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Eric Cross' top shortstop (SS) dynasty fantasy baseball rankings heading into 2025. He discusses his top SS targets for fantasy baseball dynasty leagues.
We've reached the last infield position in my positional dynasty fantasy baseball rankings series today with the always exciting shortstop position. This position is as loaded as ever.
The top eight names below are all inside my top 40 overall in my dynasty rankings, and the other three are all inside my top 100. Yes, your math is correct; I'm giving you 11 names instead of 10 this time, as the 11th name is a good talking point right now.
For my additional dynasty fantasy baseball rankings and write-ups, check out my Patreon, where you can find my full Top 100 Dynasty Shortstop rankings. Also, make sure to continue checking RotoBaller, as I'm going to be going through all positions in the coming weeks!
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SS Dynasty Rankings for Fantasy Baseball
For my dynasty positional rankings article series, I'm only including players at one spot. This will primarily be where they played the most in 2024, but I'll include certain players at certain positions if they're eligible and/or it's clear they'll be at a new position in 2025. I'll make notes throughout the rankings for where certain players would rank that aren't included in my writeups below.
1. Bobby Witt Jr., KC (Age 24)
Bobby Witt Jr. has a strong case to be the first player off the board in any dynasty draft. Not only did he have his second straight season with at least 30 home runs and 30 steals in 2024, but he also added a career-best 45 doubles, 125 runs, 109 RBI, and 57 walks, along with a .332/.389/.588 slash line. That AVG, OBP, and SLG were also all career-best marks for Witt.
Bobby Witt Jr. is must-see TV 👀 pic.twitter.com/cGPT73OdOT
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2024
Witt is an elite runner and continues to improve as a pure hitter. On top of the career-best surface stats, Witt also posted a career-best 14.3 percent barrel rate, 92.7 mph AVG EV, and a 48 percent hard-hit rate. But wait, there's more!
On top of all of the above, Witt has improved his walk, strikeout, zone contact, and overall contact rates in every season so far. It's scary to think that Witt could have an even better season in 2025 now that he has a legit on-base threat in front of him with Jonathan India, as the four hitters that hit leadoff in front of him last season all had an OBP under .300.
2. Elly De La Cruz, CIN (Age 22)
One of the most polarizing players entering 2024, Elly De La Cruz silenced his doubters with 25 home runs, 105 runs, and a league-leading 67 steals last season. De La Cruz still has his warts, including a 31.3 percent strikeout rate and below-average zone and overall contact rates. However, he also posted a 100th percentile sprint speed, 12.7 percent barrel rate, 91.8 mph AVG EV, 45.7 percent hard-hit rate, and will play half of his games in Great American Ball Park.
His 25-homer/67-steal season might just be the tip of the iceberg. Would a 35/70 season from De La Cruz in 2025 really shock anyone? It shouldn't. Even with below-average zone and overall contact rates, De La Cruz is a top-5 dynasty asset overall and could challenge for the top spot if he can improve the contact and strikeout rates moving forward.
3. Gunnar Henderson, BAL (Age 23)
Some might have Gunnar Henderson over De La Cruz, and that's totally fine. They're back-to-back in my overall rankings, and it's easy to say that Henderson is the safer bet between the two. After a phenomenal rookie season in 2023, where he racked up 100 runs, 28 home runs, 82 RBI, and 10 steals, Henderson took his game to the next level in 2024 with 118 runs, 37 home runs, 92 RBI, 78 walks, and 21 steals while slashing .281/.364/.529.
Gunnar Henderson now holds the single-season home run record by an @Orioles shortstop with 35! pic.twitter.com/rLc1sqpvQq
— MLB (@MLB) September 4, 2024
Henderson has posted elite quality of contact metrics ever since he debuted and also improved his zone contact, overall contact, and chase rates by a few percentage points each in 2024. On top of that, Henderson improved his walk rate from 9 percent to 10.8 percent while trimming his strikeout rate from 25.6 percent to 22.1 percent. He's going to be a top-10 player for years to come.
4. Mookie Betts, LAD (Age 32)
Is there really anything that needs to be said about Mookie Betts at this point? While Betts is the old man of this top 10, he's one of the best and most versatile athletes on the planet who is showing no signs of slowing down. Sure, Betts missed 46 games in 2024, but he still slashed .289/.372/.491 with a 650 plate appearance pace of 95 runs, 24 home runs, 95 RBI, and 20 steals.
And before you get worried about the quality of contact metrics dropping across the board last season, Betts had a pedestrian 89.0 mph AVG EV, 6.1 percent barrel rate, and a 37.8 percent hard-hit rate after returning from a fractured left hand on August 12. While he might be more of a 25-30 homer bat moving forward than the 35-40 homer bat we saw in 2022-2023, I'd expect at least two to three more seasons of elite production before Mookie starts really slowing down.
5. Francisco Lindor, NYM (Age 31)
After going 31/31 in 2023, Francisco Lindor came up one steal shy of a second straight 30/30 season in 2024, finishing with 33 home runs, 29 steals, 91 RBI, and 107 runs scored en route to being the runner-up in the National League MVP race to Shohei Ohtani.
Lindor is on the wrong side of 30 now but is still one of the most elite fantasy bats in the game. He just posted the best barrel and hard-hit rate of his career with his highest AVG and OBP since 2019 and 2018, respectively, while he was still with Cleveland. On top of being an elite offensive performer, Lindor has played in 94.1 percent of his team's games over the last nine seasons and has only missed 13 games total over the last three seasons.
6. Trea Turner, PHI (Age 31)
Even in 539 plate appearances, Trea Turner nearly went 20/20 yet again in 2024 while slashing .295/.338/.469 with 88 runs scored. It feels like he's about to decline every season lately, but Turner continues to pump out elite fantasy production, with 2024 being his first year under 100 runs since the shortened 2020 season.
Turner's quality of contact metrics did dip slightly in 2024 but remained above average along with his above-average zone contact rate. However, Turner's sprint speed dipped from 30.3 Ft/Sec to 29.6 Ft/Sec, which is the worst mark of his career. This was the first time Turner wasn't in the top six in sprint speed. If Turner's speed impact declines, he's going to fall from elite status. But for now, he's still a top-40 overall dynasty asset.
7. Oneil Cruz, PIT (Age 26)
It feels weird to have Oneil Cruz right between Turner and Seager, but he needs to show me more to move up into the top five in this position. I'm also not sure he retains shortstop eligibility after this season, as he's likely moving to center field, at least to start the season.
My goodness, Oneil Cruz clears EVERYTHING with this home run!
115.5 MPH, 472 feet pic.twitter.com/3h0lR2YlRT
— MLB (@MLB) July 28, 2024
After playing in just nine games in 2023, Cruz played in 146 last season, finishing with 21 home runs, 22 steals, 76 RBI, and 72 runs scored. His elite power and athleticism were on full display as Cruz finished in the 97th percentile or higher in AVG EV, barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and bat speed, along with an 88th-percentile sprint speed.
However, with that said, Cruz will need to improve on his 30.2 percent strikeout rate, 76 percent zone contact rate, and 65.9 percent overall contact rate if he wants to take that next step into the elite ranks for fantasy.
8. Corey Seager, TEX (Age 30)
When healthy, Corey Seager is one of the best hitters in baseball. We've seen that in several seasons, highlighted by the 2020 and 2023 seasons. However, Seager has only reached the 150-game mark twice in his career and has missed 43 (2023) and 39 (2024) games in the last two seasons.
All of Seager's metrics under the hood remain elite with a 15.2 percent barrel rate, 92.1 mph AVG EV, 50.7 percent hard-hit rate, 86.5 percent zone contact rate, and above-average approach metrics.
Yes, he's a career .290 hitter. Yes, he has three straight seasons with at least 30 home runs. But it's hard to trust Seager as one of your dynasty cornerstones when he's played in just 75.3 percent of his team's games over the last four seasons.
Rankings Note: Matt McLain would rank here and was discussed in my Top 10 Second Base Dynasty Rankings article.
9. CJ Abrams, WAS (Age 24)
There's no denying that CJ Abrams is a talented player. But at the same time, he's wildly inconsistent and has yet to hit above .250 in his three major league seasons. Just look at his 2024 splits for an example of his inconsistency. Abrams had a .992 OPS in April and 1.127 in June but also had three months (May/July/August) with an OPS under .580.
I'm not using OPS as an analytical metric, but it's an easy way to show Abrams' inconsistency. Abrams was also benched/demoted in September for staying out late at a casino on the day of a game.
Abrams has around league-average contact and quality of contact rates along with massive stolen base upside, which gives him the upside to be a top-50 player annually or close to it. However, he continues to be ranked and valued higher than that. In Dynasty, I'd still lean more toward Abrams being a sell than a buy.
10. Zach Neto, LAA (Age 24)
Out of all the surprising performances in 2024, Zach Neto posting a 23/30 season is one of the more surprising ones to me. That's not to say Neto isn't a solid hitter, but a 23/30 season felt like a bit of an overperformance to me.
Sure, Neto's quality of contact metrics are a tick above league average, and he had a 73rd percentile sprint speed, but he overperformed his expected metrics, especially on breaking and off-speed pitches. Neto was already a regression candidate and sell high in dynasty leagues, and now he'll miss the start of the 2025 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. How much will that limit his power output after returning?
11. Willy Adames, SF (Age 29)
In his seventh major league season, Willy Adames put up a career year. In 688 plate appearances, he slashed .251/.331/.462 with 93 runs, 33 doubles, 32 home runs, 112 RBI, 74 walks, and 21 steals. Every metric after that slash line was a career-high for Adames, who also played in a career-best 161 games.
Given that his contact metrics were in line with previous seasons and he once again recorded above-average quality of contact metrics with a 12 percent barrel rate and 40.7 percent hard-hit rate, most of Adames' 2024 performance is legitimate in my eyes. However, I highly doubt we see 21 steals from him again.
With all of that said, Adames is a fade for most, given his new home ballpark in San Francisco. In 2024, American Family Field (Milwaukee) ranked seventh for right-handed power, while Oracle Park (San Francisco) ranked dead last.
If you enjoyed these rankings and want to see additional rankings, analysis, and more, check out Eric's Toolshed Fantasy Patreon.
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