Following the second base rankings, we move over to the hot corner which has always had some of the brightest stars MLB has to offer. A position that often goes underrated, with their flashier counterparts at shortstop stealing the limelight in most cases, this top 10 is littered with some familiar faces and up-and-coming stars.
Another ranking with a lot of difficulties as we try and discern between the best-of-the-best at the highest level baseball has to offer, there were some uncomfortable omissions from this top 10.
10. Mark Vientos – New York Mets
Over his first two seasons in the Major Leagues, Mark Vientos posted a 68 wRC+ and 30.3% K%, hitting just 10 home runs in 81 games. The Mets viewed him as a depth piece in 2024, but he would take over the third base position and run away with the job, clobbering 27 home runs in 111 games with a 133 wRC+ and continuing to dominate in the postseason. He’s got tons of game power and could launch 40 home runs if he plays a full season if he stays as locked in as he was in 2025.
The questions in his game boil down to his tendency to chase and his poor contact rates, as Vientos had a 35.9% O-Swing% and a 15.9% Swinging Strike% in 2024. Mark Vientos is also a below-average defender with -10 DRS and -8 OAA across 1,046.1 innings at the hot corner in his MLB career. Most projections believe that Mark Vientos will take a step back next season, but they still peg him for ~30 HRs and ~3-3.5 WAR, which the Mets would gladly take from their homegrown infield stud.
9. Junior Caminero – Tampa Bay Rays
While Junior Caminero posted just a 105 wRC+ in 2024 and has played in just 50 big-league games, the power and upside he possesses help him land on this list. The right-handed hitting infielder is one of the best young players in the game and has registered exit velocity numbers north of 116 MPH, as he’s got a quick yet powerful swing that could lead to a 20-30 HR season in his first full season. The Rays haven’t been able to see everything he’s got due to an injury last season, but we could be looking at their next face of the franchise.
This past season, Caminero was in the 98th Percentile in SEAGER, which is a swing decision evaluator that takes into account whether you swing at pitches to hit and lay off of pitches out of zone. His groundball rates need to decrease so he can convert more of his raw power into XBHs, but he’s still young enough to make those strides. Caminero continued to impress in the LIDOM, where he delivered perhaps one of the best Game 7 performances in the league’s history, stamped by a 440-foot blast to help Escogido win the title.
8. Jordan Westburg – Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles have done an excellent job developing young talent, and Jordan Westburg is another name on the growing list of infielders they’ve churned out. With his ability to do damage on contact and play strong defense, he’s a slamdunk name for this list. This past season he hit 18 home runs in 107 games with a 125 wRC+ and +5 OAA at third base, and the Orioles will likely keep him there full-time in 2025. Baltimore originally had him play some second base, but his -7 DRS and -7 OAA in 381.2 innings demanded a position change
With Camden Yards moving in their left field fences a bit, the Orioles could see Jordan Westburg launch 25 home runs and play good defense at third base, which is super valuable. His contact rates and plate discipline are suspect, walking under 5% of the time while having a high Swinging Strike%, but his power is so good that it overrides some of those deficiencies. I expect Westburg to develop into a 3-4 WAR player if he remains a good hitter and continues flashing a strong glove at third.
7. Isaac Paredes – Houston Astros
An ugly second half brought Isaac Paredes back to earth a bit, posting a 117 wRC+ with 19 home runs in 153 games, which could be pinned on a trade to the Cubs. The 26-year-old played in perhaps the worst ballpark imaginable for his swing, but now he’s in Houston where his spray chart fits like a glove. Paredes is around a league-average defender at the hot corner, and he has remained a firmly above-average hitter in each of the last three seasons.
Among qualified players who are still third basemen, Isaac Paredes is sixth in wRC+ (123), and he has steadily improved his on-base skills since being traded by the Tigers. If the Astros can get the version of Isaac Paredes we’ve seen over the last three years, his pulled flyball rates will result in 25-30 home runs with an OBP in the .330-.340 range, making him a great fit for the middle of any lineup. Trading Kyle Tucker doesn’t help Houston, but Isaac Paredes definitely improves an infield that needs the help without Alex Bregman on the roster anymore.
6. Manny Machado – San Diego Padres
Manny Machado is an elite third baseman, and his placement here at six isn’t a referendum on his play but more a reflection of how good the position has become. With a ticket to the Hall of Fame all but locked up, he posted a 3.6 fWAR with 29 home runs in 2024, and he could likely accumulate more WAR value through his glove by having a more normal offseason. Last winter, Machado had to deal with recovering from elbow surgery and played 51 games at DH as a result, which impacted his overall WAR output.
The reason he ranks sixth among this group of elite third basemen is that his glove regressed from elite to league-average this season. Part of that could be the aforementioned surgery, but his overall range declined and there could be some age regression here. If Machado is able to get back to being above-average in 2025 and he gets off to a better start than he did last year, we could be looking at a 4-5 WAR player who is still just two years removed from an MVP-caliber season.
5. Matt Chapman – San Francisco Giants
The best defender at the position, Matt Chapman was first in OAA (8) and DRS (17), and his bat returned to being more than just pretty good. He was 12th among all players in fWAR last season (5.5) and 7th in bWAR (7.1), and Chapman has displayed an ability to accumulate value because he’s a well-rounded player. With 27 home runs and a 121 wRC+ in 2024, the Giants saw Matt Chapman’s bat come back to life, posting his best numbers since 2019.
Over the last two seasons Matt Chapman is third in fWAR and unlike some other veterans on this list doesn’t seem to be on the downturn. If his bat regresses back to the 110-115 range he was from 2021-2023, Chapman will still be a deserving candidate for the top five because he can make plays that other people just can’t. He’s also an underrated baserunner, he posted a +3.7 BsR with 15 stolen bases last season, grading out in the 84th Percentile in Sprint Speed.
4. Rafael Devers – Boston Red Sox
Entering his ninth MLB season, Rafael Devers has been one of the best players in the sport regardless of position since breaking out in 2019. He’s sixth among third basemen in fWAR since 2022 and fifth since 2023, hitting tons of home runs and doubles, terrorizing pitchers across the sport. Devers posted a 134 wRC+ in 2024, which was the second-best mark of his career and he may have challenged for a 5 WAR if he didn’t deal with a shoulder injury late in the year.
What keeps him from ranking higher on this list is his glove; he had -9 DRS and -6 OAA last season and has been one of the worst defenders at the hot corner since breaking into the league. The bat has been so good that it hasn’t really mattered much, but as he gets older I don’t imagine that his glove is going to get any better. We could be looking at a pretty pivotal year for Rafael Devers, who has been a star for years but could elevate from a top 20-30 player to one of the 10-15 best in his age-28 campaign.
3. Alex Bregman – Free Agent
Over the past three seasons, Alex Bregman is third in fWAR among third basemen (14.0), but his wRC+ and fWAR have declined in each of those three years as well. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a star; the 30-year-old hit 26 home runs in 145 games, posting a 118 wRC+ and 4.1 fWAR which would help a lot of teams. Still a free agent, his placement on this list won’t change much depending on where he signs, and whether it’s the Cubs, Tigers, or Red Sox, he will provide a lot of short-term value.
The question now remains whether Bregman will maintain his excellent offensive and defensive production into his mid-30s. It seems teams are unwilling to give him 6-7 years, and the clock is ticking for Bregman to make a decision that could alter the course of the American or National League. Boston could rocket up the standings with someone like Bregman, as could the Tigers in the crowded AL Central. Perhaps the team that gets the most out of him is Chicago, who are the current NL Central favorites and could catapult into a tier with the elite.
2. Austin Riley – Atlanta Braves
Injuries robbed us from watching Austin Riley dominate in his age-27 season, as he played in just 110 games but still managed to post a 2.4 fWAR and hit 19 home runs. He seriously underperformed his underlying metrics this past season and took a step back defensively, but when healthy Riley is one of the best players in the game. From 2021-2023, he posted the ninth-most fWAR in baseball (16.1) with a 136 wRC+, and he’s remained in the top 4 in fWAR over the last three years despite last season bogging his numbers down.
During that three-year run, Austin Riley had three straight seasons matching or exceeding the 5 WAR threshold, and he is one of just two 3B to have multiple seasons with 5 or more WAR in the last five years. Riley has established himself as not just an elite third baseman but an elite player, and he gets granted a year of grace because of it. Even when he was hurt he still had a 14.9% Barrel% with similar contact rates to his previous four seasons.
1. Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Guardians
For the other nine third basemen on this list, you can tell me there’s a different order you’d put them all in and I could see your position on it. This was a hard list to do with some really tough omissions that I’m not super comfortable with, but Jose Ramirez is the easiest pick of them all by far. This might be the easiest placement on any list I do this winter, as he’s established himself as the best player at the hot corner by a significant margin.
Jose Ramirez is first among third basemen in WAR (17.1), wRC+ (134), Stolen Bases (89), Runs Scored (291), and Hits (513) since 2022, as he’s one of the greatest players without an MVP in recent memory. His dominance of the position spans back to 2016 when he posted a 5.1 fWAR, and his WAR hasn’t dipped below 3.5 since then when you exclude the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Many wondered if we would see his run of dominance come to an end in 2023 when he posted a 122 wRC+, his worst mark since 2019, but he responded big time.
With a 141 wRC+, 39 home runs, 41 steals, and a 6.5 fWAR, Ramirez reminded everyone that this is his position for the time being. Did we also mention that J-Ram posted +6 DRS and +3 OAA at third this year? He does it all.