Third Base Got Ugly in the AL East
Third base defensive highlights are the worst. The batter sends a screamer down the line, the announcers make a fuss about “WHAT A SPECTACULAR PLAY!” it was, AND THEN the camera switches to the now-dormant third baseman clutching the ball in his glove. They’re just too good at their jobs.
Fortunately, the five AL East teams have collectively found a solution. Over the last year or so, they’ve all gotten way worse defensively at the hot corner. The division used to feature some of the best defenders in the game: Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, and Evan Longoria. Now there’s Miguel Andújar, Rafael Devers, and the eighth caller at Baltimore’s #1 soft rock station.
To put things in perspective, the table below shows how each team’s third basemen fared in 2017 by defensive runs saved. (DRS totals are for the entire team, not just the players listed).
| Team | 2017 3B | 2017 DRS |
| Blue Jays | Josh Donaldson | -3 |
| Orioles | Manny Machado | 3 |
| Rays | Evan Longoria | 10 |
| Red Sox | Rafael Devers/Deven Marrero | -3 |
| Yankees | Chase Headley/Todd Frazier | -3 |
As a whole, they accumulated 4 DRS. A few teams were really even better than that, as we’ll discuss in the team-by-team breakdown. Regardless, everyone in the division who played third base whatsoever combined to be slightly above average. Now, let’s take a look at 2018:
| Team | 2018 3B | 2018 DRS |
| Blue Jays | Yangervis Solarte | -5 |
| Orioles | assorted | -6 |
| Rays | Matt Duffy | -3 |
| Red Sox | Rafael Devers | -17 |
| Yankees | Miguel Andujar | -28 |
What. The. Hell. This year, they combined for -48 DRS, with all five teams contributing a negative number. Let’s look more closely at each team to figure out how the position got so out of hand (out-of-glove, maybe?), starting with the biggest defensive disaster…
New York Yankees
Miguel Andújar is a fine young player. He hit .297/.328/.527 with 27 homers and 47 doubles. He’s a finalist for the AL Rookie of the Year, and he’s going to hit baseballs very hard for a long, long time. It’s important to keep all this in mind because HOLY CRAP HE IS AWFUL AT THIRD BASE. His -25 DRS was the second worst in baseball by any player, trailing only Charlie Balckmon (-28), who is a corner outfielder masquerading as a center fielder in a large ballpark. It got so bad, that the Yankees had to sub him out for defensive replacements in September and the playoffs.
Being a rookie, Andújar wasn’t a factor for the Yankees in 2017. Through the first four months, Chase Headley was their starter, though his -7 DRS wasn’t very good either. They traded for Todd Frazier in July who pretty much started the rest of the way, and his 6 DRS mostly canceled out Headley. Following the season, Headley was traded to the Padres and Frazier signed with the Mets as a free agent. This more or less cleared the way for Andújar and his iron glove (a brief dalliance with Brandon Drury notwithstanding). Fast forward to the present, and the Yankees have to decide if they want to keep him at third long term or move him elsewhere, such as first base or even DH.
Boston Red Sox
With Rafael Devers, the Red Sox are in a similar situation as the Yankees. Prior to 2017, he was a consensus top 20 prospect in all of baseball. That was almost entirely because of his electric lefty bat, and his proclivity towards driving the ball to the opposite field (read: off of and over the Green Monster). Listed generously at 6’0, 237 lb, it’s long been possible that Devers would have to move to first base. It’s important to remember, though, that they began 2017 with Pablo Sandoval as the nominal starter and Devers in double-A. The Big Panda got released in July for lack of any redeeming baseball skills, but not before he cost the team -7 DRS. Light hitting Deven Marrero made most of it up with 5 DRS, and when Devers reached the majors, his -1 DRS wasn’t too bad.
This year, Devers received a much more extended stay at third base. With increased exposure, his -13 DRS was the second worst in MLB at the position behind only Andújar. The Red Sox even used Eduardo Nuñez as a defensive replacement/platoon against lefties. To put that into context, Nuñez has a career -79 DRS at several positions, including -9 at third base. He’s also nine years older than Devers. Basically, none of this is a good sign for him to stay at third for too many years, especially since his offense sagged in 2018 as well.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays lost 13 DRS from 2017 to 2018, and it’s not hard to see why. Evan Longoria, the franchise cornerstone since 2008, was an exemplary defensive player. He compiled 11 DRS in his final year in Tampa Bay and collected his third Gold Glove. But, the Rays being the Rays, they traded him to the Giants over the winter.
Matt Duffy took over the third base job in 2018. His -4 DRS was obviously less than ideal, but UZR actually portrayed him as a positive defender (3.6 UZR). Spliting the diference, we can call him average at third base, perhaps generously so. An average third baseman is still a major dropoff from Longoria, who has 75 career DRS as a Ray and added 7 more this season in San Francisco.
Baltimore Orioles
Ah, baseball’s dumpster fire! The 47-115 Orioles used a committee of ineptitude at third base this season (not to mention the rotation, the bullpen, several other positions, and most certainly the front office). Four different players spent more than 50 innings at third: Renato Nuñez (-1 DRS), Tim Beckham (0 DRS), Danny Valencia (-6 DRS), and Jace Peterson (2 DRS).
The conspicuous absentee from the list above is Manny Machado. The mega-free agent played exclusively at shortstop for the Orioles this year before his midseason trade to the Dodgers. In 2017, he posted 6 DRS at third base, the position at which he won two Gold Gloves and one Platinum Glove. The 2017 Orioles as a whole were worth 3 DRS at the hot corner, but that includes -1 or -2 from a few players that barely spent any time there, such as Ryan Flaherty, Chris Davis, and Caleb Joseph. The majority of the time it was Machado, who was superb.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays only dropped from -3 to -5 DRS this year, which is hardly noticeable. However, it’s the why and not the how much that’s worth discussion. Former MVP Josh Donaldson contributed 3 DRS in 2017, but injuries limited him to 113 games. In his absence, Darwin Barney, Chris Coughlan, and a few others managed -6 DRS. These things happen, but the Blue Jays’ plan was anchored around Donaldson, who excels at all phases of the game including defense.
That plan changed somewhere in the middle of 2018. Donaldson started only 21 games at third base for the Blue Jays this year, at first because of more injuries and then finally his August 31 trade to Cleveland. Including Donaldson, ten different players saw action at third base for Toronto this year. Yangervis Solarte played the most, and his -3 DRS was a step down from the Donaldson era.
There’s room for improvement across the AL East in 2019. Youngsters Andújar and Devers were the biggest drags, and they have potential to improve or change positions. The Orioles can’t possibly this bad again, can they? The Blue Jays will hope for more stability even as they enter a rebuild, and Tampa Bay’s Matt Duffy is probably not so bad. It’s just as well if they don’t improve; there are a lot fewer frustrating highlights these days.
