Welcome to the shortstop position, where once again, there’s a giant difference between the top-tier and middle-tier. If you miss out on the top-three at the shortstop position, you’re in trouble, much like second base.
It’s one of those positions that you can expect big things from the top players. Home runs, quality batting average, stolen bases, runs and RBIs are all available for your fantasy baseball team. The only problem is there is a short supply of those players available, so you have to make some difficult choices.
For this exercise, I’m not including Manny Machado as a shortstop, even though he is listed as a third basemen/shortstop. I’ll include him in my top-five for third basemen.
1. Carlos Correa, Houston
He’s my No. 9 overall pick because of his upside. He played in only 99 games last season and still logged 22 homers, 68 RBIs, 52 runs and 14 stolen bases. His average wasn’t great at .279, but he has another year to get that number up to a top-10 level. Correa was the Rookie of the Year last season and I don’t expect him to take a step back. He’s been a top prospect since being drafted and there’s no reason to believe he won’t get even better this season. His potential is worth a top-10 pick because he can produce in all fantasy categories.
2. Troy Tulowitzki, Toronto
I’m a bit nervous with Tulowitzki’s lack of production for the Blue Jays. Maybe he was a complete byproduct of Colorado home games. Or maybe he just had a bad stretch of games toward the end of last season. I’m banking on the latter. Tulowitzki has been a consistent force in fantasy baseball and he still has some left in the tank. The lineup in Toronto provides plenty of protection for him, so I expect his RBI numbers to increase to go along with a far better average than he had last season for the Blue Jays.
3. Xander Bogaerts, Boston
Everything increased last year for Bogaerts, so I’m hoping he can take the next step. If he can, he should be in the conversation as a top-tier option. In the shortstop world of fantasy baseball, there’s potential with Correa and Bogaerts, and then there’s the old guard of Tulowitzki and Elvis Andrus. To be considered in the same league of those players, Bogaerts needs to improve. He batted over .300 last season and tallied more than 80 runs and RBIs last year. If he can increase that production, he’d be worth an early round pick. With the lack of quality options at shortstop, you may have to reach for potential with a guy like Bogaerts.
4. Francisco Lindor, Cleveland
The shortstop position is all about potential this season. I’m not completely sold on putting all my eggs into players how absolutely no experience, so I’m going with Lindor’s one year of experience as enough for my fourth-best shortstop. Frankly, the shortstop position is possibly the toughest position to pick since there’s not much experience or quality play at the position. If Lindor can continue to show progress in the stolen base department and stay above the .300 mark, he’d be a better bet than most of the other shortstops available.
5. Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
This is based completely on potential. Seager played only 27 games last season in Major League Baseball, but he did well in his first action. Does that mean he will have success this season? No, but at this position, there are no guarantees. That’s why with a little potential, I’m willing to rank him in the top-five. This could totally blow up in my face, but there’s hardly any options at this position.
