MLB Analyst Is Shocked By Recent Nolan Arenado Snub

MLB Network recently ranked the top-10 third baseman in baseball right now.

It’s obviously an exercise that takes 2022 performance into heavy consideration, hence the words “right now.”

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado checked in at a shocking fifth position in the ranking.

MLB analyst and prospects expert Keith Law wasn’t afraid to voice his disagreement with the low ranking for one of the very best players in baseball.

“I must be hallucinating, I thought this said Arenado was the fifth best third baseman in baseball,” he tweeted, quoting a segment of the show in which the Cardinals’ two-way star is ranked fifth.

I must be hallucinating, I thought this said Arenado was the fifth best third baseman in baseball https://t.co/ChwKfyUbRV

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) January 20, 2023

The San Diego Padres’ Manny Machado, Cleveland Guardians’ Jose Ramirez, Atlanta Braves’ Austin Riley, and Boston Red Sox’s Rafael Devers appear higher than Arenado.

While a case can be made that Machado, Devers, and Riley are better than Arenado, it’s not a very good one: by 2022 performance and overall body of work, Arenado trumps them all.

The 31-year-old star hit a cool .293/.358/.533 with 30 homers and a career-best 151 wRC+.

He also won, again, the Gold Glove at third base.

Now, Ramirez and Arenado are very similar and very close when it comes to skills and production.

Arenado, however, has been dominating for a longer time than Ramirez.

Seeing Arenado, a 7.3-WAR player in 2022 (the highest output of his career), ranked fifth among players at the hot corner seems ludicrous.

He is, at worst, a top-two performer there and he may very well be the best.

He has been too good for too long as a hitter and as a fielder to accept a lower ranking.