Adrián Beltré’s recent 3000th career hit kicked off a conversation in my baseball circles about where he ranks in history among the game’s best third basemen. I took a statistical approach, looking at each player’s career WAR and using a positional adjustment for games they have actually played at their position.
For example, through August 2, 2017, Beltré has played 2667, or 96.1%, of his 2774 regular season games at third base. So I take his career WAR, 92.4, and multiplied it by 96.1% to come up with a positionally adjusted WAR of 88.8.
Using this method, here are the top 10 third basemen in baseball history:
| Player | HOF? | Career WAR | G at Pos. | Total G | % at Pos. | Adjusted WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Schmidt | HOF | 106.5 | 2212 | 2404 | 92.0% | 98.0 |
| Adrián Beltré | 92.4 | 2667 | 2774 | 96.1% | 88.8 | |
| Eddie Mathews | HOF | 96.4 | 2181 | 2391 | 91.2% | 87.9 |
| Wade Boggs | HOF | 91.1 | 2215 | 2440 | 90.8% | 82.7 |
| Brooks Robinson | HOF | 78.4 | 2870 | 2896 | 99.1% | 77.7 |
| Scott Rolen | 70.0 | 2023 | 2038 | 99.3% | 69.5 | |
| Chipper Jones | 85.0 | 1992 | 2499 | 79.7% | 67.8 | |
| Ron Santo | HOF | 70.4 | 2130 | 2243 | 95.0% | 66.9 |
| Home Run Baker | HOF | 62.8 | 1548 | 1575 | 98.3% | 61.7 |
| Graig Nettles | 68.0 | 2412 | 2700 | 89.3% | 60.7 |
Using this method, I went ahead and calculated the top 3 at each position:
| Pos. | Player | HOF? | Career WAR | G at Pos. | Total G | % at Pos. | Adjusted WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | Iván Rodríguez | HOF | 68.4 | 2427 | 2543 | 95.4% | 65.3 |
| C | Gary Carter | HOF | 69.9 | 2056 | 2296 | 89.5% | 62.6 |
| C | Carlton Fisk | HOF | 68.3 | 2226 | 2499 | 89.1% | 60.8 |
| 1B | Lou Gehrig | HOF | 112.4 | 2137 | 2164 | 98.8% | 111.0 |
| 1B | Cap Anson | HOF | 93.9 | 2152 | 2524 | 85.3% | 80.1 |
| 1B | Jimmie Foxx | HOF | 96.4 | 1919 | 2317 | 82.8% | 79.8 |
| 2B | Eddie Collins | HOF | 123.9 | 2650 | 2826 | 93.8% | 116.2 |
| 2B | Joe Morgan | HOF | 100.3 | 2527 | 2649 | 95.4% | 95.7 |
| 2B | Nap Lajoie | HOF | 107.4 | 2035 | 2480 | 82.1% | 88.1 |
| 3B | Mike Schmidt | HOF | 106.5 | 2212 | 2404 | 92.0% | 98.0 |
| 3B | Adrián Beltré | 92.4 | 2667 | 2774 | 96.1% | 88.8 | |
| 3B | Eddie Mathews | HOF | 96.4 | 2181 | 2391 | 91.2% | 87.9 |
| SS | Honus Wagner | HOF | 131.0 | 1887 | 2794 | 67.5% | 88.5 |
| SS | Ozzie Smith | HOF | 76.5 | 2511 | 2573 | 97.6% | 74.7 |
| SS | Cal Ripken | HOF | 95.5 | 2302 | 3001 | 76.7% | 73.3 |
| LF | Barry Bonds | 162.4 | 2715 | 2986 | 90.9% | 147.7 | |
| LF | Ted Williams | HOF | 123.1 | 1982 | 2292 | 86.5% | 106.5 |
| LF | Rickey Henderson | HOF | 110.8 | 2421 | 3081 | 78.6% | 87.1 |
| CF | Willie Mays | HOF | 156.2 | 2829 | 2992 | 94.6% | 147.7 |
| CF | Tris Speaker | HOF | 133.7 | 2691 | 2789 | 96.5% | 129.0 |
| CF | Ty Cobb | HOF | 151.0 | 2188 | 3034 | 72.1% | 108.9 |
| RF | Hank Aaron | HOF | 142.6 | 2174 | 3298 | 65.9% | 94.0 |
| RF | Roberto Clemente | HOF | 94.5 | 2305 | 2433 | 94.7% | 89.5 |
| RF | Mel Ott | HOF | 107.8 | 2161 | 2730 | 79.2% | 85.3 |
| SP | Cy Young | HOF | 170.3 | 815 | 906 | 90.0% | 153.2 |
| SP | Roger Clemens | 139.4 | 707 | 709 | 99.7% | 139.0 | |
| SP | Walter Johnson | HOF | 152.3 | 666 | 802 | 83.0% | 126.5 |
| RP | Mariano Rivera | 56.6 | 1105 | 1115 | 99.1% | 56.1 | |
| RP | Hoyt Wilhelm | HOF | 50.1 | 1018 | 1070 | 95.1% | 47.7 |
| RP | Dennis Eckersley | HOF | 62.5 | 710 | 1071 | 66.3% | 41.4 |
I guess it’s mostly who you’d expect. But some interesting things are revealed when you rank the players like this:
- Ruth and Musial get knocked down because they split their careers at different positions.
- Mantle was good but didn’t play as long as other centerfielders and also split time at other positions.
- Honus Wagner was incredible, despite having only played 67.5% of his games at SS. Similar situation for Hank Aaron in RF.
- Pete Rose is way down at every position because he played almost all of them.
- Roger Clemens had a better career than Pedro Martinez or Greg Maddux.
- Tom Gordon is somehow the 5th best relief pitcher ever.
- The only players on this list not in the Hall of Fame are suspected steroid users or those who are not eligible yet.
- Having Beltré listed with these guys goes to show how good he really is.
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