JDs Top 10 Shortstops
This is the next most controversial position I could do. There is a ton of talent at shortstop right now. Lots of power and some great defense as well. We are truly in the golden age of shortstops. Let’s get going.
1. Carlos Correa- Yes. The infamous “former” Met is the best Shortstop in baseball. Correa is the best hitter among the shortstops for sure. With 25+ home run pop, career .836 OPS, and finished with a 140 wrc+ last year. If you want to play the WAR game, he only had 4.4 last year which was definitely a down year. If healthy Correa will have at least 5.5 fWAR this season. Correa is elite on both sides of the ball and is going to continue to take his game to new heights if his leg allows.
2. Francisco Lindor- Lindor finished 1ST in WAR among shortstops last season with a sparkling 6.8 fwar. His gold glove defense is accompanied by a very sold (albeit inconsistent) hit tool. His career OPS sits at .816 which is definitely elite. He hasn’t had an MVP level season since his time in Cleveland, however I believe with another year under his belt in NY Lindor will take his game to the next level. As a Mets fan, I would take another 6.8 fwar season any day of the week, but I believe he can do even more. Hopefully when I do these rankings after the season Lindor will get that top spot.
3. Trea Turner- People have Turner ranked anywhere in the top 3 and for good reason. Turner is a true 5 tool player. His speed has never dipped below the 99th percentile since entering the big leagues. He hits for power, average, and makes some spectacular plays in the field. Not to mention his slick sliding skills. Turner couples his .842 career ops with his ability to steal bases making him extremely dangerous. His 6.3 fwar was third to Lindor and Swanson last season and he will be elite for years to come.
4. Wander Franco- I am very high on Wander going into this season. This may be a bit of an aggressive placement, but I believe in Wander. He has all the tools to be great. With a 2.3 War in just over half a season that projects him around 4.5 fwar. He is just tapping into his abilities as a 22-year-old phenom. He will be great, just watch.
5. Xander Bogaerts- This man can hit. He hits for power, he hits for contact, he is a complete hitter. His career .814 OPS shows what he can do. He just graded out on FanGraphs positively for defense for the first-time last season which is encouraging for Padres fans. Coming off a 6.1 fwar season, watch out.
6. Corey Seager- This is another guy that contributes on the offensive side of the ball more than defensively. He had just a 117 wrc+ last year but a 146 wrc+ in 2021 (albeit 93 games). Seager can hit that is for sure. He has 30+ home run pop and gets on base at a decent clip. I expect his offense to improve this year, although he is not a shortstop in my opinion.
7. Dansby Swanson- Swanson is coming off a career year in which he his 25 homers, had 99 rbis, with .776 ops, and a 116 wrc+. He had 6.4 fwar last year which ranked second in baseball behind Lindor. Swanson is an elite defender with a solid bat. He has a new home at Wrigley for a long time. I am happy to have him out of the NL East, although his replacement isn’t bad either.
8. Willy Adames- I feel like Adames is still that rookie everyone was talking about. He is far from that at this point in his career. He is now in his prime and showing it. With 31 bombs last year and elite defense Adames is one of the game’s best. He strugged in the on base department but that feels like more of an anomaly than anything else. He had a 4.7 fwar last year and he could be even better this year.
9. Bo Bichette- Another excellent hitter. Bichette had a 129 wrc+ last year and a.802 ops. He has issues in the field for sure, but his offense makes up for it. Bichette sported a 4.5fwar last year and I see no reason for that to go down. If he can learn to field, he could be a 6+ war player. He was in the 7thpercentile in OAA last season for reference. That is extremely poor. Imagine what an average glove would do to his game.
10. Jeremy Pena- The most famous rookie of the 2022 playoffs. This guy was the talk of October. He absolutely raked in the playoffs. He had a 186 wrc+ and over 1000 ops. He could not be stopped. His regular season stats were average, but he made a change in his swing later in the season that allowed him to have this historic playoff run. Pena finished with a 3.4 fwar last season at just 24 years old. He will climb this list very quickly in the years to come.
This list was definitely the toughest yet. You can’t play the WAR game with this group nearly as much due to injuries. I have seen a ton of variability across the baseball landscape while ranking shortstops, more than any other position. Leave your comments below!
5 comments:
I had hoped to see Amed Rosario here, but you are right on not ranking him here
If Lindor wants to make the Hall of Fame, playing virtually every games piles up the WAR. BIG WAR #s = HOF.
It will be interesting to see how Dansby Swanson does in Chicago. He was always surrounded by such good hitters in Atlanta that he had to see good pitches. Was that part of his great success? We will find out now that he is in a much less potent offense. I must give him some credit though because it is one thing to hit when well protected, but it is another to hit in the clutch - and Dansby did just that.
And Dansby has a great glove!
Good list at this point! I think I personally would put Turner at the top of the list now, just because of the speed element he brings. I also have Swanson a bit higher.
Two names that could be in this space next year:
Bobby Witt, Jr. in Kansas City, his stats are limited by the company he keeps - the Royals offense doesn't really scare many teams.
O'Neal Cruz is an up and comer for Pittsburgh. He has extremely loud tools and if he can clean up the sloppiness in the field and get on base a bit more, he could be near the top of the list soon.
Post a Comment