2017 Shortstop Rankings
The age of the shortstop that can actually hit the ball is firmly upon us. The last few years have shown a lot of young shortstops being called up and putting up big offensive numbers. Some of the best hitters in the game play here now, which is much, much different than years past. Shortstop used to be a two-deep position and if you didn't get one of the top two you pretty much just waited until the 20th round to pick one.
That's certainly not the case anymore. Let's check out the current ADP at the shortstop position:
Let's quickly tier these off to get a bit of a better hold on things:
While the position is certainly deeper than it has been historically, there is still a clear drop off between the top 6 and the rest of the bunch. Let's go tier-by-tier.
Tier 1: Carlos Correa, Jonathan Villar, Corey Seager
Let me see that I will certainly not have Villar over Seager in my rankings, I think a lot of people are much too high on Villar here. He had a fantastic 2016 season with a .285 batting average, 19 homers, and 62 steals. But he's only produced like that one year in his career and he never showed big time fantasy upside in the minors. Are you really going to use a 3rd round pick on the guy? I'm not willing to take that risk.
Correa had a .274/.361/.451 line with 20 homers and 13 steals last year, and his owners would probably say that was disappointing. The guy has so much talent and is still just 22 years old. The Astros are going to be one of the best teams in baseball and this guy is going to be a huge reason why.
Corey Seager might be better than Correa. A highly touted prospect who played 27 games in 2015 and was spectacular, and he didn't slow down at all in his first full season in 2016, hitting .308/.365/.512 with 26 homers. There's less steals with Seager, but he's probably the best hitter in the group.
Tier 2: Xander Bogaerts, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story
Bogaerts could easily be in the top tier here, another young guy that has been consistently producing since his call-up and still has more upside to boot. The ZiPS projection is giving him a .288/.343/.432 line with 17 homers and 10 steals this year. I would say that's a pretty conservative projection. The guy is a stud.
Lindor is yet another young shortstop in his low 20's with a big season under his belt already. He projects to hit for the highest average of this group, but he doesn't have the same power and steals upside as some of the other guys. He's going to contribute in those categories to, but a 20/20 season isn't something many people are going to project him for. If you miss on the rest of these guys, Lindor is a nice guy to grab before the big fall off.
I'm not huge on Trevor Story and I think he's going to disappoint this year, but just the fact that he's proven he can hit at the major league level and is going to play his home games in Coors Field is a good enough reason for him to be in consideration in the first five rounds of your draft. I'd rather have the five guys mentioned before him, but if those five guys come off the board, you really might want to grab Story because that's going to be your last chance to get a really good shortstop.
Tier 3: Eduardo Nunez, Addison Russell, Aledmys Diaz, Elvis Andrus, Troy Tulowitzki, Brad Miller, Tim Anderson
Lots of names here. If you're looking for a starting SS and these are your options, I really don't think there's an obvious guy to grab. Nunez and Russell are going much higher than the rest at this point, which makes sense given their really solid offensive seasons last year, but I don't think having Diaz or Tulowitzki on your team is significantly worse than those two. I don't really want a power-only guy like Brad Miller at SS on my team, and Tim Anderson just seems a year or two away from really being a solid fantasy contributor to me.
I think a good strategy would be to grab a top shortstop early in the draft (for the value I think Bogaerts and Lindor will be the best bets) and then nab Nunez, Diaz, or Russell later on for the upside they bring.
Tier 4: The rest
The only real intriguing name here is Dansby Swanson. Everybody wants to see what this kid is going to do in his first full season with the Braves. He could certainly turn into a top 10, if not top 7 or so shortstop this year, but there is downside as well. The problem with Swanson is he doesn't project to be a slugger, he's going to be a solid hitter but doesn't seem like the 30 homer 30 steal guy. He's going to be a decent starting shortstop in deep leagues, but he's worth owning just to see what happens in standard leagues as well.
Here are my current shortstop rankings:
That's certainly not the case anymore. Let's check out the current ADP at the shortstop position:
Let's quickly tier these off to get a bit of a better hold on things:
While the position is certainly deeper than it has been historically, there is still a clear drop off between the top 6 and the rest of the bunch. Let's go tier-by-tier.
Tier 1: Carlos Correa, Jonathan Villar, Corey Seager
Let me see that I will certainly not have Villar over Seager in my rankings, I think a lot of people are much too high on Villar here. He had a fantastic 2016 season with a .285 batting average, 19 homers, and 62 steals. But he's only produced like that one year in his career and he never showed big time fantasy upside in the minors. Are you really going to use a 3rd round pick on the guy? I'm not willing to take that risk.
Correa had a .274/.361/.451 line with 20 homers and 13 steals last year, and his owners would probably say that was disappointing. The guy has so much talent and is still just 22 years old. The Astros are going to be one of the best teams in baseball and this guy is going to be a huge reason why.
Corey Seager might be better than Correa. A highly touted prospect who played 27 games in 2015 and was spectacular, and he didn't slow down at all in his first full season in 2016, hitting .308/.365/.512 with 26 homers. There's less steals with Seager, but he's probably the best hitter in the group.
Tier 2: Xander Bogaerts, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story
Bogaerts could easily be in the top tier here, another young guy that has been consistently producing since his call-up and still has more upside to boot. The ZiPS projection is giving him a .288/.343/.432 line with 17 homers and 10 steals this year. I would say that's a pretty conservative projection. The guy is a stud.
Lindor is yet another young shortstop in his low 20's with a big season under his belt already. He projects to hit for the highest average of this group, but he doesn't have the same power and steals upside as some of the other guys. He's going to contribute in those categories to, but a 20/20 season isn't something many people are going to project him for. If you miss on the rest of these guys, Lindor is a nice guy to grab before the big fall off.
I'm not huge on Trevor Story and I think he's going to disappoint this year, but just the fact that he's proven he can hit at the major league level and is going to play his home games in Coors Field is a good enough reason for him to be in consideration in the first five rounds of your draft. I'd rather have the five guys mentioned before him, but if those five guys come off the board, you really might want to grab Story because that's going to be your last chance to get a really good shortstop.
Tier 3: Eduardo Nunez, Addison Russell, Aledmys Diaz, Elvis Andrus, Troy Tulowitzki, Brad Miller, Tim Anderson
Lots of names here. If you're looking for a starting SS and these are your options, I really don't think there's an obvious guy to grab. Nunez and Russell are going much higher than the rest at this point, which makes sense given their really solid offensive seasons last year, but I don't think having Diaz or Tulowitzki on your team is significantly worse than those two. I don't really want a power-only guy like Brad Miller at SS on my team, and Tim Anderson just seems a year or two away from really being a solid fantasy contributor to me.
I think a good strategy would be to grab a top shortstop early in the draft (for the value I think Bogaerts and Lindor will be the best bets) and then nab Nunez, Diaz, or Russell later on for the upside they bring.
Tier 4: The rest
The only real intriguing name here is Dansby Swanson. Everybody wants to see what this kid is going to do in his first full season with the Braves. He could certainly turn into a top 10, if not top 7 or so shortstop this year, but there is downside as well. The problem with Swanson is he doesn't project to be a slugger, he's going to be a solid hitter but doesn't seem like the 30 homer 30 steal guy. He's going to be a decent starting shortstop in deep leagues, but he's worth owning just to see what happens in standard leagues as well.
Here are my current shortstop rankings:
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