Second base has long been a black-hole for fantasy owners, but the position’s grown deeper in recent years. Unfortunately, I have very little faith in the hands-down top second baseman, Chase Utley. One number sticks out in my mind more than anything else about Utley: 1978, Utley’s birth year.
Utley will be 31 years old for the entire 2010 season, but the steroid-era has fooled us into believing that age doesn’t matter until you’re at least in your mid-30s.
You’ll notice in the BOXPLOT to the left, a good chunk of players are bunched above the median which means pretty much after Utley and Kinsler, there’s a load of talented guys that’ll produce around the same level.
With the larger spread in the 2nd-quartile, we’re dealing with a rather large drop-off as you get to the Cabreras, Polancos and Stewarts of the world.
Tiering this up with a histogram is pretty simple. 
As you can see, the histogram once again shows us that it’s Utley, then Kinsler, and then the rest. There are seven projected players between 260 and 300, so you should be able to snag a decent second basemen even if you miss out on the top-tier.
| AVERAGE | CAT | STDEV |
| 91.000 | R | 11.5 |
| 20.800 | HR | 6.53 |
| 79.467 | RBI | 12.61 |
| 13.800 | SB | 9.03 |
| 0.286 | AVG | 0.02 |
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There’s the averages for the second-basemen and here are Z-Scores:
| PLAYER_NAME | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | Total |
| Chase Utley | 2 | 1.41 | 3.93 | 0.47 | 0.2 | 8 |
| Ian Kinsler | 0.78 | 0.8 | 2.98 | 1.68 | -1.25 | 4.99 |
| Brandon Phillips | -0.78 | 0.03 | 3.29 | 1.35 | -0.55 | 3.34 |
| Dustin Pedroia | 1.65 | -0.74 | 1.87 | 0.35 | 0.95 | 4.09 |
| Robinson Cano | -0.09 | 0.49 | 2.9 | -1.09 | 1.75 | 3.96 |
| Brian Roberts | 0.87 | -1.04 | 1.55 | 1.57 | 0.15 | 3.1 |
| Ben Zobrist | 0.17 | 0.34 | 3.14 | 0.24 | 0.05 | 3.94 |
| Aaron Hill | -0.17 | 0.64 | 3.29 | -0.97 | -0.15 | 2.64 |
| Dan Uggla | 0.17 | 1.41 | 3.29 | -1.2 | -1.55 | 2.13 |
| Jose Lopez | -1.3 | 0.49 | 3.37 | -1.09 | -0.35 | 1.12 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | -0.7 | -1.5 | 2.26 | 0.47 | 0.7 | 1.23 |
| Ian Stewart | -0.61 | 0.64 | 2.58 | -0.75 | -1.3 | 0.56 |
| Placido Polanco | 0 | -1.5 | 1.55 | -0.97 | 1 | 0.07 |
| Howie Kendrick | -1.57 | -1.35 | 2.02 | 0.02 | 1.35 | 0.48 |
| Rickie Weeks | -0.43 | -0.12 | 0.04 | -0.09 | -0.95 | -1.55 |
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| PLAYER_NAME | POSITION | R | HR | RBI | SB | ESPNAVG | AB | A_AB | Hits | Tts |
| Chase Utley | 2B | 114 | 30 | 97 | 18 | 0.290 | 564 | 544.5 | 164 | 334.01 |
| Ian Kinsler | 2B | 100 | 26 | 85 | 29 | 0.261 | 531 | 519.5 | 139 | 304.84 |
| Brandon Phillips | 2B | 82 | 21 | 89 | 26 | 0.275 | 574 | 553 | 158 | 287.97 |
| Dustin Pedroia | 2B | 110 | 16 | 71 | 17 | 0.305 | 569 | 564 | 174 | 286.99 |
| Robinson Cano | 2B | 90 | 24 | 84 | 4 | 0.321 | 570 | 564.5 | 183 | 283.94 |
| Brian Roberts | 2B | 101 | 14 | 67 | 28 | 0.289 | 579 | 565 | 167 | 283.64 |
| Ben Zobrist | 2B | 93 | 23 | 87 | 16 | 0.287 | 436 | 442 | 125 | 273.28 |
| Aaron Hill | 2B | 89 | 25 | 89 | 5 | 0.283 | 554 | 547 | 157 | 268.19 |
| Dan Uggla | 2B | 93 | 30 | 89 | 3 | 0.255 | 555 | 533 | 142 | 264.37 |
| Jose Lopez | 2B | 76 | 24 | 90 | 4 | 0.279 | 593 | 573 | 165 | 256.14 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 2B | 83 | 11 | 76 | 18 | 0.300 | 475 | 470.5 | 142 | 243.84 |
| Ian Stewart | 2B | 84 | 25 | 80 | 7 | 0.260 | 447 | 430.5 | 116 | 238.84 |
| Placido Polanco | 2B | 91 | 11 | 67 | 5 | 0.306 | 552 | 550.5 | 169 | 234.14 |
| Howie Kendrick | 2B | 73 | 12 | 73 | 14 | 0.313 | 448 | 427 | 140 | 230.55 |
| Rickie Weeks | 2B | 86 | 20 | 48 | 13 | 0.267 | 408 | 347.5 | 109 | 215.11 |
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The Differences:
Robbie Cano and Brandon Phillips are essentially switched around in this model. Once again, I’m completely puzzled how a .320 projected average tops a .275 average with 21 extra stolen bases. The runs, home runs and rbi are almost identical yet Brandon Phillips ranks three spots behind Cano.
If you draft Cano as a MI, you’ve really got to stretch to find stolen bases elsewhere. Looking at the top few tiers of second basemen, you’re almost guaranteed 20SB.
