It’s that unfortunate time of year when we must debate the merits of “The Shredder.”
Every year, MLB Network sets out to rank the 10 best players at each position, and without fail, they place at least one player per list in such a perplexing position that at least one fan base is completely rankled. And this season, the very first set of “Top 10 Right Now” rankings completely undervalued a Milwaukee Brewers star.
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Brice Turang, the Brewers’ excellent second baseman who took his game to another level in the second half of this past season and was named to Team USA for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, was somehow ranked 10th in the second-base rankings from MLB Network on Monday.
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Turang in discussion for second- or third-best 2B
Aug 28, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang (2) slides into third base with a triple against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
Turang’s ranking, as all of “The Shredder’s” rankings are, was rationalized by a strange word salad of jargon that attempts to hint at objectivity while at least leaving the door open for the network executives to completely make up whatever rankings they want to drum up controversy.
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“Using rankings based on past performance, various offensive and defensive metrics (including both advanced statistics and traditional numbers) and analysis by the MLB Network research team, ‘The Shredder’ produces its list of the 10 best players at each position right now,” wrote MLB.com’s Brian Murphy.
On a factual basis, with Ketel Marte as the clear No. 1 at the position, Turang could be in the discussion for the No. 2 spot on this list, and at the very least, he deserves to be in the top five. Among primary second basemen, he ranks fourth in fWAR since the start of the 2024 season, behind only Marte, Nico Hoerner, and Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Some of the inclusions ahead of Turang are laughable. Xavier Edwards had an OPS+ 27 points lower than Turang’s last year. Brandon Lowe had a fielding run value of negative-9 and hasn’t topped the 3-WAR mark since 2021.
The Brewers’ stars don’t typically get the league-wide respect they deserve anyway, but even in that context, this ranking is a bridge too far.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/brewers/onsi as Brewers Star Robbed Blind in MLB Network’s ‘Top 10 Right Now’.