Spring training camps are underway, which means it is time to look at the state of baseball. As part of our 2026 MLB season preview, ESPN's Buster Olney surveyed those around the industry to help him rank the top 10 players at every position as part of his annual positional ranking series.
Today, we rank the best of the best at third base.
The objective of this exercise is to identify the best players for the 2026 season, not who might be best in five years or over their career. We will roll out a position per day over the next two weeks. Here's the rest of the schedule: starting pitchers (Feb. 16), relief pitchers (Feb. 17), catchers (Feb. 18), first basemen (Feb. 19), second basemen (Feb. 20), shortstops (Tuesday), corner outfielders (Wednesday), center fielders (Thursday), designated hitters (Friday).
Jose Ramirez is now signed through the 2032 season, meaning he theoretically has seven more seasons to add to his amazing career. Sometime in the summer ahead, he'll hit his 300th career home run -- we can assume this because he's got 285 and he's hit at least 17 homers in nine straight seasons, including the 60-game COVID season. And sometime this summer, he'll pick up his 300th career stolen base, which we can assume he'll do because he has accumulated 287already -- 85 over the last two years.
Brooks Robinson set a standard for defense at third base. Eddie Matthews and Mike Schmidt were the best power hitters to play the position. Adrian Beltre should have been a unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame. There's George Brett, Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones and Alex Rodriguez (who was a shortstop for half of his career).
