One evaluator who has contributed input on all of our Top 10 lists this year started his list of second basemen with a qualifier -- a concession, really: "The toughest one yet."
Yes. There is a consensus pick in the top spot, but from about No. 5 through No. 14, the pack is bunched closely together, with a whole lot of qualified candidates.
1. Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
He might be the guy most likely to infringe on Mike Trout's MVP real estate in the seasons ahead because of all that Altuve does: hit for average, hit for power, defense, baserunning. "A perennial MVP candidate," one evaluator said.
He finished third in the voting for the award after affecting a major adjustment last season by being more patient at the plate and forcing opposing pitchers to work in the strike zone more often. His 60 walks in 2016 obliterated his previous career high of 40 and were almost twice as many as he had in 2015. That seemed to give him a chance to do more damage when he waited: Altuve won his second batting title at .338, with 71 extra-base hits and a .531 slugging percentage -- both career bests. Altuve scored 108 runs and drove in 96.
Altuve is 26 years old, and he already has 1,046 hits, 204 doubles and 199 steals to his credit, which puts him on a Hall of Fame trajectory early in his career.
Sarah Lang of ESPN Research sent along this note from the Elias Sports Bureau: Altuve's three seasons with 190-plus hits as a second baseman are tied with Robinson Cano for third-most in the past 100 years (Nellie Fox had six, and Dustin Pedroia has four).
And there's more to come in Altuve's career.
2. Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners
Cano has missed a total of 26 games over the past 10 seasons, having played through a lot of injuries. With the benefit of time, we can see now that his regression in 2015 occurred because of the ailments he dealt with throughout that season. Last year, he was more healthy and more devastating: He had a career-high 39 homers and batted .298 while ranking third among all players at his position in defensive runs saved, with 11.
His future induction into the Hall of Fame seems more probable than possible now. Cano, 34, has 2,210 hits, 1,065 runs and 1,086 RBIs. He has 780 extra-base hits, which compares with some second basemen who have already made speeches in Cooperstown:
Joe Morgan: 813
Rogers Hornsby: 1,011
Ryne Sandberg: 761
Rod Carew: 649
Charlie Gehringer: 904
From Elias: Cano had 7.3 WAR in 2016, second among players who played at least 50 percent of their games at second base. Cano has six seasons of 6.0 WAR or more, the most among active primary-position second basemen.
3. Ian Kinsler, Detroit Tigers
At the end of Kinsler's career, he might look back on his trade from the Rangers to the Tigers as something that was good for him -- a stunning deal in the fall of 2013 that seemed to re-energize him. He lost weight, and though he joined Detroit for his age-32 season, his performance has continued to be more consistent than ever, even with the move from an acute hitters' park for his home games to a pitchers' park.
Kinsler's slash line in eight seasons with Texas: .273/.349/.454.
His line with Detroit: .286/.332/.443.
Last year, at age 34, Kinsler earned his first Gold Glove Award. He scored 117 runs for the Tigers last season, his second-most in any season, and he surpassed 1,000 runs for his career (he has 1,059). He has 212 homers and 211 steals, and sometime in 2018, he probably will approach 2,000 hits and 400 doubles. "He does everything to help you win," one evaluator said.
From Lang: Kinsler has 63 defensive runs saved at second base since 2009, the most in the majors in that span by a wide margin. (Darwin Barney is next at 53.)
4. Daniel Murphy, Washington Nationals
He finished second for the NL MVP Award on the strength of his offensive production: He hit .347, easily a career-best, and led the NL in doubles (47) and slugging percentage (.595). In a season in which Bryce Harper slumped and other parts of the Washington lineup sputtered, Murphy was the one major constant for the Nationals, and he continues to build on some of the adjustments he made during his last year with the New York Mets in 2015.
He is regarded by evaluators as an average defender on his best days -- he was tied for last at his position in defensive runs saved -- but as one scout said, "His bat plays anywhere."
5. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
He was relatively healthy in 2016, and he had a big rebound season, particularly on defense. In 2014, Pedroia rated a 17 in defensive runs saved, and in 2015, that plummeted to minus-3. Last year, that was back up to a 12, and his UZR and UZR/150 ratings climbed as well.
In 2016, the 33-year-old Pedroia played in 154 games, his most since 2013, and he scored 105 runs, his highest total since 2009. His batting average was the second-highest of his career, at .318, and he accumulated 201 hits.
6. DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies
If second basemen were rated in aesthetics -- call it the Roberto Alomar Scale -- LeMahieu would not score well in the eyes of evaluators. He's 6-foot-4, big for the position, and he's never been particularly flashy, more of a plow horse than a thoroughbred. "Not pretty," one evaluator wrote, "but very effective on both sides of the game."
That's what is most important, anyway. LeMahieu beat Murphy for the NL batting title by hitting .348, reaching base 261 times and scoring 104 runs with a career-high 51 extra-base hits.
7. He would probably be higher on this list if not for the fact that he moves to other positions a lot, and in the postseason, that meant playing outfield. But no matter where Zobrist is in the Cubs' alignment, there is enormous respect for him, for how good he is, for how he competes -- particularly in the postseason, when the additional adrenaline seemed to have no impact on him. The past two years, Zobrist has played 33 postseason games for the Royals and Cubs, and in those, he has 24 runs scored and 13 doubles, including the tie-breaking double in the 10th inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, which will always be the first page of his legacy.
Zobrist has never hit .300 in his career, he has never scored 100 runs, and he has never won a Gold Glove Award. But over the past eight seasons, only six players in the big leagues -- just six -- have fared better in wins above replacement than Zobrist's 41.1, and those players are superstars such as Trout and Miguel Cabrera.
8. Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians
Because of the limitations of their market, the Indians have to be right when they invest a long-term deal in any player, and their deal with Kipnis -- struck after the 2014 season -- is proving to be wise. The past three season, Kipnis has batted .276 with a .349 on-base percentage plus power: 23 homers among 68 extra-base hits last season. He is signed through 2019 with a club option for 2020 for $40 million guaranteed.
Kipnis is a left-handed hitter effective against lefties: He hit .282 versus lefties in 2016 and .272 versus right-handers. In 2016, the extended at-bats of Mike Napoli, Carlos Santana and Kipnis seemed like the backbone of a lineup very difficult for pitchers to navigate. Kipnis averaged 4.01 pitches per plate appearance, 20th in the AL.
9. Brian Dozier, Minnesota Twins
The evaluators' split decisions on Dozier are fascinating and perhaps present a window into the Twins' efforts to market him. Some club officials placed him high on this last -- as high as No. 2 overall, ahead of the likes of Cano and Kinsler -- while others assigned him the No. 10 spot because they're not entirely convinced that what he did in the second half of 2016 is a sign of what's to come.
To review: From April 4 to June 16, Dozier struggled, hitting .227 with seven homers in 61 games. From June 17 to the end of the regular season, he hit like a baseball god: He bashed 35 homers in 94 games with 63 extra-base hits and 75 runs.
Evaluators are trying to decide exactly what he is, and maybe that starts with the Twins' new front office, led by Derek Falvey. If they believe he'll be as great as he was in the second half, it'll be easier for them to hang onto him. But if their evaluation of him is that what he did in the second half is an aberration, then they probably need to move him sooner rather than later.
The most underrated part of what Dozier does is in his baserunning: According to one metric that rates efficiency in this skill, Dozier was the best of all second basemen last season.
10. Rougned Odor, Texas Rangers
He is a dynamic player and still unfinished at age 22. He had 70 extra-base hits, including 33 homers, but Odor also racked up 135 strikeouts and just 19 walks. His on-base percentage dipped to .296. He reminds you a little of Alfonso Soriano with the power but also the hyper-aggressiveness. His pitches per plate appearance dropped to 3.44 in 2016, and that probably has to get better if Odor is going to evolve as an offensive player. He and Murphy were tied for last among second basemen in defensive runs saved at minus-9.
Honorable mention
Jonathan Schoop, Baltimore Orioles: He's only 25 years old and has the potential to climb on this list, given his quick hands and power. Schoop had 64 extra-base hits and drove in 82 runs in 2016. But in the eyes of some evaluators, he gives away too many at-bats: He had 137 strikeouts, 21 walks and a .298 on-base percentage last year.
Logan Forsythe, Tampa Bay Rays: He was much higher on this list after 2015, but injuries limited him to 127 games in 2016.
Joe Panik, San Francisco Giants: He won a Gold Glove for his defensive work last season, but in a year in which he suffered the effects of a concussion, his offense regressed to a .695 OPS.
Cesar Hernandez, Philadelphia Phillies: If this ranking were based on WAR, he’d be in the top 10. He was ninth in fWAR at 4.4. But some evaluators wonder if he'll continue to hit at the level he did in 2016, when he was second in the majors in BABIP.
Neil Walker, New York Mets: He performed well for the Mets before being felled by a back problem.
Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh Pirates: One position belonged to him for the first time, and he had his struggles with a .699 OPS.
Wild card: Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs: It's hard to know what to do with a player who might be the best defensive second baseman in the majors because he doesn't always play second base. In 2016, he started 38 games at second in the regular season, and he started 36 at third base, 21 at shortstop and even a couple at first base. Evaluators rave about his defense, of course, and expect that he'll build on some of the progress he made in his offense last season. Some rival officials expect that over time, the Cubs will install him as their everyday second baseman, with Zobrist going back to the kind of super-utility role he filled with the Rays.