Gordon Beckham To Play Second Base In 2010

In a little bit of a surprising move, Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams announced that Gordon Beckham will play second base for the south siders in 2010.

This move is a result of the White Sox trading for Mark Teahen last week. I speculated that Teahen would play rightfield for the White Sox in 2010, but he will play third.

Now, I am not going to get into whether or not moving Beckham to second base is good for the White Sox–that is for another post. What I am going to get into is the fantasy impact of this move.

If you have Beckham in your fantasy league, this is music to your ears.

Beckham qualified as a shortstop in most fantasy formats last year, but played every inning in the field at third base. Going into 2010, he would have lost his eligibility at short and would have strictly been a third baseman.

Beckham’s value would have diminished slightly as just a third baseman. But now that he is moving over to second base–his value has increased again.

Beckham hit .270/.347/.460 with 14 homeruns and seven SB’s in 103 games as a rookie last year. Now that he will be with the White Sox from Opening Day, Beckham should only improve on his power and RBI numbers in 2010.

In a keeper league draft, Beckham should be one of the first second baseman off the board in your draft. He is only 23-years-old and has a bright future ahead of him. If you are in a standard league, then Beckham should be the seventh or eighth second baseman off the board.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg