he moves to shortstop).

Still going strong at the age of 35, Turner tied a career-high with 27 home runs in 2019. He doesn’t strike out at a high rate and finished with an .881 OPS last year. Even as he advances in age, Turner has always been a reliable fielder who makes few errors.

All McNeil has done in his two big league seasons is get hit after hit. After hitting .329 in 225 at bats in 2018, he batted .318 (fourth in NL) in 510 at bats last year to go along with 23 homers and 38 doubles. He’ll likely spend time at second base and the outfield as well since only 17 of his 176 career starts have come at third.

It was a career-year for the 31-year-old Escobar in 2019. He connected on 35 homers, drove in 118 runs (tied for fourth in the NL), and finished with an .831 OPS. He’s rarely embarrassed himself in the field during his career and made just seven errors last season.

One of the rare players who still often looks to steal, Villar has swiped 160 bags over the last four seasons. He didn’t miss a game last year for the Orioles and had a career-best 24 homers to go along with 111 runs. He is expected to often play at third base, a position he has only started at 48 times in his career.

After a subpar rookie season in 2018, Kingery improved in every aspect last year. The 25-year-old hit 19 homers and 34 doubles, stole 15 bases, and had a .788 OPS. He performed well wherever he was positioned in the field for Philadelphia, but he should mostly play third base in 2020.

Can Carpenter return to the player who averaged about 4.2 WAR from 2013-18 according to Baseball-Reference (and finished ninth in NL MVP voting in 2018), or will he remain the one who had just 0.8 in 2019? It was a miserable season for the 34-year-old last season as he hit just .224 with 15 homers and walked less frequently than the elite level he had in previous years.

Entering his 13th season, Longoria still remains strong in the field and did improve last year from the worst offensive year of his career in 2018. In 2019, he hit .254 with a .762 OPS and 20 homers. He has reached the 20 home run mark in 10 of his 12 seasons.

The 34-year-old Cabrera turned it around after joining the Nationals in early August of last year. After posting just a .711 OPS with the Rangers in 368 plate appearances, he had a .969 OPS in 146 plate appearances with Washington. He doesn’t have a ton of range, but he rarely mishandles the routine plays.

If this list was just based on 2019, Sogard would be higher as he finished with a .290 average, 13 homers, and an .810 OPS. Coming into last year though, he had just 11 career home runs and a .623 OPS in 1,743 plate appearances. He’s mostly been utilized at second base, but Milwaukee already has Keston Hiura there.

While Camargo was a very good player in 2018 for Atlanta, the same can’t be said for last year. In 248 plate appearances, he hit just .233 with a .663 OPS. Still only 26 years old, the Braves surely have hope he can return to the reliable player he was in his first two seasons (2017-18).

Moran is halfway decent at the plate, but defensive metrics rate him as arguably the worst at fielding his position. In 503 plate appearances last year, he hit .277 with 13 home runs and a .751 OPS.