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MLB power rankings: Best player on each team

By Brad Berreman

Apr 17, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) during the game against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 17, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout (27) during the game against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Baltimore Orioles: 3B Manny Machado

With three All-Star selections, two Gold Gloves and now back-to-back seasons with at least 35 home runs on his resume, it’s worth remembering Machado won’t even turn 25 until July. His 20 stolen bases in 2015 look like a serious outlier at this point, with no steals on just three attempts in 2016 and one steal on one attempt so far this season. But that drop-off speaks more to a team-wide philosophy to not run much, with a bunch of slow-footed power hitters in Buck Showalter’s lineup, more than any notable gap in Machado’s skills.

Machado is a regular on highlight reels with his play defensively at third base, and he can also play shortstop capably when necessary. If that’s not enough to quantify his value, posting at least a 6.7 WAR (Baseball Reference version) and playing at least 156 games in three of the last four seasons should do it easily.

Machado is one of the best young players in all of baseball, and he’s moving toward removing the young prefix from that description for a long time coming. He’s arbitration-eligible for one more year after this one, then other teams will try to poach Machado from the Orioles with big free agent offers.

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