Third base is a good position for the Reds offensively, so this was the toughest one so far. We had three third basemen with wRC+ above 100.
Although Scott Rolen was 35 years old when the decade started, he played 290 games for the Reds and was an All-Star twice in the three final years of his career.
I didn’t get to see Rolen at his peak, but 70.2 WAR (9th best for a third baseman in history) speaks volumes. The fact that he only received 17% of the HOF vote in 2019 is nonsense. Fingers-crossed he makes a bigger jump in the 2020 vote.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe current incumbent at the hot corner is Eugenio Suarez. The Reds were overly reliant on Geno’s power last season. His 49 home runs was better than everyone in MLB except New York Mets’ Pete Alonso.
Take Joey Votto (who has seven of the top eight) out of the equation and Suarez’s 2019 season was the third best offensive campaign by a Reds hitter this decade.
Although Todd Frazier never produced a year with the bat like Suarez’s 2019, or his 2018 for that fact, The Toddfather handled defensive duties at the hot corner with consummate ease.
Frazier scored 305 runs in 633 games with 108 home runs and 113 wRC+. He generated 15.0 WAR over the decade, putting him third among Reds hitters behind Votto and Brandon Phillips. Our choice for Reds Third Baseman of the Decade is Todd Frazier.
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Photos by Jared Wickerham & Thearon Henderson
4000 miles from Ohio 