X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Compare Any Players
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Jon Anderson's Early Shortstop Tiers & Rankings for 2023 Fantasy Baseball

Bo Bichette - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB DFS Picks, Betting Picks

Jon Anderson gives his early shortstop rankings for 2023 fantasy baseball. Who should you draft high and whose value has gone lower than expected?

Welcome back RotoBallers to my early 2023 fantasy baseball rankings and projections series! Today we are onto the shortstop position in my early positional ranks and tiers posts. Here is what we've done so far:

This may be the deepest position in the game this year. This was true last year, too, but the top couple of tiers have gotten even stronger here. Lots to like in this spot, so let's get to the names!

 

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

Tier 1 - Philly Trea

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Trea Turner PHI 1 1 629 102 22 70 31 .291

At the end of the year, Trea Turner won't be the #1 shortstop in fantasy, probably. There are just too many other guys that have a legitimate shot at that crown. The reason for me putting him in Tier 1 all by himself is the consistency of fantasy greatness we have seen from him since 2018. Here's a quick look at the numbers from him:

Year R HR RBI SB AVG
2018 103 19 73 43 .271
2019 96 19 57 35 .298
2020 46 12 41 12 .335
2021 107 28 77 32 .328
2022 101 21 100 27 .298

If you would have picked Trea with the #1 overall pick each of these years, you wouldn't have been disappointed a single time. You just can't say that for any other player we'll talk about (probably during this entire series), so that earns Trea the top spot.

 

Tier 2 - More Five Category Contributors

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Fernando Tatis Jr. SD 2 2 425 76 33 75 20 .272
Francisco Lindor NYM 3 2 625 76 23 80 16 .243
Bobby Witt Jr. KC 4 2 665 85 21 72 30 .246

These three could all top Trea pretty easily. We would probably rank Tatis above Turner if he weren't set to miss the first few weeks of the season - plus there are some health questions with him at this point. He's perfectly fine to be aggressive on in drafts given how elite he's been for fantasy production when on the field.

I'm a little bit lower on Witt, who has been going in the first round sometimes. I think I'll be letting everybody else chase that - but you can't argue that he's not a legitimate 30/30 threat this year. Lindor goes in above him just because of the counting stats here. He's good at everything and the Mets are going to score a ton of runs this year.

 

Tier 3 - Just Shy of Greatness

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Corey Seager TEX 5 3 641 93 29 79 3 .287
Bo Bichette TOR 6 3 616 96 24 82 22 .291
Tim Anderson CWS 7 3 599 83 15 57 24 .297
Xander Bogaerts SD 8 3 670 85 19 99 8 .279

I'm banking on the shift thing really helping Seager, as we have assumed it will here. Giving him a batting average above .280 makes him awful appealing given his R/HR/RBI ability in that Rangers lineup.

There's a discount on Bichette this year after his (mini) sophomore slump. He's still a 20-20 projection here with a good batting average, so you could certainly bubble him up into the second tier or even the first if you believe his rookie year was more truthful than his second year. Tim Anderson and Xander Bogaerts are really cheap in drafts after their disappointing 2022 seasons, but I'm in on both - I don't see a way they disappoint very much if they're healthy, and they both play in good lineups.

 

Tier 4

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Oneil Cruz PIT 9 4 554 79 21 54 23 .224
Carlos Correa MIN 10 4 659 92 25 78 1 .276
Dansby Swanson CHC 11 4 636 88 24 75 16 .276

We have an elite upside here with Cruz, as he could be an easy 35-25 player, but the batting average with the awful K% and the Pirates lineup hold down our expectations for him in 2023. Correa and Swanson were just fine last year, but they both lack a lot of that fantasy 5x5 upside. They are fine consolation prizes if you miss out on all of the eight shortstops - as we said, this is a deep position.

 

Tier 5

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Tommy Edman STL 12 5 631 93 11 64 38 .263
Willy Adames MIL 13 5 657 94 32 80 8 .251
Wander Franco TB 14 5 613 85 15 72 11 .290
Jeremy Pena HOU 15 5 568 67 21 66 14 .251
Javier Baez DET 16 5 587 68 22 57 17 .243

And now we hit a bit of a cliff. We have more "specialists" at this point. Edman gets most of his value from runs and steals, Adames from homers and RBI, Franco from batting average, etc.

If there's a "breakout" after this point, it could very well be Pena. He had a good rookie year but it wasn't fantastic for fantasy purposes. He's in a great lineup and has all kinds of talent, so he's a nice upside pick later on in the draft. I also really like the Javier Baez bounce-back here, I think this projection is reasonable and it makes him probably a Tier 4 guy, but his history of going on absolutely awful streaks will always downgrade him for me from what the projection is saying.

 

Tier 6

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Thairo Estrada SF 17 6 567 71 12 49 20 .258
Amed Rosario CLE 18 6 605 78 12 67 18 .284
Nico Hoerner CHC 19 6 607 82 9 57 28 .287
C.J. Abrams WAS 20 6 572 61 5 52 26 .249
Vaughn Grissom ATL 21 6 433 63 13 55 16 .275
Christopher Morel CHC 22 6 487 54 16 54 15 .232
Luis Garcia WAS 23 6 501 50 16 49 3 .253

More specialists here. You can find a lot of steals at this point, but you're hard-pressed for power. The breakout candidates here are Morel (lower the strikeouts) and Garcia (raise the launch angle and steal some more bases). I wouldn't want to start any of these guys as my primary SS, but we're still in the territory where you're okay with a middle infielder starter from this group.

 

Tier 7

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Luis Urias MIL 24 7 567 64 20 63 4 .235
Luis Rengifo LAA 25 7 445 51 10 47 10 .255
Jon Berti MIA 26 7 362 41 7 40 32 .227
Brendan Donovan STL 27 7 547 65 8 72 10 .277
Ha-Seong Kim SD 28 7 511 66 10 45 12 .217
Adalberto Mondesi KC 29 7 396 51 13 57 40 .246

And now we're on to guys you probably don't want to rely on for much of anything. Adalberto Mondesi is of course his own special case. I've limited him to almost half of a season of PAs and the projections still spit out a huge steals year. I'm not sure if he'll do that even if he is healthy, but he has not shown that ability to stay on the field - so let's not count on that to change now.

I like Donovan fine since I think he'll be in the lineup almost every day with his defensive versatility, and he can rack up the base hits, which will bring runs and some steals with it.

 

Tier 8

Player Team Rank Tier PA R HR RBI SB AVG
Jorge Mateo BAL 30 8 318 38 6 34 23 .221
Ezequiel Tovar COL 31 8 504 65 13 57 20 .225
Ramon Urias BAL 32 8 510 56 16 55 3 .258
Bryston Stott PHI 33 8 463 54 8 51 13 .250
David Fletcher LAA 34 8 360 33 0 33 8 .255
Enrique Hernandez BOS 35 8 552 58 12 57 1 .226
Rodolfo Castro PIT 36 8 423 43 11 42 7 .220

There is a lot of playing time concern here, and there's no real power at this point anymore. You can find steals upside (Mateo, Tovar) and some "take a shot on young talent" upside (Tovar, Stott, Castro) - but chances are none of these guys are 5x5 contributors next season.

And that's the shortstop position baby! 36 shortstops ranked, let me know what you think!



Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy baseball app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, sleepers, prospects & more. All free!



More Fantasy Baseball Advice




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Compare Any Players
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Jesús Sánchez41 mins ago

Jesus Sanchez To Begin Rehab Assignment On Thursday
Masataka Yoshida51 mins ago

To Play In Extended Spring Games Next Week
Ryan Bliss60 mins ago

To Have Surgery On Torn Biceps, To Miss 4-5 Months
Roddery Muñoz1 hour ago

Chris Roycroft Optioned, Roddery Munoz Coming Up
Kyle Leahy1 hour ago

Likely To See More Late-Inning Opportunities
Willson Contreras1 hour ago

In Danger Of Being Moved Down The Lineup?
Alejandro Kirk1 hour ago

Getting A Breather In Series Finale
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.2 hours ago

Resting On Thursday
Spencer Strider2 hours ago

Strikes Out 13 In Thursday's Rehab Outing
Austin Hays2 hours ago

Starting Rehab Assignment
Rhys Hoskins2 hours ago

Sal Frelick Sitting On Thursday
Ezequiel Tovar2 hours ago

Sitting With Hip Injury
Luis F. Castillo2 hours ago

Sent Back To Triple-A
David Festa3 hours ago

Expected To Start On Friday
Kris Bryant4 hours ago

Ezequiel Tovar, Kris Bryant Resting Against Brewers
Ethan Salas4 hours ago

Snaps Skid At Double-A
Sal Stewart4 hours ago

Posts Second Three-Hit Game Of The Season
Hunter Renfroe4 hours ago

Kyle Isbel, Hunter Renfroe, Michael Massey Out On Thursday
Johnathan Rodriguez4 hours ago

Optioned To Triple-A
Byron Buxton4 hours ago

Sitting Again On Thursday
Korey Lee4 hours ago

Lands On 10-Day Injured List
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP
10
13
11
15
12
19
13
21
14
23
15
24
16
33
17
38
18
39
19
42

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Zebby Matthews - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups - icon rotoballer

3 Impact Fantasy Baseball Prospects To Stash - Agustin Ramirez, Kyle Teel, Zebby Matthews

Grabbing the right rising star at just the right time can be just the boost your fantasy team needs. After just a few weeks of the regular season, most fantasy baseball managers are looking to tweak and adjust their teams and are identifying some positions of need. Two of the most common spots where teams […]


Spencer Schwellenbach - Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Draft Sleepers, MLB Rookie Rankings

Starts and Sits - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball (April 7 - April 13)

The MLB season is off and running, and so are we with our starting pitcher starts/sits for fantasy baseball Week 2- Monday, April 7 through Sunday, April 13. We've gotten a couple of looks at most pitchers by now, but the sample size remains small, which means we remain diligent! Bookmark us for every start/sit option […]


Tylor Megill fantasy baseball rankings waiver wire pickups draft sleepers

Starting Pitcher Fantasy Baseball Risers: Breakout Candidates Tylor Megill and Kris Bubic

Most know about my weekly "Starting Pitcher Arsenal Changes" article series during the 2025 fantasy baseball season. However, we'll sprinkle in ideas like the one on bat speed and bat tracking last week. Since I've been spending tons of time on starting pitchers and threads, why not do somewhat of a deep dive into two starting […]


Mark Vientos - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

5 Fantasy Baseball Cut Candidates: Players On the Hot Seat Who Need To Produce In Week 3 (2025)

When all we have to react to in a fantasy baseball season is two weeks of data, it's hard not to draw quick conclusions. Just because a player is on a hot streak or cold streak to start a season doesn't mean that's what the next six months will look like. But for some players […]


Nathan Eovaldi - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Fantasy Baseball Breakout Candidates - Veteran Pitchers Reinventing Themselves (2025)

After Week 1 of the fantasy baseball season, we're starting to see some strong starts out of veteran pitchers. Some we should certainly expect given their career trajectories (Nathan Eovaldi), but some also may be a bit more of a shock (Martin Perez). But it's not just about these pitchers returning to dominance in a […]


kyle tucker fantasy baseball rankings MLB news draft sleepers DFS lineup picks

Can Kyle Tucker Finish as a Top 3 Hitter This Season? 2025 Fantasy Baseball Outlook

Kyle Tucker is an elite outfielder with a high power and speed ceiling. The former Astro came into this year- his age-28 season- as a perennial 30-30 threat, putting up 30+ HR and 25+ SB in two of the last three campaigns. The one season where he didn't hit these benchmarks was last year when […]


Kyren Paris - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Mid-Week Waiver Wire Rankings - Fantasy Baseball Pickups Include Kyren Paris, Ben Rice, Jung Hoo Lee, Max Meyer, Reese Olson, Anthony Bender, more

At RotoBaller HQ, we are back with more waiver wire advice. Now is the time to scour the waiver wire and help add players who can help your team for the long haul. Even though we are a few weeks into the season, the grind doesn't stop, and fantasy managers must stay on top of […]


Brice Turang - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

MLB DFS: DraftKings, FanDuel Expert Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks For Today (4/10/24)

On Thursday afternoon, Major League Baseball provides a nice five-game main slate for DFS fantasy baseball action. FanDuel also has an all-day slate that includes the nightcap between the Braves and Phillies. Each site also has smaller subsets of the five afternoon games if you want to play a turbo or express-style contest with games […]


Ben Rice - Fantasy Baseball Prospects, Waiver Wire Pickups, Draft Sleepers

Hitters Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: HR, SB, RBI, AVG, Runs for Week 2 (2025)

Welcome back to our Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Hitter -- Category Boosters column for Week 2 of the 2025 MLB season. Injuries have already decimated some teams, with stars like Jackson Merrill and Wyatt Langford falling to injury. We need some help in offensive categories when we lose players of that ilk. As we head […]


Hunter Greene - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Top 101 Starting Pitchers: Rest-Of-Season Rankings for Fantasy Baseball Week 2 (2025)

You better be stretching out early in the season because it is a long road to the finish line, buckos. The injuries are already starting to pile up so let's cook up greatness with the FSWA-award winning Best Baseball Series. There's plenty to dig into with this week's edition of my weekly Starting Pitcher Baller […]


Bryce Miller - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Starting Pitcher Arsenal Changes - Pitch Mix Analysis for Fantasy Baseball (Week 3)

Welcome back, RotoBallers, to my weekly "Starting Pitcher Arsenal Changes" article series for Week 3 of the 2025 fantasy baseball season. Today's article will discuss several starting pitchers who made actionable changes, like a release point change or a new pitch. For those new to this column, we cover a few starting pitchers and their […]


Royce Lewis - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

When Will Royce Lewis, Masataka Yoshida, Luis Gil Return? Fantasy Baseball Injury Update

We are already at the point of the season where the injuries are starting to pile up for fantasy baseball managers. Ketel Marte, George Kirby, Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Neto, Sean Manaea, and Freddie Freeman are just a few players currently on the injured list. Losing those big-time players does not make many managers happy this […]


Zac Veen - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Prospects

3 Impact Fantasy Baseball Prospects To Stash - Zac Veen, Roman Anthony, Nick Kurtz

Even though the MLB regular season has just begun, it is already time to start targeting high-impact prospects on the waiver wire. Every season, we see top prospects get the call to the big leagues and make an immediate impact in the major leagues. Last season, Paul Skenes, Spencer Schwellenbach, and James Wood were among the few who […]