MLB Network ranks Josh Harrison third overall at the hot corner

Continuing the trend of Pirates making their way onto various top 10 lists is Josh Harrison.  MLB Network’s “Top 10 Right Now” series recently focused on third basemen, and to many’s surprise, JHay landed on “The Shredder’s” list at third overall.

We have previously analyzed these lists here, but as a refresher:  The Shredder is a statistical-analysis formula that looks at pure stats and projections to come up with an (ideally) objective ranking.  The Shredder’s list is then analyzed by analysts who make their own lists to analyze.  As of this time, Rum Bunter has received no confirmation on who analyzes the analysts.  Here now is a video of the tail end of the Shredder’s ranking.

(As of this time this is the only video available to us)

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With just one “good” year under his belt, the fact that Harrison beat out such names as Evan Longoria, Matt Carpenter, and Anthony Rendon is very surprising.  As everyone knows by now, Harrison played multiple positions last year, yet I was still surprised to learn that he ended up having only played 55 games at third by the end of the season.  Have we truly seen enough of Josh Harrison at third to feel comfortable with such a lofty ranking?  It pains me to say it, but no, I’m absolutely not there yet.  Not over guys like Rendon (111 R/39 2B/21 HR/83 RBI/17 SB) and even Longoria, with his track record being what it is.  We are told that defense does factor in here, giving Harrison a bump, but with the ever-mysterious Shredder, we are never fully informed of the criteria.  Overall, the talent on the list was a good mix of older, established players (Longoria, David Wright, Juan Uribe) and younger talent (Todd Frazier, Nolan Arenado).  When looked at through that prism, Harrison’s spot on the list can start to make sense, but not as high as number three.  Not yet.

The top two for all three lists (Brian Kenny, Mike Lowell, and The Shredder) was chalk, with Josh Donaldson taking number two on all lists, and Adrian Beltre snagging the top spot across the board.

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