2B...From Kids to the NFBC

[DOUGHBOYS]

PART 1

When I was a kid, I would climb up on my Schwinn with the baseball cards in the spokes and head off to the sandlot to play in a pickup game. As I was riding with the motorcycle sound (or so I thought in my mind) buzzing in my head from the baseball cards, glove stuck on my handlebar, and bat in my hand, I always hoped for a lot of kids to be there.
If there were a lot of kids there, we could play a regular baseball game. If only four or five, we would play 'workups' or '500'.
If there were around 10 kids, we could have a game, but anything hut on the right side of second base would be an out.
Who knew that we were ahead of the times with a self-imposed shift!

When progressing to organized ball like Little League and school baseball, the right side was treated similarly.
It was ok to hit to right field, sure, but that was where coaches would put the worst of fielders.
First base, the place to put the 'slow, 'gangly', or otherwise uncoordinated kids that can still catch balls.
Right field, the worst fielder, period.
Second base, the kid with little or no arm.

When watching Major League Baseball at that age, I saw that Right field was not a weakness at all.
Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron playing right field was a thing of beauty.
Watching Clemente throwing to third base on a fly, incredible.
I grew up watching the Giants mostly.
They had a problem for years in that they had Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda.
Two players that are in the Hall of Fame. The trouble being, they were both slow, gangly, and sort of uncoordinated defensively.
Who's on First? became more than a comedy routine in San Francisco. For years, the Giants would stick one of them in left field. Neither had much of an arm, precluding right field.
The offense dictated this move. It's what you do when having two Hall of Fame first baseman.
Second base was also the same as our sandlots at the Major League level. Infielders without much of an arm.

Fast forward to now.
All outfielders are gauged by how they perform routes to a ball. Speed is a must in Center. An arm in Right.
The idea of McCovey or Cepeda would be like the Cubs sticking Kyle Schwarber in left field. So it still happens, just not as much.
First base is still the slow, not-as-athletic guy.
Second base?
Ah, second base.
Have you noticed second base?

Second base has changed a lot.
It started with the shifts.
Big left handed hitters get up and all the fielders flood the right side.
Some teams used their third baseman or shortstop in short right field because they had the better arms.
THAT started something.

Edit- To change the title...

[DOUGHBOYS]

PART 2

Slowly, without much of us noticing, it has changed our game. The fantasy game, not real baseball.
Managers have pretty much said that anybody can play second base.
Even Big Guys without much foot speed. Always a pre-requisite of the old days.
Max Muncy could play second.
So could Mike Moustakas.
And Ryan McMahon.

Versatility is now the name of the game. Second base has become ground zero. If an infielder cannot put second base on his resume, he was either too good at another position or that team already had an entrenched second baseman.
For our fantasy game, second base used to be a stand-alone position. Sure, there were a few SS-2B, but mostly it was Cano, Altuve, Phillips, Kent, Dozier, you know, second baseman that were second baseman.
Now look!
Second base has become the multi-tasking spot.
Look at this...

1 Gleyber Torres NYY 2B, SS
2 Jose Altuve HOU 2B
3 Ozzie Albies ATL 2B
4 Jonathan Villar MIA SS, 2B
5 Keston Hiura MLW 2B
6 Ketel Marte ARZ 2B, OF
7 Whit Merrifield KC 2B, OF
8 DJ LeMahieu NYY 1B, 3B, 2B
9 Max Muncy LAD 2B, 1B, 3B
10 Jeff McNeil NYM 2B, 3B, OF

Only three of our top fantasy top 2B are strictly second basemen. Three!
Three play three positions.
This is not cherry picking. 21 of the top 32 second baseman in NFBC fantasy circles have at the least, dual positionality.
Whooda thunk?
Second base, without much of us noticing, has become the birthplace of positionality in fantasy baseball.
It has made drafting a little different for us, also without realizing it.
When last seeing ADP, there were 35 1B and 35 SS being taken in the first 450 players or 30 rounds chosen.
40 Players with 2B eligibility.
This isn't that second baseman are better hitters, it is just that their eggs have been spawned at other positions.
Imagine that.
And as a kid, without enough other kids, it wouldn't have been a position at all.

[Edwards Kings]

Good stuff Dan. I see what you are saying and see 2B as perhaps the cornerstone of the super utility craze. Sure, MLB has always had the thumper bat/hot dog eating champ on the bench and the slick fielding glove that would strike out in a cat house, but know their seems to be that guy who can hit a little better and play most anywhere. Why commit to a full-time 2B when you have an Edleman/Berti/Carmago etc. you can give AB to?

[DOUGHBOYS]

You get a cornucopia choices at the position. A drafter in a Main Event could have five players eligible at second base.
Want speed? Villar and Merrifield.
Want power? Torres and Muncy
Want Both? Marte and Edman.
And there is more. All six of the players mentioned are dual position players.
Second base used to be Robbie Cano and everybody else.
Now, everybody else has gotten a lot better and they are better in a variety of positions.

This year, with versatility and the plethora of wonderful shortstops available, middle infielders have surpassed corners in fantasy baseball goodness.