Top 10 Second Basemen in Major League Baseball in 2025

As a part of an annual series we put together, we’re going down the list of positions and ranking which players were the best of the best during this year’s regular season.

After previously scratching catcher, first base, and shortstop off of our to-do list, it’s time to shift focus over to second base.

While we saw Cal Raleigh dominate the headlines behind the dish and Nick Kurtz emerge as MLB’s next big thing at first base, there weren’t any massive, standout showings at second base this season. You can’t have every position on the field hit you 60 home runs or set rookie records all the time, as fun as that would be.

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We’ve got a lot of the usual suspects ranking high on this year’s list, so don’t be surprised to see Ketel Marte, Nico Hoerner, and Jazz Chisholm continue to hold spots high up on the ranking. However, we saw quite a bit of a shakeup in the top 10 as a whole compared to where we were in January heading into this year’s regular season.

Let’s dive in and check out our updated top 10 second basemen. Before we get going, it’s important for me to clarify that this isn’t a list of the top 10 overall players based on track record and reputation. This is simply the best 10 primary second basemen from the 2025 season.

Who Fell Off the Top 10 From Our Pre-Season Rankings?

If you look back at our pre-season ranking of the top 10 second basemen in baseball, half of the players ranked failed to make our end-of-season list.

Here are the players we thought would be a top 10 second basemen in baseball in 2025, who failed to meet expectations this year:

• No. 3: Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers
• No. 5: Ozzie Albies, Atlanta Braves
• No. 7: Andres Gimenez, Toronto Blue Jays
• No. 9: Luis Garcia Jr., Washington Nationals

Expectations were sky high for Marcus Semien entering the 2025 regular season, but he fell short of them in basically every way. He had a red-hot month of June that saw him hit .324 with a 158 wRC+ across 26 games with four home runs and 16 RBI, but every single other month of the year was awful for him.

Ozzie Albies made it into 157 games this year, which is the most he’s had in a single season since all the way back in 2019. Even though he finally had health on his side, the switch-hitter managed to post just 1.3 fWAR and finished with a wRC+ of 87, which is the worst of his career. He still was a decent run producer, but not top-10 material.

In his first year on the Blue Jays, it’s safe to say Gimenez underperformed during the regular season. He was worth just 1 WAR per FanGraphs and saw his wRC+ dip all the way down to 70, which puts him 30% below league-average offensively. Of course, he’s currently on an absolute tear in the playoffs, but the fact of the matter is he was only even remotely valuable with his glove this year. It’s nice to be an elite defender at your position, but when you represent a black hole on offense, your value’s going to take a big hit.

After coming out of nowhere in 2024 to emerge as a legitimate 20-20 threat, we were pretty high on Luis Garcia Jr. prior to this past regular season. However, he regressed across the board and on both sides of the ball. He still hit 16 home runs and drove in 66, but nearly every single statistic on the back of his baseball card saw a decline.

Honorable Mention: Jeff McNeil, New York Mets

Despite the fact that he’s got two All-Star Game appearances under his belt, Jeff McNeil has become pretty slept on around the industry after enduring a two-year slump following his standout 2022 showing.

McNeil, now 33, was at the very least able to improve upon those two down years in 2025, but he couldn’t quite crack our top 10. If anything, he’d make a top utility player list, as he also saw considerable time in the outfield this past year, but it was too tough to ignore that he didn’t have enough plate appearances to be a qualified hitter in 2025.

Even amongst players with a minimum of 400 PA that call second base their primary defensive home, McNeil sat 15th in fWAR and was outside the top 10 in home runs, runs, AVG, and a whole slew of other offensive categories. Close, but no dice.

**NOTE: These positional rankings are created by ordering the average score from each of our four voters. 15 different players received votes, so some will have ranks higher than 10, depending on the voter.**

The Top 10 Second Basemen in MLB in 2025

10. Jose Altuve, Houston Astros (Preseason: 2)

2025 Stats: 155 G, 26 HR, 77 RBI, 10 SB, .265/.329/.442, 113 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR

Despite the fact that he nearly hit 30 home runs this year, it’s fair to say that the 2025 season was a bit of a down one for Altuve. The future Hall of Famer is 35 years old and it’s only a matter of time before Father Time catches up to him, but he also took up a brand new defensive position for the first time in his career and managed to finish with a stat line that’s 13% above league-average at the dish.

A multi-month slump that spanned through the months of August and September brought Altuve’s full-season numbers down quite a bit, but he showed flashes of his old elite self at various points as the season marched on.

While he didn’t quite do enough to defend his second-place ranking in our last go-round, Altuve did enough to stick around in the top 10. He’s still a valuable contributor to this Astros team and it’s going to be a whole lot of fun watching him track down 3,000 hits over the next few seasons.

9. Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays (Preseason: 10)

2025 Stats: 134 G, 31 HR, 83 RBI, 3 SB, .256/.307/.477, 114 wRC+, 1.7 fWAR

It’s about time Brandon Lowe gets the love he deserves for being one of baseball’s best power-hitting second basemen. The 31-year-old led all qualified hitters at the position in home runs and RBI, and he did a whole lot of what he’s always done best: hit for power and drive in runs.

However, he also struck out at concerning rates and saw his walk rate continue to drop from 11.5% in 2023 to 7.8% last year to 6.9% this year.

Still, any player has his fair share of warts if you look hard enough. It’s important to note that Lowe appeared in 134 games this year, which is a major improvement over each of the past three years. Keeping him on the field is of the utmost importance to the Rays, and he showed in more ways than one how valuable he can be at hitting the ball over the fence when he’s got health on his side.

Lowe’s bat is a powerful one, and he’s always going to slug, but he’s got to provide value in more ways than one if he’s going to make his way up our future rankings.

8. Bryson Stott, Philadelphia Phillies (Preseason: Unranked)

2025 Stats: 147 G, 13 HR, 66 RBI, 24 SB, .257/.328/.391, 100 wRC+, 3.1 fWAR

Since debuting in 2022, Bryson Stott has been basically the same exact player. Really, he’s been as consistent as they come, but he’s also been … decidedly average with the bat. In fact, his wRC+ of 100 puts him smack dab on the mark of a league-average hitter.

There are worst labels to be handed to a player, and the Phillies will take double-digit home run totals, a healthy amount of stolen bases, and slick defensive chops from their primary second baseman.

While Stott comes with his fair share of shortcomings (hitting against left-handed pitching being right at the top of the list), his defensive play is nowhere near that list. While he curiously finished the regular season with 0 Defensive Runs Saved at second base, Stott accumulated 7 Outs Above Average, which is good for second amongst all players at the position.

Being able to be average on offense and a 94th-percentile finisher in OAA helps Stott’s case. We’d all love to see him improve at the plate, but he’s done enough to earn a spot in the back-half of our top 10.

7. Gleyber Torres, Detroit Tigers (Preseason: Unranked)

2025 Stats: 145 G, 16 HR, 74 RBI, 4 SB, .256/.358/.387, 113 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR

Gleyber Torres put together a nice single-year showing over in Detroit, and is set to re-enter the free agent market in the coming weeks. After underperforming in his final year on the Yankees in 2024, he put together a solid turnaround on the Tigers, and could earn a shinier paycheck this time around on the open market.

While Torres is never going to blow anybody away with his contributions as a defensive second baseman, he finished in the top 10 in the league at the position in home runs, runs scored, runs driven in, OBP, SLG, wRC+, and fWAR.

What’s perhaps most impressive about his showing this year is that he led all second basemen in BB% and total walks, which is a major improvement over what we’ve seen from him in the past. He walked at a 13.5% clip, which is by far the highest he’s ever had in a single full season. For reference, he was at 9.8% last season.

Torres’ lone year in Detroit helped him become a more complete hitter, and while he’s not going to earn a jaw-dropping contract this winter, he’s going to find a home on a team looking for an offensive upgrade at second.

6. Jake Cronenworth, San Diego Padres (Preseason: Unranked at 2B)*

*Cronenworth made Just Baseball’s Top 10 Utility Players list prior to the 2025 regular season

2025 Stats: 135 G, 11 HR, 59 RBI, 3 SB, .246/.367/.377, 117 wRC+, 2.9 fWAR

Jake Cronenworth’s competence with his glove is likely what earned him a higher fWAR than Torres, as one of this duo was a decent hitter with a decent glove and the other is a decent hitter with no glove to speak of.

Still, Cronenworth has earned this spot. There may not be anything particularly flashy about his game, and he may be an underrated contributor in an otherwise star-studded division over in the NL West, but he was as valuable as he’s been in years in 2025.

He draws walks (94th percentile in BB%), never swings at bad pitches (82nd percentile in Whiff%), is a double-digit home run threat, and can bounce around defensively. It’s true that he may be a bit overpaid, but it’s not like he’s been a completely sunk cost for the Padres.

5. Brendan Donovan, St. Louis Cardinals (Preseason: Unranked at 2B)*

*Donovan was also included in the utility players list

2025 Stats: 118 G, 10 HR, 50 RBI, 3 SB, .287/.353/.422, 119 wRC+, 2.9 fWAR

In my opinion, there’s a pretty dramatic fall-off in overall talent once you get outside of our top five. Brendan Donovan is just about as underrated as they come as a pesky utility-type player over in St. Louis, and he had no trouble being a productive asset on an otherwise disappointing team in 2025.

The 28-year-old made the first All-Star Game of his career earlier this year, but he sustained a groin injury that took him out of action for right around a month. Missing those 30~ games harmed his case in the eyes of some of the voters, but it’s hard to argue that he was extremely solid when he was on the field.

Donovan isn’t a huge power hitter, but he plays a strong second base and has the ability to bounce around the diamond. His trade value has fluctuated a bit over the years, but he’s high on the list of Cardinals trade chips this offseason and could soon find himself on the move.

4. Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs (Preseason: 4)

2025 Stats: 156 G, 7 HR, 61 RBI, 29 SB, .297/.345/.394, 109 wRC+, 4.8 fWAR

What do you get when you find a second baseman who’s a constant stolen base threat, is a contact-hitting machine, and plays A-plus defense? One hell of a ballplayer, that’s what.

Hoerner, 28, has been worth 4 or more fWAR in three of the past four seasons and set a new career-high in the category this year. While he’s still got little to no power to speak of, he makes up for that in a bunch of other ways by hitting nearly .300, swiping nearly 30 bases, and still managing to post an overall offensive stat line that was 9% above league-average.

Oh, and he also led all qualifying second basemen in batting average and fWAR this year.

While the Cubs as a whole didn’t go very far in the postseason, that’s of no fault of Hoerner’s. In eight games, he hit .419 with a 172 wRC+ with a home run, two runs driven in, and four runs scored. He also made a few strong plays with the glove, which certainly didn’t hurt.

3. Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers (Preseason: 8)

2025 Stats: 156 G, 18 HR, 81 RBI, 24 SB, .288/.359/.435, 124 wRC+, 4.4 fWAR

Brice Turang took gigantic steps forward on offense this year, and he deserves to be commended for that. The 25-year-old had just an 88 wRC+ last year before going wild and upping that mark by nearly 40 points.

Turang played in just one more game this year than he did last, but he still turned himself into a completely different ballplayer and improved in every single way. At least on offense.

He is leaving the 2025 campaign with new career-highs in every single major category except for stolen bases. Even if his defense leaves a bit to be desired, what he accomplished on offense this year shot him up our rankings, and deservedly so.

Amongst qualifying second basemen, the former first-round pick finished seventh in home runs, first in runs scored, second in RBI and batting average, fourth in stolen bases, and third in OBP. There’s no denying he was one of the very best players at the position this season.

2. Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees (Preseason: 6)

2025 Stats: 130 G, 31 HR, 80 RBI, 31 SB, .242/.332/.481, 126 wRC+, 4.4 fWAR

It’s not everyday a baseball player can just up and switch positions as often as Jazz Chisholm Jr. does and be as proficient at every stop as he’s been. Not every player is a freak athlete like him or Mookie Betts.

No matter which way you slice it, Chisholm was not only one of the premier sluggers at second base, but in all of the league this year. He only made it into 130 contests, so it’s worth wondering how much closer to 40 home runs he would’ve been if he had made it into, say, 20 or so more games?

40 home runs or not, Chisholm slugged with the best of them, and did so while putting up outstanding defensive metrics at the same time. His arm leaves a bit to be desired, but you don’t need the best throwing arm in the world to play a solid second base. Instead, he finished in the 89th percentile in OAA and posted 2 DRS and 8 OAA at the position by the time the season ended.

He doubled his career-high in innings at the position and did a damn good job of fielding the spot in the process.

1. Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks (Preseason: 1)

2025 Stats: 126 G, 28 HR, 72 RBI, 4 SB, .283/.376/.517, 145 wRC+, 4.6 fWAR

Simply put, Marte is the best second baseman in baseball and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Even if he isn’t going to bring home a Gold Glove on a consistent basis, what he does with the bat is more than enough to carry him to the top.

Marte, 32, played in the least amount of games he’s had in a single season since 2021 but still managed to come close to a 30-homer season with almost 90 runs scored and within striking distance of 80 RBI. Most teams would kill to get that kind of production from their second baseman, so the Diamondbacks are spoiled rotten. I don’t think anyone needs to remind them.

Marte’s Savant page is full of red, and that’s not just alongside players who play the same position as he does. He’s one of baseball’s best hitters, period, and should look much more like his 2024 self (36 HR, 95 RBI, 152 wRC+) next year if he’s got health on his side from start to finish.