2026 NL East Position Rankings: Third Base
Third base in the National League East will probably be viewed as a very divisive position, with a clear debate over who should be number one and who should be number two. From discussions on positional changes to bounce backs, let us take a look at our rankings of the best third basemen in the NL East.
No. 5 – Connor Norby, MIA
Connor Norby was acquired alongside Kyle Stowers in the trade that sent Trevor Rogers to Baltimore. Norby slashed .251/.300/.389/.689 in the majors in 2025 and projects to be around a league-average to slightly below average hitter in 2026. He does not have strong power numbers, placing in the bottom 30% across all his exit velocities. He did barrel the ball 9% of the time, which was in the 54th percentile, but his 81.3% zone contact was in the 30th percentile. His defense was not strong either, sitting in the 26th percentile per fielding run value in 2025.
No. 4 – Brady House, WSH
Brady House struggled heavily in the majors, slashing .234/.252/.322/.574, but in 65 games in Triple-A, he slashed .304/.353/.591/.873. His 76.8% zone contact rate in the majors was abysmal, but he did show power potential with his 47.6% hard hit rate (66th percentile) and 105.7 MPH 90th-percentile exit velocity (60th percentile). In Triple-A, all of his power metrics were in the 81st percentile or better. He also profiled as an above-average defender with his +2 outs above average (78th percentile). The defense and power give him a floor higher than Norby, and being three years younger, he may have more room to grow.
No. 3 – Alec Bohm, PHI
Alec Bohm is a clear tier or two above House and Norby, while also being a clear tier or two below the top two players. Bohm is a below-average defender at third base and relies on his hit tool to make up for his lack of high-end power with his 109.6 MPH max exit velocity (23rd percentile). In 2025, he slashed .287/.331/.409/.741 with 11 homers in 120 games. He projects to be a roughly league-average hitter again in 2026. His 90.3% zone contact was in the 89th percentile, and his 14.6% whiff rate was in the 92nd percentile, but his 104.2 MPH 90% exit velocity was in the 38th percentile, and his 6.2% barrel rate was in the 25th percentile. It is hard to be considered better than a middle-tier third baseman at best when you don’t have much power and are not a strong defender.
N0. 2 – Austin Riley, ATL
There are definitely arguments that Austin Riley should be in the number one spot because of his career numbers, but he has struggled two years in a row with injuries that led to a .260/.309/.428/.737 slash with 16 homers in 102 games across the 2025 season. His glove, which looked to take a step forward in 2023, dropped back down in 2024, and in 2025, he posted a negative-1 OAA (36th percentile).
There is plenty to still like in his profile and plenty of reasons to project a bounce back. His bat speed is still elite at 75.9 MPH, and his hard-hit rate, barrel rate, average exit velocity, and 90th-percentile exit velocity were all in the 88th percentile or better. But his big drop in zone contact from 81.3% to 78.1%, alongside his spike in whiff% from 27.5% to 29.5%, does give some pause. There are legitimate concerns with Riley’s bat and he does not have the defense to fall back on if these trends continue.
No. 1 – Bo Bichette, NYM
It may feel crazy listing a player who has never played the position at the number one spot here, but Bo Bichette‘s bat makes the case. He is a career .294/.337/.469/.806 hitter who slashed .311/.357/.483/.840 in 2025 with 18 homers. Under the hood, he does not sit too far behind Riley in his power metric,s placing in the 83rd percentile in hard-hit rate and 72nd percentile in average exit velocity. Bichette’s elite hit tool includes an 89.5% zone contact (85th percentile) and 18.4% whiff rate (83rd percentile).
He has never played third base before, but his skill set profiles very well there, and bench coach Kai Correa has experience improving the third base defense of some of the game’s worst defenders, including J.D. Davis. You can read more about Bichette’s projectability at third base in MMO’s write-up here.
Bichette’s plus bat is enough to give him the edge over Riley, who is not a strong defender at third base. It will be interesting to see if the Mets turn Bichette back into a base stealer as well – he has stolen as many as 25 bases in a season before.
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