Deeper Shortstop Draft Sleepers

March 29, 2021

Jamie Steed identifies late-round shortstop draft targets for deep fantasy baseball leagues. These SS are deep sleepers worth targeting on draft day.

This year could be the most fantasy friendliest for the shortstop position with six having an ADP of 25th or lower (according to current NFBC draft data) and nine with an ADP of 42nd or lower. You may be forgiven for thinking that you don't need to look deep into drafts for a shortstop.

While that might be true for your starter, if you don't take one of the top shortstops early in the draft, it's easy to panic, reach and overextend for one in the middle rounds. You still need to have a middle infielder for most leagues and with second base looking a bit thin, especially when compared to shortstop, it makes sense to use that spot for a backup shortstop, acting as a bit of insurance for your starter.

With that being said, here we take a look at some shortstops who should be considered as rosterable in deeper fantasy leagues or AL-only and NL-only leagues this year. To be considered, each player currently has an ADP of 500 or greater in NFBC drafts.

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Jose Iglesias, Los Angeles Angels

ADP: 511

The Angels acquired Iglesias from the Orioles to fill the gap left by the free-agent departure of Andrelton Simmons. And while considered a 'glove first' shortstop, Iglesias has always been able to make contact at the plate and put the ball in play. That was evident more than ever last year with a .373 batting average in 39 games and a 11.3% K%. Given Iglesias has a career .278/.319/.381 slash line, it's no surprise he's not projected for more than 10 homers anywhere but he also has enough speed to chip in with some steals (he did get 15 in 2018).

Despite hitting at the bottom on the lineup, when he does get on base, Iglesias will have some serious offensive powerhouses coming up to the plate behind him and the projections for ~60 runs and ~60 RBI look attainable. There's little upside with Iglesias but he is a fine 'plug-and-play' option to cover any injuries that won't hurt your stats.

Jazz Chisholm, Miami Marlins

ADP: 527

Chisholm has officially beaten out Isan Diaz for the Marlins second base job, following a considerably better Spring as we can see when comparing the two below.

As nice as Diaz's batting average is, it won't be enough to win the job. Chisholm did get a call-up to the Marlins last year and while he only hit .161 in 21 games, he still managed to hit two homers and steal two bases. Chisholm never hit for a particularly good average in the minors with a career minor league slash line of .255/.327/.462 in 315 games.

His power/speed profile was still evident with 56 homers and 49 steals which makes him an intriguing option this year. ATC projections have Chisholm hitting 12 homers and getting 10 steals in 89 games so if he does manage to get an everyday starting job, 18 homers and 15 steals are on the cards. You will likely have to endure a batting average below .240 but if you need some speed and power, Chisholm is a nice late-round pick.

Kevin Newman, Pittsburgh Pirates

ADP: 556

You may be surprised to hear that of all players with at least five plate appearances this Spring, Newman leads baseball with a .727 batting average (28 plate appearances). Newman has also yet to strikeout and has walked five times. He's put himself back into contention to be the Pirates' leadoff hitter, something he did to start the 2020 season with limited success. Following a 2019 season where he hit .308 over 130 games with 12 homers and 16 steals, Newman came back to Earth with a .224/.281/.276 slash line in 2020.

His xBA was .246 so he was a tad unlucky but he also failed to steal any bases (one attempt) and hit just one homer. In the 75 games played in 2018 and 2020, Newman has just one homer and no stolen bases so it's fair to believe that 2019 was a complete outlier. But if Newman does manage to continue his hot spring into the season and 2019 wasn't a complete fluke, he could be a 12 homer and 18 steal hitter with a .280 average and ok counting stats depending where he hits in the lineup.

Freddy Galvis, Baltimore Orioles

ADP: 566

Boring, thy name is Freddy Galvis. But don't confuse boring with useless as Galvis has provided some fantasy value for a few years now. Galvis was brought in to replace the earlier discussed Iglesias as the Orioles shortstop and his ability as a switch hitter should prevent any possible platoon. Galvis offers value purely with his consistency. Between 2015 - 2019, Galvis missed just 30 games in those 5 years, playing in all 162 games in 2017 and 2018. Galvis still featured in 47 games last year too, hitting 7 homers (equates to 24 homers over 162 games) to follow up the 23 homers he hit in 147 games in 2019.

It's unlikely Galvis steals more than a handful of bases nowadays but a player with back-to-back 20+ homer seasons (or at least the equivalency) in a hitter-friendly ballpark should garner some interest in deep leagues. His batting average is around league average (between .241 and .263 in 2015-2019) and he averaged 65 runs scored and 63 RBI during his five-year stretch of consistency. You won't find a 20+ homer middle infielder this late in drafts and Galvis is unlikely to harm your ratios or batting average either.

Leury Garcia, Chicago White Sox

ADP: 610

Garcia has found himself in consideration for regular playing time after Eloy Jimenez ruptured his pectoral muscle and is expected to miss 5-6 months. Depending on what site you play on, Garcia might have additional position eligibility too as he split time at shortstop, second base and the outfield last year. His biggest fantasy asset is his speed, as he's been in the 85th percentile for sprint speed in each of the last four seasons, except in 2019 when he was in the 84th percentile.

The 2019 season is Garcia's only one with regular playing time when he featured in 140 games (618 at-bats) and he had a pretty productive year hitting .279/.317/.441 with eight homers, 15 stolen bases and scoring 93 runs. Without having elite speed, Garcia has stolen 56 bases in 480 career games so even if he only plays 120 games (assuming he fills in for Jimenez), that career mark averages out at 14 steals a season.

He'd likely hit ninth in White Sox order but that does mean Tim Anderson (who has a .331 batting average since 2019) bats behind him and their lineup is deep enough that he'd get a decent amount of RBI opportunities still. He's unlikely to play every day but in leagues with daily roster changes, Garcia can be a useful fill-in as someone who has hit between .270 - .279 in each of the last four seasons and has a 15 stolen base season on his resume as recently as 2019.

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