It has been a few years now since I did my All-Time One-Year Wonder post on second-basemen. Well, last year a new player entered the fray and it is time to determine if he is good enough to unseat the winner of that post: Luis Alicea.
It is also time to show off my new card of this player, Ian Kinsler:
Kinsler is a four-time All Star, with three of those seasons occurring with the Rangers and one with the Tigers. At his best, he was right there along with Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano as the top second-basemen in the league. Unfortunately, his career has been going downhill lately, which brings us to 2018. Kinsler started the year with the Angels and had hit 13 home runs before being traded to the Red Sox for Ty Buttrey and Williams Jerez, two bullpen arms that have helped out a bit. Kinsler was acquired in order to help replace the production of the injured Pedroia. He played in 37 games down the stretch, but his batting line was a paltry .242/.294/.311 with just one home run and 16 RBIs. He did hit well in the ALDS against the Yankees, collecting two doubles among four hits in 14 plate appearances and knocking in a pair of runs. He did not do much else the rest of the postseason though. Kinsler signed with the Padres as a free agent for 2019. Kinsler's stint with Boston was notable for one thing: he won the Gold Glove Award, being the only one-year Red Sox second-baseman to do so.
So, is Kinsler the new front-runner for one-year Red Sox second-basemen? Uh, no. In fact, Kinsler probably falls way down on the list. Among the players who performed better than Kinsler are Johnny Hodapp, Bill Cissell, Bobby Avila, Rey Sanchez, Todd Walker, Tony Graffanino, Mark Loretta, and of course Alicea. So no, we definitely do not have a new leader at second base. Kinsler's Gold Glove is impressive, but his hitting definitely fell short. He does have one last thing though that none of the other second-basemen have and that is a World Series ring.
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