They call it the Hot Corner. Scorching line drives, choppers, bunts, and long throws across the diamond are the routine of baseball’s third basemen. It can be one of the game’s most demanding positions, so much so that there are fewer third basemen in the Hall of Fame than any other position.

With the election of Wade Boggs this winter, the total number of third basemen in Cooperstown rose to a mere 12. When the current generation of third basemen retires, that number may increase dramatically, but it won’t be be cause they were great third baseman, per se. Rather, it will be because big bats are now needed where great gloves once played.

Thanks to the defensive nature of the position, third base has historically been light on superstars. Sluggers Mike Schmidt and George Brett carried the flag in the 1970s and ’80s, then passed the torch to the likes of Boggs and Chipper Jones. But it wasn’t until the offensive explosion of the late-’90s that power numbers became associated with the hot corner. Why? Because only then did managers find themselves with more sluggers than positions to fill on the field. Suddenly, third base wasn’t all about defense anymore.

Consequently, third base has become a new superstar position. The Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, Oakland’s Eric Chavez, Seattle’s Adrian Beltre, and St. Louis’s Scott Rolen headline a growing class of top-quality third basemen. Those four combined for 147 home runs in 2004, with Beltre and Rolen finishing second and fourth, respectively, in the NL MVP race.

In all, five different third sackers – Beltre, Baltimore’s Melvin Mora, the Cubs’ Aramis Ramirez, Tampa’s Aubrey Huff, and the Mets’ David Wright – were the best hitters on their teams last year, the highest total in two decades. Only Ramirez and Beltre were regular third basemen in the majors before 2004.

Mora, who had a career year in 2004, was a utility player who overcame his defensive shortcomings with his ability to play nearly any position acceptably. Like A-Rod, he was moved to third due to team necessity; unlike the Yankee superstar, Mora fields just well enough to get by.

Huff was in a similar situation, spending his early years in Tampa bouncing around the field before settling at third after the release of the offensively inept Damian Rolls.

Wright, who would be the prohibitive favorite for NL Rookie of the Year if he hadn’t logged 263 at-bats last year, is at the top of a new crop of hot-corner stars entering the majors. The new choice for Rookie of the Year could be the Braves’ Andy Marte. A year younger than Wright, Marte has been tearing up the minor leagues for several seasons, showing impressive power and plate discipline at every level.

Joining Marte and Wright in the spotlight will be the Angels’ Dallas McPherson, whose 43 home runs at three different levels last year convinced the club to release former World Series MVP Troy Glaus. With Chavez, Beltre, and Texas’s budding superstar Hank Blalock starting elsewhere in the A.L. West, McPherson could hit 30 home runs and post the lowest total in his division. That kind of performance may nonetheless net him the A.L. Rookie of the Year award.

Since third basemen have always fallen neatly between the offensively powered positions (first base, left field, and right field) and the more defense oriented positions up the middle, many players have begun their careers at third, only to play the majority of their careers elsewhere. Hall of Fame-caliber hitters like Paul Molitor, Edgar Martinez, and Gary Sheffield, for example, were moved away from the hot corner for defensive reasons.

While the ability to dive for a screamer down the line or scoop up a bunt and make the running throw to first remain useful tools for playing the position, the future will see third basemen losing their jobs thanks to a decrease in their offensive production. When their bats begin to fade in the late stages of their careers, it’s likely that the defensive demands of the position will outweigh the players’ usefulness in the lineup.

After seeing his numbers at plate dip last year, the Devil Rays announced they would move Huff back to the outfield for this season. When Chipper Jones’s numbers began to fall, the Braves shifted him to the outfield, though he later returned to third; after posting career lows at the plate in 2004, he’ll likely move again this season to make room for the arrival of Marte. Mora has already shown the ability to play nearly every position on the diamond, and the Orioles may soon ask him to move again.

The current star third basemen all share one common trait: youth. As these players age and their skills erode, many will switch to the outfield, first base, or designated hitter; while third base may not have the defensive requirements of shortstop, an immobile slugger is much less costly in an outfield corner than the hot corner. But for 2005, while they are young and defensively capable, the stars have aligned at third base.

This article was provided by Baseball Prospectus. The Sun will run exclusive content from Baseball Prospectus throughout the 2005 season. For more state-of-the-art baseball content, visit www.baseballprospectus.com.