Now that we’re halfway through the season, it’s time for our Annual Mid-Year Rankings.  To accompany the positional rankings, which are posted on the TDG website, we’ll feature some risers and fallers, and one writer will highlight The Next Big Thing for each position.

Enjoy and feel free to let us know what you think in the comments down below, find us on Twitter/X, or better yet, join our Discord!

Riser: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks (Preseason rank: 7, Mid-Year rank: 2)

It’s time to recognize the chronically under-ranked Ketel Marte for what he is, which is an elite second baseman. When I step back and look at his body of work, I can see why rankers hesitate to put him too high (injuries and that dreaded “career year”), and I can also see why we should be ranking him higher (he rakes).

His 2019 season is well documented; he posted a .329/.389/.592 slash line with 32 home runs and ten stolen bases and finished fourth in NL MVP voting. Then he dropped off in 2020, as did many players, and in 2021, injuries limited him to 90 games.  As a result, in 2022 pre-season rankings, my predecessors at TDG ranked him somewhere outside the top 50 second basemen, even though he slashed .318/.377/.532 with 14 home runs in those 90 games. In 2022, Marte went out and posted .240/.321/.407 with 12 home runs, admittedly a below-average year for him but solid production for the position. .

Coming into the 2023 season, we had him ranked eleventh, and he had a season that approached his 2019 numbers, .276/.358/.485, 25 home runs, which moved him up to our top ten for the 2024 pre-season rankings.  Now he’s making a case for being the best offensive second baseman in the game.  He currently leads all second basemen in wRC+, WAR, HR, RBI, SLG, and barrels, is second in OBP and third in hard-hit percentage.

So I ask you, and all of us who rank, are we ranking Ketel Marte against other second basemen, or against his career year?  There’s actually a lot going on at this position, including Mookie’s eligibility and some exciting prospects, but until Marte stops producing, I think he will remain at least a top-five second baseman.  If you currently roster him, hold or maybe sell high, and if you don’t roster him, wait until March when fantasy managers once again forget how good he is and start making offers.

Drew Klein (aok_fan)

Faller: Edouard Julien, Minnesota Twins (Preseason rank: 13, Mid-Year rank: 45)

**long, drawn out, its-comical-how-long-it-is sigh*

Well, this is not what I expected from Edouard Julien in 2024. The 2023 breakout has mostly crashed this season to the measly tune of a .217/.316/.353 with 7 homers and 6 steals, leaving a swath of broken Canadian hearts behind him. There’s not even a whole lot to be excited about on Savant either – pull any fancy stat from a hat and it’s likely to be worse than it was in 2023. Even that Edouardian double-digit walk rate has taken a nosedive this year (although, hey, credit where it’s due – 12.2% is better than anything I’ve ever achieved on the diamond).

I don’t know, though. I just…feel like he’ll bounce back from this. That so far, this is a low point he can turn around.

Call me a Coco Puffs enthusiast.

…oh, I’m sorry. You want some more context for my gut calls? My gut calls aren’t good enough on name value alone? How very dare you.

Fine. First – I’m not going to write off a player with his ability to take a walk after 650-ish plate appearances, especially in OBP leagues, which is our standard here at the Guru office. It’s a baseline we can all strive for and he has years of backlogged walkability standards to back it up. Second – I am also not going to write off a player the year after he breaks out in the major leagues. Baseball is hard! Pitchers are good! It’s clear that pitchers have adjusted, throwing him more offspeed stuff, and he wasn’t ready for it. Nothing an offseason can’t help. In my opinion, his ability to take a walk gives me hope he’ll be able to work on identifying problem pitches and come up with a more aggressive approach for 2025. Third – baseball is hard! It’s worth saying again.

Ultimately, I went into this season with Julien on about 80% of my rosters. Now? Well, it’s down to nil. However, I still had him ranked just outside the top-30 for our midseason re-ranks, and definitely think he’s worth a look in mid- to bigger-sized leagues. He has a few multi-hit efforts in August since being called back up as well, so hopefully that ball keeps rolling.

Taylor Case (@TCasesLoaded)

The Next Big Thing: Ronny Mauricio, New York Mets (Mid-Season Rank: 18)

We all love some hot takes in our search for baseball knowledge to help us in our dynasty leagues. So how about one at the second base position. My next big thing has to be Ronny Mauricio and not Jackson Holliday. I’ve spoken about my concerns regarding Holliday on our podcast, The Prospect Showdown, and it comes down to a lack of statistical production across the core stats. Now I’m gonna give you the hype about Mauricio.

Mauricio missed the entire 2024 season after tearing his ACL in the Dominican Winter League this past December. If it were not for that, he would be a fantasy stud and rising up rankings everywhere. What makes him so special and worthy of being the next big thing over Holliday, is simple: tools and stat production.

Before his injury, Mauricio completed the 2023 season playing at Triple-A and in the major leagues for the New York Mets. At the Triple-A level, he showed he was a massive power/speed threat, hitting 23 home runs and stealing 24 bases. Not to be outdone, after his September call-up, he crushed two home runs and stole seven bases, in just 22 games.

Mauricio kept the strikeouts down, with an 18.2% strikeout rate at Triple-A and a 28.7% strikeout rate in the majors. With some natural adjustments and patience at the plate, his major league strikeout rate should come back down toward his career numbers. What will help the strikeout numbers and why I really like him, is his ability to hit from both sides of the plate and hit the ball extremely hard from both as well. In his short debut in the majors, he was a hard-hit machine. His first career hit was a double with an exit velocity of 117.3 mph from the left side. His first career home run was also from the left side at 112.4 mph and went 440 feet. His second career home run was from the right side and was a low laser at 112.9 mph. Being able to hit from both sides of the plate should keep him in the lineup every day and help him avoid prolonged droughts and any platoon talk that left-handed hitters tend to always draw.

Ronny Mauricio is poised to be the next big thing at second base, his only hurdle at this time, seems to be returning to form from his ACL injury. To that end, Ronald Acuna showed a complete recovery is possible and then some. 2025 is looking like it could be the rise of El Chimi, as he has 30/30 upside, with a floor of being a perennial 20/20 hitter.

Brian Labude (@Polar_Bear_Ball)