For the past 10 or so years, Major League Baseball has seen a downturn in what used to be a premier position: third base. Gone are the legends like Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt, and even mainstays like Scott Rolen, Vinny Castilla and Mike Lowell have faded into retirement. Yet, not many third baseman have come up to be impact hitters on their teams in recent years.
That is… until now. While the position has seen a renaissance coming for the past couple seasons, with the breakouts of 3B Josh Donaldson, Todd Frazier, and Matt Carpenter, but 2015 has been the coming out party for a number of the positions rising young stars. One must begin with Cubs’ 3B Kris Bryant, who was considered the top prospect in all of baseball prior to the season, and has not disappointed. Bryant has hit 16 HR and tallied 66 RBI’s thus far, and has been right in the middle of the Cubs’ turnaround. He is expected to regularly hit 25+ HR in the future, and be the centerpiece of the Chicago batting order for years to come.
Although the Rockies aren’t competing for a playoff spot this season, one of their lone bright spots has been at the hot corner, where 3B Nolan Arenado has erupted for a career best season. So far, Arenado is tied for second in the National League with 29 HR and has driven home 86 runs. Like Bryant, Arenado figures to be a focal point of his team for a long time, and should be launching home runs out of Coors Field for the foreseeable future.
Last but certainly not least, Orioles’ 3B Manny Machado has continued his development and is producing a career best season as well. Machado’s already launched a career-high 25 HR while hitting a solid .299 on the season. On top of that, Machado is known for his outstanding defense, using his range and supreme play making ability to create defensive highlights on a regular basis.
While those are just some of the stars of today at third base, it is easily seen that the position is back on the rise. Now, arguably almost half of MLB has an impact third baseman on its roster, and the future is brighter than ever for the hot corner. Somewhere, Schmidt and Robinson are smiling ear-to-ear.
