Fantasy Baseball 2018: Is Rafael Devers a top-10 third baseman?

The Red Sox have a young third baseman with a lot of upside in the future. Is Rafael Devers good enough to finish in the top 10 next season?

The Boston Red Sox thought they had their third baseman for years with Pablo Sandoval. But, after two and a half seasons, he’s back in San Francisco. Luckily, the Red Sox have a much younger option that can do what Sandoval could and even more. But how high is the ceiling for Rafael Devers?

Devers made his 2017 debut on July 25. He hit .311 with 20 home runs and 60 RBI between Double and Triple-A. He also had 100 hits in those 86 games. The Red Sox had another rising star on their hands.

He played in just 58 MLB games. In those games, Devers posted a .284/.338/.482 line with 10 home runs, 30 RBI and 34 runs scored. The Boston offense wasn’t that impressive in the second half, hitting just .246, which affects runs scored.

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If you average his stats out over a 162-game season, he would have finished with 28 home runs, 84 RBI, 176 hits and 95 runs. That would have put him very close to the top 20.

Because of the small sample size, Devers finished 49th among all qualified third basemen on the Player Rater. He obviously wasn’t drafted in 99.9 percent of leagues either. So, only those in AL-only or deep leagues had Devers on their radar by the halfway point.

With five months until the 2018 Opening Day, fantasy baseball experts are already putting out their rankings. ESPN’s Tristan H. Cockcroft has Devers as his No. 17 third baseman, behind Adrian Beltre (who I already mentioned my feelings for) and Evan Longoria. I think Devers will easily have better seasons than both of them.

On the other hand, CBS Sports has four contributors give their top-12 rankings for each infield position. Two have Devers at No. 11 and the other two rank him No. 12. That’s more in line with where I think he should be ranked.

If the Red Sox can improve their offense, Devers will have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs and score. I think the 162-game projection is not far off of what he will actually do next season.

Next: Is Charlie Morton just smoke and mirrors?

Devers hit for the majority of the season either fifth, sixth or seventh with Xander Bogaerts and Hanley Ramirez hitting in front of him. While he will miss out on some plate appearances hitting fifth compared to someone atop the order, about 54, he will still have plenty of value in all league formats next season.

Anything after a 10th round pick is worth the investment for a potential starter at a deep position.

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