Midseason Fantasy Baseball Tiered Rankings: Shortstop (SS)

July 16, 2015

Bill Dubiel analyzes which MLB shortstops (SS) have the most fantasy value moving forward in the second half of this 2015 fantasy baseball season.

With the All-Star Break approaching, I am here to give you my updated rankings for the shortstop position.

There may be a few surprises here, but that's generally how we roll at Rotoballer. We'll be releasing updated mid-season rankings for all the positions in the coming week.

Editor’s Note: you can check out all of RotoBaller’s 2015 fantasy baseball mid-season rankings and analysis, which has been updated over the past few days.

More rankings: Starting Pitchers (Part 1), Starting Pitchers (Part 2), First Base (1B), Second Base (2B), Third Base (3B), Outfield (Part 1), Outfield (Part 2), Catcher (C), Relief Pitchers (RP)

Shortstop (SS) Rankings

Tier 1 - Elite

1) Troy Tulowitzki
2) Hanley Ramirez
3) Jhonny Peralta
4) Brandon Crawford

Hanley Ramirez has been pretty great for the Red Sox this year, clubbing 18 homers and piling up 47 runs and 43 RBIs. However, Tulo is simply too good for me to rank him anywhere but number one. He’s got comparable counting stats to Ramirez (43 runs and 45 RBIs). While he’s hit nine fewer homers, he’s hitting .318 compared to Ramirez’s .272. Tulo is the best shortstop in baseball, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.

I’m totally buying the Brandon Crawford breakout, and while he cooled off a bit in June from the blistering pace he was on in May, he’s still on pace for a 20/10 season. That's top-of-the-line production from the shortstop position. He’s hitting in the meat of a good lineup, and 100 RBIs is absolutely within his reach this year.

Tier 2 - Excellent

5) Carlos Correa
6) Xander Bogaerts
7) Alcides Escobar
8) Ben Zobrist
9) Jean Segura
10) Jose Reyes

Carlos Correa is the real deal. He was second only to Kris Bryant in hype coming into the season, and it was well-deserved. In just 28 major league games, he’s hitting .283 with seven homers, 18 runs and 19 RBIs. The Astros aren’t going anywhere, and Correa will be one of the most important cogs in this offense that is wreaking havoc in the American League.

Jose Reyes has been heating up lately, and as long as he stays healthy, he’s always a threat for top five shortstop production. He’s managed to do so for the most part in 2015, and could be primed for a big second half. As long as he plays 70 games, I think he’ll have another 10/20 season.

Tier 3 - Above Average

11) Andrelton Simmons
12) Erick Aybar
13) Adeiny Hechavarria
14) Yunel Escobar
15) Jose Iglesias
16) Wilmer Flores
17) Marcus Semien
18) Brad Miller

I was tempted to rank Yunel Escobar even higher than I’ve got him here, but I’m just not sure about the sustainability of his current production. The .315 batting average and 40 runs scored have been great for those who managed to scoop him up off the waiver wire or drafted him late, but he’s due for some regression—he’s had a .352 BABIP to this point, and that’s almost guaranteed to go down. I’m pretty confident he’ll be outside the top ten come September.

Semien seems to have the starting shortstop gig locked up despite atrocious defense, so he could still find himself in the top 12 at the end of the season. The gaping hole in his game comes against right-handed pitchers—he’s a .300 hitter against lefties, and a .243 hitter against righties. Unfortunately for him, there are more righties than lefties in the big leagues, so I don’t feel like I can rank him any higher than this.

Tier 4 - Mid-Range

19) Ian Desmond
20) Elvis Andrus
21) Starlin Castro
22) Freddy Galvis
23) Alexei Ramirez
24) Nick Ahmed

Starlin Castro is clearly not the shortstop of the future in Chicago, with Javier Baez and Addison Russell waiting in the wings. He’s been catching hate from most of the fantasy community all season, and with good reason. He went from one of the brightest young stars at shortstop to barely rosterable in three years. He’ll be lucky to find himself in the top 20 at the end of the year, and could very well be on a different team by the end of July.

Nick Ahmed has more potential than he’s showing, which is why I’ve kept him in the top 25. His speed should have yielded more stolen bases than the four he currently has, and a less-than-stellar 4-for-9 success rate hasn’t helped. If he can improve his batting average a bit (which he actually has been doing in recent weeks), he should be able to pick up some more steals. He had 26 in 136 games in AA ball in 2013, so the potential is definitely there.

Tier 5 - Low-End

25) Asdrubal Cabrera
26) Jordy Mercer
27) J.J. Hardy
28) Didi Gregorius
29) Francisco Lindor
30) Alexi Amarista

Talk about a fall from grace. Two-time All-Star Asdrubal Cabrera has been positively dreadful since leaving Cleveland, where he once hit .270+ with 25 homers and 17 steals. In Tampa Bay he’s managed just a .222 batting average and hasn’t cracked 30 runs scored or 30 RBIs. While he’s picked it up slightly in the last month or so, unless something changes drastically he could be at the bottom of the pile come September.

Francisco Lindor was one of the best prospects in the Indians’ system, and I’m glad to see him getting some seasoning in the big leagues. He offers very little in the way of power, but he proved in the minors that a .280 batting average and 20+ steals are well within his reach. I don’t think he’ll get anywhere close to those numbers in 2015, but he definitely has a bright future as he acclimated to the major leagues.

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