There R Giants #4: Aeverson Arteaga

First Principles: Get Yourself a Shortstop

Top 50 time is here! So far we’ve looked at:

• Just Missed

• #50-46

  • 50: Victor Bericoto

  • 49: Chris Wright

  • 48: Sean Roby

  • 47: P.J. Hilson

  • 46: Alexander Suarez

• #41-45

  • 45: Mikell Manzano

  • 44: Diego Velasquez

  • 43: Carson Ragsdale

  • 42: William Kempner

  • 41: Seth Lonsway

• #36-40

  • 40: Shane Matheny

  • 39: Sean Hjelle

  • 38: Brett Auerbach

  • 37: Ricardo Genovés

  • 36: Hunter Bishop

• #31-35

  • 35: Nick Zwack

  • 34: Erik Miller

  • 33: Spencer Miles

  • 32: Manuel Mercedes

  • 31: Trevor McDonald

• #26-30

  • 30: Ryan Reckley

  • 29: Gerelmi Maldonado

  • 28: Will Bednar

  • 27: Ryan Murphy

  • 26: Will Wilson

• #21-25

  • 25: Nick Swiney

  • 24: Jose Cruz

  • 23: R.J. Dabovich

  • 22: Adrian Sugastey

  • 21: Patrick Bailey

• #16-20

  • 20: Tristan Beck

  • 19: Randy Rodriguez

  • 18: Jairo Pomares

  • 17: Carson Seymour

  • 16: Landen Roupp

• #11-15

  • 15: Tyler Fitzgerald

  • 14: Heliot Ramos

  • 13: Keaton Winn

  • 12: Eric Silva

  • 11: Cole Waites

• #10: Reggie Crawford

• #9: Carson Whisenhunt

• #8: Mason Black

• #7: Luis Matos

• #6: Vaun Brown

• #5: Grant McCray

It’s a mailbag edition of the Top 50! Kind of.

At the end of Wednesday’s post on Grant McCray, loyal reader Jason Doherty posed this question to me:

Question: if put on the spot who will be a better big leaguer in 2028; McCray or Vaun Brown?

Who will have the longer career?

Why?

The subject of today’s post, Aeverson Arteaga, wasn’t part of his question, of course, but he could well be folded in. While the top two players on my list seemed fairly obvious, and I settled on #3 relatively quickly, this 4-7 group gave me the most trouble of my list. It was the area I fretted over most, reached out to industry people most about, and moved around the most. I’ve said in other venues that I think one can pretty reasonably make a case for putting these four players, Arteaga, McCray, Brown, and Matos in practically any order.

But, in the end, I have created an order, as one must with lists. So let’s see if we can address Jason’s question today, while also building our case for Mr. Arteaga in the 4-spot.

Roger Munter @rog61

Aeverson Arteaga can play, y'all!