Rest-of-Season Shortstop Rankings (Midseason Update)

The All-Star break has come and gone, as we now find ourselves on the downward portion of this roller-coaster ride. As we race towards the finish line, we here at RotoBaller felt it best to equip you for the journey ahead with a second-half, Rest-of-Season update of our mixed rankings analysis. RotoBaller writers Nick Mariano, Pierre Camus, Bill Dubiel and Scott Engel want you to crush the competition and know that rankings can't end on draft day. Check out our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard for the latest and greatest ranks at any time.

Amazingly, 17 of the top 85 fantasy players are shortstop-eligible on Yahoo's 5x5 standard scoring system. It's a great time to have invested in the six, though the jostling of said 17 leaves lots of room for profiteering via trade and several more impact names lie beneath the upper crust. The top of this position is rich, but the dropoff can leave snakebitten owners scrambling for help.

Without any more delay, let's break down the 2019 shortstop rest-of-season rankings for July.

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Shortstop Tiered Ranks - 5x5 Mixed Leagues (July)

In case you missed it, our very own "Big Pick Nick" Mariano was recently named the #1 overall most accurate industry expert ranker for the 2018 season. You can see his secret sauce below! Additionally, industry legend Scott Engel recently joined the RotoBaller team and provides his insights as well. Scott is an FSWA Hall Of Famer and award winner.

Rankings Analysis - Top Tiers

Tier One

A friendly reminder that Trevor Story is still the No. 1 SS in 5x5 formats, coming in at 13th overall, despite a stint on the injured list due to a thumb injury. Knock on Coors Field all you want, but taking someone with elite pop and speed like him and plopping him a mile above sea level means you drop the too-cool-for-Coors act and fall in line. Story reigns supreme.

I will say that I need to nudge Lindor a bit higher -- I wouldn't bat an eye at someone taking him in the early second round if a 12-teamer redrafted right now. Despite the injury, he has 14 homers, 13 steals and a .296 average in 69 games. His season started on April 20 and he could still notch a 25/25 season!

There’s nothing terribly new in the lives of the other players -- you won’t go wrong with any of them. Trea Turner has seven homers and 17 steals in just 230 plate appearances in an injury-shortened ‘19 after recording 760 PAs in 162 games last season. If we pull those stats out over a 750-ish PA span then you get about 22 homers and 55 steals. Mm, magnifico.

Tier Two

Mondesi showed no signs of rust upon his return from the 10-day IL, as he’d swat his seventh homer of 2019 that night. In the six games post-injury, pre-ASB, Mondesi logged seven hits with the aforementioned dinger, a stolen base and 11 R+RBI. The top of the Royals lineup can fly and while Mondesi’s BA will likely fade a bit in the second half, the modest pop, high-end speed and great R+RBI production will keep him in the top-50.

Machado is ranked a healthy 70th overall in 5x5 formats with 20 homers, a .266 average, 51 runs scored and 58 RBI next to two steals. The increased speed he showed in ‘18 would’ve come in handy here, but there’s hope yet. After opening the season with a horrid contact rate around 70% and a rolling strikeout rate that hit 29% by late April, his current 15-game rolling contact average is back in the 80-85% range with a strikeout rate around 18%. This is palatable and allows Machado’s power to work for itself, and you!

Tier Three

Torres has really impressed me by growing into his power and nearly hitting .300 in this powerful Yankees lineup. The Bronx Bombers have helped him eclipse the 50-run and 50-RBI marks in 301 at-bats. I was worried about his Statcast metrics not supporting the power from last season, but he's clearly here to stay in one of the best offensive environments in the game.

Andrus is having the quietest successful season at this position, ranking 30th overall at the break with eight homers and 19 steals with a .303 average across 79 games. Marte earned his start in the All-Star Game and the only thing keeping me from ranking him higher is the lack of a track record. Polanco has been stellar in ‘19, but is nearing a month-long slump now. His .240/.288/.365 slash line in the last 105 PAs is chilling, but the Twins are a run factory and he’s only gone hitless in four of the 21 games in that stretch.

Rankings Analysis - Middle Tiers

Tier Four

This tier remains stacked, with me being the high man on Tatis, Segura, Escobar and Swanson. You could easily vault Tatis even higher, which I probably would’ve done had my ranks been submitted after Tatis proved that his power swing was still there post-injury. He returned on June 6 and only hit two homers in his first 16 games back before swatting six homers in the following 12. He’s more than fine.

Correa is way back in “prove-it territory” to me, not to mention he must avoid setbacks and a rib injury could really affect one’s swing. Anderson could also miss another month and was already lower in my ranks due to just five homers and five steals since May began. In fact, most of his combined stats in May and June fall short of his April numbers: 5 HR compared to 6 in April, 18 runs vs. 21, 19 RBI vs. 18 and five steals against 10.

Tier Five

Semien and DeJong are both solid players, though DeJong has really fallen off lately while Semien’s rebounded from a cold May. The cold streak was largely due to an unfortunate .232 BABIP and his gains in the batter's box have held throughout the season. It doesn't show up on most fantasy stat sheets, but he's upped his walk rate from 8.7% in '18 to 10.9% in '19 alongside a sharp drop in strikeout rate -- from 18.6% to 13.2%. Semien sits at 75th overall while DeJong is down to 149.

DeJong hit .342 with five homers and 39 R+RBI in March/April, and while his average sunk to .200 in May, he stayed level with 20 walks against 20 strikeouts. But then June saw the batting woes continue with a .218 average and he drew only five walks against 25 strikeouts. Extend the calendar through the All-Star break and he has a 30/6 K/BB mark since June began. He's still good for roughly five homers a month and could notch a 25-homer season, but lesser plate discipline lowers his floor.

Tier Six

Villar is essentially on the “Elvis Andrus Quiet Success” path but with a worse batting average at .259, though no one drafted Villar for average. He’s one-of-four shortstops with double-digit homers and steals, joining Story, Tatis and Anderson. Treat him accordingly.

Kingery is striking out like crazy but has nine homers and four steals with a .271 average in 170 ABs (44 games) since becoming a regular starter on May 19. He’d be the poster child for post-hype sleeper if it weren’t for Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who was demoted on April 14 and continued to stink at Triple-A, only to return on May 24 and catch absolute fire. In 170 PAs since then, Gurriel has popped 16 homers with for a crazy .335/.382/.716 slash line while settling into Toronto’s regular three-hole hitter.

Rankings Analysis - Lower Tiers

Tier Seven

I wish I could believe in Didi Gregorius becoming fantasy-relevant again but it’s hard to see him squeezing into that lineup. And even if he does, then his power will need to show up post-TJS. That said, I’d be fine speculating on him rather than deal with Jurickson Profar. I’d have lowered Profar more if we submitted ranks before the A’s decided to give Franklin Barreto the keys to the keystone position and shifting Profar to a backup, super-utility role.

Newman went 2-for-4 with a bag in the last game of the first half on July 7, which gives Newman a .360 average with five homers, five steals and an impressive 7/11 K/BB rate in the past month of play (June 7-July 7). That 122-PA stretch with a 9% strikeout rate and .202 ISO is music to my ears!

Tier Eight

I wouldn’t tread here, but you’ll get hot streaks out of players such as Freddy Galvis and Eric Sogard. Gio Urshela, Marwin Gonzalez and Chris Taylor have the tools to succeed but their playing time is so incredibly suspect that I can’t lean on them. Taylor has played more of late but had been playing shortstop with Corey Seager out, which will need to change.

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