Jon Anderson's Shortstop Tiered Rankings and Projections

We are moving on to shortstop today in the tiered fantasy baseball rankings and projections series! Check out the rest of what I've completed so far at the links below!

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The shortstop position has become quite deep for fantasy purposes over the last several years. In the older times, we would typically find a bunch of defensive specialists that were quite light-hitting at the plate. Nowadays though, that's just not the case. The best infielders with the leather are quite often the best at the dish as well. Let's dive in and check on the position from a high level.

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Tier One

Three first-rounders here, and all three are in the top half of the first round as well. The fantasy upside on Tatis is unmatched here, but the questions about his shoulder have caused Trea Turner to be taken ahead of quite more often than not. If Tatis is healthy, he will likely crush Turner's value just because he has much more raw power, which is why I'm taking him ahead of Trea and hoping that shoulder holds up.

It might seem a little premature to have Bichette in the top tier this early on in his career, but what we saw last year from him was so impressive that it's justified. He's a fine consolation prize in the first round - not many players will give you 25+ homers, 20+ steals, and a .290+ batting average.

Tier Two

There's a steep drop down to Tier Two here, but this is a large group of players. These are mostly all solid contributors across the board, but you can poke slight holes in every name here.

I am well ahead of the field on Seager as you can see, so I imagine ending up with quite a bit of him on my teams this year. Very few hitters possess the elite contact and power combination that he does, which is why I can justify having him here despite the really low steals projection.

The upside crown would have to go with Franco, but he's also probably the most likely name here to really underwhelm for fantasy this year. Just like that, the top-10 shortstops are off the board - so you should really consider adding one of these names to your team if you go elsewhere in the first round.

Tier Three

Here we have Polanco, who is solid in everything without being super great at anything, and then Baez/Chisholm, who should both contribute well in HR+SB, but will really crush your team's batting average (most likely). Polanco for safety, Baez for the best raw HR+SB projection, and Jazz for the upside.

Tier Four

We are really giving up something now. None of these players project to be positive steals contributors, and there really aren't any numbers mentioned above that jump off the page. Correa's landing spot in free agency will make a difference on his projection, so depending on that, we may have to move him up or down a bit. The upside pick is Adames, and he's one of my favorite SS targets overall after seeing what he did after leaving the Rays last year (20 homers, four steals, .285 average in 413 PA).

Cronenworth can be a really nice batting average and runs contributor, but he'll bring you down in power. Swanson is the opposite, giving you some homers and RBI but not much else. All of these names are start-worthy, though.

Tier Five

The field really is not believing in the Brandon Crawford 2021 breakout. At the age of 35, that is perfectly understandable, but man he was good at the plate last year (11.5% Brl% and a 19% K%). I am high on him again for 2022. Torres is also a pretty interesting name after he swiped 14 bases last year and lowered the strikeout rate down to 20%. If he keeps those numbers up while improving in homers (and he has the raw power and home stadium to do it), he will be a steal this late in the draft.

Tier Six

I actually like all of these names for what they can do. Urias showed off a nice power/contact combination last year in his own right, Rodgers also made a big stride in strikeout rate and power numbers, and then Rosario and Suarez are strong late options for their respective categories (SB for Rosario, HR/RBI for Suarez).

I really like having one or two of these four names in my middle infield spot (or corner in the case of Urias and Suarez) or bench.

Tier Seven

This is the "upside" tier, although chances are you get at least one big-time bust out of the group this year too (if not two or three!). Rojas has the speed to steal tons of bases, the raw power on Cruz is immense, and Lux is a former top prospect who should get a little bit more playing time this year.

I wouldn't be surprised if any of these three names really bust out this year, but they are all much too risky to depend heavily on.

Tier Eight

We don't have much going for us here. Lopez is the only one with a confident playing time projection, and you're not drafting Gimenez or Villar for anything but the steals. The upside play is Gimenez, and the safety is Lopez - although I really don't want Nicky Lopez.

My Shortstop Strategy

I want to start my team with Fernando Tatis or Trea Turner. The steals and batting average you get from them is just so valuable given how light the league is on those two categories right now. Unfortunately, they require a top-two pick to grab most of the time. If I don't get one of them, I'm looking to get Corey Seager and/or Willy Adames.

It's very important to note that this is the most steals-heavy position:

It's a good idea (although not a necessary one) to prioritize steals here. That means looking at a name like Story or Chisholm earlier on if missing on the top tier, and then grabbing maybe an Amed Rosario late for steals assurance.

All of this said, you will find plenty of start-worthy options at shortstop, so it's not exactly a position to get stressed out about early on.

Thanks for stopping by again, we'll be back soon with more tiered rankings!

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