2025 Position Previews: Third Base
An in depth look at the third base position ahead of 2025 fantasy baseball draft season.
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Overview
The real fantasy juice is mostly in the outfield and at shortstop this year. There is only one true fantasy stud for roto leagues at the hot corner this year, but I do like the depth the position offers us.
The positions I think you’re safest to wait for this year are first base and third base. These spots, more than others, don’t have a lot of “can’t miss” at the top, and they have pretty solid options deep into the draft.
There’s no better way to learn about the position than to get right into the players, so let’s get to it. I’ll cover almost everything you need to know to be ready for your draft right here.
Tier One
Jose Ramirez (ADP Rank #1)
It’s Jose Ramirez, all by his lonesome. And that’s not just me saying that, drafters agree.
Instead of those ugly Excel screenshots, I’ll give you these from here on out:
That gives you a look at how the players project across the big four projection systems (okay, fine - the big three and then me).
J-Ram has been a HR + SB stud for years now, and he has gotten you a batting average between .275 and .280 in each of the last three years. The one thing that changed last year was the walk rate. It fell from the usual 10% the whole way down to 7.9%. That drop was facilitated largely by an increase in aggression at the plate. He raised his swing rate from 46.7% to 49.4%, the highest mark of his recent career. All of that lowered the OBP 20+ points down to .333. That’s not enough to take him off the top spot for points leagues, but it does narrow the gap.
I also think there’s a positive side to that. He got even more balls in play than usual (he led the league in total fly balls hit), and that got him to a 39-homer season (15 more than he hit in 2023).
I’m basically repeating what I wrote in the player preview, though. I don’t feel the need to spend significant time on the studs. Click the link on his player name at the beginning of this to jump to his full player preview, I’ll be linking in that fashion for every player who I have a published preview for.
J-Ram is the unquestioned #1 option at the position, and he’s my #4 overall player to draft this year. Let’s move on.
Tier Two
We are just one player in, and we already start giving up something with each player left on the board. There is at least one category that everybody (probably) falls short in. This means that the #2 guy does not look a ton different than some of the guys you can get way later. But they do come with a lot more solidity.
#2 Rafael Devers (ADP Rank #4)
He does not have the same fantasy game-breaking ability as the names that get drafted with him in the first few rounds. His career-best in steals is eight, and he has exceeded 35 homers just once in his career. What he gives you is a rock-solid floor of runs, RBI, homers, and batting average.
He is one of just six qualified players to hit .270 in each of the last four seasons.
The Red Sox could be one of the better offenses in the league if they hit on these young guns, so we could see another massive R+RBI season for Devers. I’m a bit higher on him than the crowd because I really want to buy safety early in the draft.
#3 Jazz Chisholm (ADP Rank #2)
We finally saw the ceiling from Chisholm last year. He stayed healthy for the first time and ripped off a 24-homer, 40-steal season. It was his first season over 125 games played, and his first over 100 since back in 2021.
I’m pretty willing to forgive injury histories, especially with someone coming off a clean one. What I’m more skeptical about is the strikeout rate.
The contact rate did come up significantly (64% → 71%), so I won’t be surprised if those gains are maintained. But there is an added risk here of the K% going back up toward 26-28%, and that would hurt. His expected batting average last year was .233 despite the lower K%, so we should not have high hopes for him posting a positive batting average.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. AVG & xBA by Year
2021: .238 xBA, .248 AVG
2022: .242 xBA, .254 AVG
2023: .224 xBA, .250 AVG
2024: .240 xBA, .256 AVG
The key point is that he’s an elite contributor in HR + SB, which is the most important thing (for me, at least). His career 650 PA pace:
28 HR, 36 SB, .249/.311/.446
That’s pretty good! Only Ramirez matches his ceiling at the position, but I’ve got him at #3 because of the K% and injury stuff in his past.
Another wrinkle is that Jazz will likely add second base eligibility this year. That’s pretty nice.