Who is the best third baseman in MLB? Before Opening Day 2026, we’re looking ahead to Major League Baseball season by ranking the top players at each position. Unsurprisingly, Jose Ramirez sits atop our list of the best third basemen in MLB right now, but there may also be a few surprise names with some third basemen from last season moving to other positions.
Let’s dive into our list of the 10 best MLB third basemen right now. Importantly for this list, we’re focused on everyday players at third base for 2026 and that means excluding former third basemen who will primarily be playing another position this season.
1. Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians
Jose Ramirez is the best third baseman in MLB. He has earned 12.1 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement in the last two seasons and only one other third baseman (Matt Chapman, 10.8) has a fWAR of 9-plus in that span. The face of the Cleveland Guardians is averaging an .850 OPS with 35 doubles, 33 steals, 28 home runs and 97 RBI per season in the last four years and has earned All-MLB First Team honors in each of the past two campaigns. Even at 33 years old, Ramirez is showing no signs of slowing down and he should remain the top guy at third for the next two years.
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2. Alex Bregman, Chicago Cubs
Alex Bregman will be on his third different team on Opening Day in the last three years, but the Chicago Cubs should be his long-term home. Injuries limited him to 114 games last season, but his numbers (.273/.360/.462 with an .822 OPS) were in line with his production in his late-20s. While that 8.9 bWAR season is a distant memory, Bregman has still posted 17.0 bWAR from 2022–25. As for his fielding, he was in the 83rd percentile for Outs Above Average this past year, so he at least provides some added value defensively. If Bregman can stay healthy, we could be looking at an age-32 season with 25-plus homers, 80-plus RBI and an .840 OPS.
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3. Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants
Matt Chapman has a higher fWAR than any third baseman outside of Jose Ramirez in the past two seasons. What’s even more surprising is that his defense at the hot corner isn’t anywhere near what it was in 2018 (22 Defensive Runs Saved); he barely has that total in the last two seasons combined (22). However, he is still above average defensively (87th percentile Outs Above Average) to pair with a .780 OPS over the last two campaigns. It is worth noting that his offensive production sank in the second half of the season—.224 BA and .766 OPS—but a right hand injury might have had something to do with that.
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4. Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals
If Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia can replicate his success from this past season, he will be viewed as the second-best player at his position moving forward. In 2025, Garcia won the Gold Glove Award and earned an All-Star selection after ranking second among AL third basemen in Defensive Runs Saved (13) with the best batting average (.286) among his peers in the American League. He is smart with his approach at the plate, proven by his 93rd percentile strikeout rate (12.6 percent) and a 91st percentile chase rate (20.8 percent) that helped him rank in the 98th percentile for squared-up contact (38.1 percent). The only reason Garcia probably does not get even more credit is because he had a .300 OBP and .249 batting average in his first two full seasons. Repeating his offensive production in 2026 would give the Royals the best left side of the infield in baseball.
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5. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
Manny Machado, who turns 34 in July, has a very good shot to finish his career with 2,500 hits and 400-plus home runs. That will just add to a resume that includes three Silver Slugger Awards, including one last season, seven All-Star selections and a pair of All-MLB First Team selections. He is not quite the hitter he used to be, having failed to crack an .800 OPS in the last three seasons. A majority of his production in 2025 also came during the summer, when he had an .891 OPS with 14 home runs, 46 RBI and a .297/.348/.542 line from June through July. With his defense also seemingly on the decline, Machado’s days of being one of the five best MLB third basemen could be nearing an end.
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6. Max Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers
There’s a reason the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Max Muncy to a contract extension ahead of his age-36 season. Despite being on the wrong side of 30, the Dodgers’ third baseman is coming off consecutive campaigns with an .840-plus OPS. One reason for that is his savvy approach at the plate, captured by the highest walk rate (16.0 percent) among third basemen over the last two seasons. Muncy’s bat did prove a bit streaky late last year, with an .838 OPS in August followed by a .510 OPS in September. The Dodgers could still get another season of a third baseman with an .800-plus OPS and average defense, but it’s fair to wonder if regression caused by Father Time is coming for his fielding and hard-hit rates.
7. Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays
Junior Caminero was a power machine in 2025. He posted the ninth-highest slugging percentage (.535) in all of baseball this past season with the eighth-most RBI (110) and the sixth-most home runs (45) among all players. Among third basemen, the Tampa Bay Rays sensation finished second in OPS (.846). Numbers certainly worthy of an All-MLB Second Team selection as a 22-year-old. With the Rays moving out of the minor-league ballpark in 2026 and returning to Tropicana Field, it is fair to wonder if Caminero’s road OPS (.743) might suggest some regression is coming. Still, 100th percentile bat speed (78.5 mph) and a 92nd percentile hard-hit rate (51.4 percent) will play just about anywhere. Defensively, saying nothing is probably the kindest analysis that can be offered of Caminero’s glove work.
8. Bo Bichette, New York Mets
Bo Bichette is an unknown at third base heading into the 2026 MLB season. With that said, it is his everyday position and a lot of other options for this list were disqualified because the hot corner isn’t their primary position this year. So, the two-time All-Star selection who didn’t have good arm strength at shortstop makes the list. Our expectations for him defensively are on the floor, but it’s the bat that made Bichette an All-MLB Second Team selection in 2025. He is coming off a campaign with an .840 OPS while tying his career high in batting average (.311) and nearly tying his career best in OBP. Bichette looked a lot more like the hitter we saw from 2021–23, when he had a .298 batting average and .815 OPS. There’s enough history to suggest it is the 2024 season (.598 OPS) that was the outlier. If Bichette can handle third defensively, he’ll be higher next year.
9. Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves
From 2021–23, Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley put up a .286/.354/.525 triple-slash line with an .878 OPS, and he finished top-10 in NL MVP voting in all three seasons. Then, his OPS dropped nearly 100 points in 2024 (.783), and it dropped nearly another 50 points (.737) this past season. He has also missed 112 games over the last two seasons and posted a combined bWAR (4.2) that is lower than any single-season total he had during that remarkable three-year run. There is still part of us holding out hope that in his age-29 season, Riley can recapture the form that made him a co-star in the Atlanta Braves lineup. The bat speed (93rd percentile), hard-hit rate (88th percentile) and average exit velocity (91st percentile) are still there. Even if he cannot, Riley’s production over the past two seasons still ranks top-10 among starting third basemen for Opening Day 2026.
10. Caleb Durbin, Boston Red Sox
We’re dropping multiple tiers at this point with our rankings of the best MLB third basemen in 2026. The Houston Astros moved Isaac Paredes off the hot corner, Eugenio Suarez will be the designated hitter for the Cincinnati Reds, Ernie Clement now plays second base and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is playing second base for the New York Yankees. That’s not even including Rafael Devers now playing first base for the San Francisco Giants.
There’s a reason the Boston Red Sox acquired Caleb Durbin. This past season in Milwaukee, he finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting after putting up a .721 OPS with 25 doubles, 18 steals and 11 home runs. He also flashed some solid glove work (5 Defensive Runs Saved). Durbin is undersized at 5-foot-7, but he’s an elite contact hitter at third base and he’s got a shot at being part of the 10–20 club with 50-plus RBI.
