As you prepare for your drafts, it is important to figure out who you want to target and avoid in drafts. Culling your draft list is an important process to make sure things go seamlessly. Second base is one of the shallowest positions in fantasy this season. There are no top-30 players and huge cliffs in the tiers. Here are my picks for second basemen to target and avoid at their current ADP in 2023.

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Second Basemen to Target or Avoid at ADP

Let’s get to it.

Targets

Jose Altuve (HOU) – ADP 40.95

Altuve is the safest guy in the second-base pool. He started running again last season and should be at least able to keep the stolen-base gains he got last year or even add to his totals. He hits atop one of the best lineups in baseball. That should propel him to a boat load of runs scored. He should be your top target at the position.

Ozzie Albies (ATL) – ADP 53.93

Albies is coming off of a disaster season in which he struggled at the plate and then got hurt, causing him to miss the majority of the season. He is entering 2023 healthy and still has the five-category production ceiling to get him back to the first or second round production that he was being drafted for last year.

Jonathan India (CIN) – ADP 179.01

India is another guy that is coming off of a lost season due to injury. He is healthy heading into this year and projected to hit first or second in the Reds’ order. He is a fantastic table setter that has decent pop and speed, India is going way too cheap right now in drafts.

Brendan Donovan (STL) – ADP 310.63

Coming into the offseason, I was largely ignoring Donovan. He seemed like an empty average guy. However, the more I dug into him, the more I became interested. It looks like he might hit second in St. Louis and spent the offseason working on lifting the ball. He also added more muscle and strength. With even just a little bit of power added, he could go from a boring empty average guy to one that is an enticing accumulator.

Avoids

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (MIA) – ADP 45.02

Power and speed; what is not to like? It all comes down to health with Chisholm. He only played 60 games in 2022. Now, he is moving to a new position in centerfield. That scares me a bit. If he stays healthy, he is a monster, but considering we have yet to see him do that in the Majors, I am not ready to pay his price.

Jorge Polanco (MIN) – ADP 155.56

Polanco is similar to Chisholm in terms of his health. In many ways, it is much worse, because he is not even playing yet due to injury. If he doesn’t get on the field quickly, he could find himself in a reserve role with Edouard Julien and Austin Martin waiting in the wings. Royce Lewis should also be ready to return from injury this summer.

Whit Merrifield (TOR) – ADP 191.10

Merrifield went from being fantasy gold to irrelevant pretty quickly. His bat slowed down, which hurt his ability to hit for average. Since he is not a big walk guy, he had a sub-.300 OBP for the first time since 2017. This lowered his ability to steal bases. Then, once he was traded to Toronto, he completely stopped running. He probably shouldn’t be drafted in just about any format outside of the deepest of leagues.

Christopher Morel (CHC) – ADP 259.26

Morel has been on quite a few sleeper lists this offseason. I get it. He showed a nice blend of power and speed while carrying multiple positional eligibility. That being said, he has really atrocious underlying skills. He had the worst zone contact in the Major Leagues among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. His swing and miss in the zone is going to be a major issue, and he could easily end up as a bench bat or in the minors.

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