A breakout 2023 season wasn’t enough to catapult Bryson Stott of the Philadelphia Phillies onto a countdown of the top second basemen in baseball.
MLB Network revealed their list of the top 10 second basemen right now Wednesday evening, a list that excluded Stott:
A first-round pick out of UNLV in 2019, Stott took a major step forward in his second MLB season, both at the plate and in the field.
Offensively, Stott slashed .280/.329/.419 with 15 home runs, 32 doubles, 62 RBIs and a .747 OPS. One of the things that you come to appreciate about Stott’s game when watching him on a day-to-day basis is that he has a world-class ability to foul off pitches with two strikes, which sometimes ends up with him getting on base after lengthy battles with opposing pitchers. Even if Stott is ultimately retired, he’s forced the opposing pitcher to exhaust a ton of pitches, and allowed his teammates to see quite a bit of the arsenal of pitches they might see when they come to the plate.
A natural shortstop, Stott shifted to second base on a full-time basis in 2023 after the Phillies signed Trea Turner. In his first year at the position, Stott was a Gold Glove Award finalist in the NL. Stott was second among all second baseman with 16 outs above average in 2023, and fifth win six defensive runs saved.
At first glance, he definitely seems like someone worth of inclusion. The question then becomes, if Stott should have been on this list, who would you take off?
Mookie Betts and Jose Altuve are both future Hall of Famers, so there’s no argument on them being at the top of the list. We won’t push back against Marcus Semien, Luis Arráez, Ketel Marte or Matt McClain either. There’s at least a debate to be had about whether Stott’s offensive profile could put him above Andrés Giménez, but the Cleveland Guardians second baseman is one of the best defenders at any position in baseball.
