AL East 2017 Positional Rankings: Injuries Catch Up to Several Shortstops
By Nate Wardle
3. Tampa Bay Rays – Adeiny Hechavarria, Tim Beckham, Daniel Robertson
This is going to get a little weird. It isn’t often the same player plays the same position for two teams in the same division in one season, but that’s what we have with Tim Beckham in 2017.
Now, one could make a very strong argument that the Orioles should be ahead of Tampa, because they got a better partial season from Beckham. Well, that’s fine, but Hechavarria was decent and Beckham wasn’t J.J. Hardy bad for Tampa.
Hechavarria was acquired in June, after there were reports that the Orioles might be interested in him. He took over the short stop position from Beckham, which allowed the Rays to trade Beckham to Baltimore.
Hechavarria hit .257/.289/.411 in Tampa, with seven home runs (a career high), 12 doubles, 29 runs scored and 24 runs batted in. A defense-first player, Hechavarria had a 0.9 offensive WAR and a 1.0 defensive WAR.
He had four errors in 298 chances for the Rays, good enough for a fielding percentage of .987. While his range numbers were below league average, Hechavarria provided solid defense for the Rays.
Beckham wasn’t as good for the team that drafted him first overall as he was for Baltimore. He hit .259/.314/.407 with 12 home runs, five doubles, 31 runs scored and 36 runs batted in in 87 games before the trade. He also made nine errors while in Tampa.
Robertson, as discussed before, was a utility player hovering the Mendoza line before finishing at .206.
As for next year, Hechavarria remains under contract, although one has to wonder whether the Rays may try to upgrade the position.