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Chase Utley listed as best second baseman in NL by ESPN

Phillies and positional rankings have not been a good mix in the recent past. Sporting News ranked Domonic Brown and Ryan Howard as the worst left fielder and first baseman in the game, respectfully. So when ESPN's Buster Olney started throwing together his positional rankings of the best players, things weren't looking great for the Phillies.

Fortunately, there's a drought of productive, multifaceted second baseman in the National League, meaning that Chase Utley is still the de facto champion.

Olney placed him seventh overall (of baseball's Top 10), behind six American Leaguers at the position. Behind Utley landed Neil Walker of the Pirates at No. 8 - the only other NL second baseman on the list.

Utley is 35, and has suffered many of the normal health issues attributed to a player of his seasoning. He's missed significant time due to knee issues and his fielding range has become more and more abbreviated with each passing season. Yet somehow, he maintains the staying power to impress analysts, probably because of his "toughness" and "grittiness" and because he "runs out his pop-ups, because that matters."

After a few shaky years, Utley came out in 2014 and made his first All-Star team since 2010, and as a starter to boot (which again indicates how little second base talent there remains in the NL, but still). This was mostly due to an April in which he went supernova at the plate, hitting .355 with a .978 OPS, three home runs, 11 doubles, and 14 RBI. Things went slowly down hill from there, but he still finished the year with 10 stolen bases, 53 walks, 53 extra base hits, and 3.6 WAR.

He may never leave Philadelphia, either, thanks to his 10-5 rights and the rumor that Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. apparently overvalues his veterans. Barring some breakout of youth at the second baseman position (when does that ever happen?), or maybe a blockbuster trade, Utley may still be king of the NL second basemen in 2015. Which is a nice thought.