Evan Longoria the Best Third Baseman in Baseball

I am a admitted baseball addict and I have always had a soft spot for third basemen. I think my fascination with them stems from the fact that I played the position myself, but only in Little League. There are a few real good third basemen in the game today. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees has done pretty well since being moved from shortstop. Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox is solid at either third or first base. While Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals is the best the National League has to offer. Out of all of today's third basemen one stands above the rest and he is Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Longoria has only been in the majors for three seasons, but in that time he has put up some pretty remarkable numbers. He has averaged 27 home runs and 100 runs batted in a season. He has a .283 career batting average as well. Longoria has also already won two Gold Gloves and made the A.L. All-Star team each of his three years.

When I watch Longoria play he reminds me a lot of Philadelphia Phillies great Mike Schmidt. If you compare their first three full seasons the numbers are quite similar. Schmidt averaged 30 home runs and 88 RBI. Schmidt's batting average is quite a bit lower at .248. He also hadn't won any of his ten Gold Gloves in his first three seasons, but he did make one All-Star team.

Now hold on Phillies fans I am not saying that Longoria is better than Schmidt or even as good. What I am saying is that through three seasons of their careers their numbers are on par. Longoria still has many years to put in before he can match the career of the Hall of Fame Phillie, but he is certainly off to a nice start. If Longoria can avoid serious injury, like Schmidt did, he might make it in the company of what many consider the greatest third basemen to ever play the game.

Only time will tell if Longoria gets there, but I think he has the right personality and the drive to make a run at Michael Jack. Even if he doesn't ever make it there I will enjoy watching him try.

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Source:

baseball-reference.com