Remember the days where you could choose between Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Derek Jeter as your starting shortstop? Ah, memories.
Those days feel like a lifetime ago. But finally, after a decade or more of 50% of your league feeling physically ill with their starting shortstop, it’s now the dawning of a new day.
There are several quality options at the position, with possibly up to five of them being drafted in the first two rounds and seven in the first three rounds. But be wary. The position drops off pretty significantly after that, and there are only a few legitimate options left once you get to the fifth round.
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The Elite
Of all the stats on Machado, the one that shocks me the most is that he’s just 24 years old. It feels like he’s been in the league forever but he’s not even in his prime yet. Sure, that 20-steal season in 2015 was probably a mirage, but who cares?
He’ll easily challenge 105-40-100-.300 without batting an eye. As good as the guys in the next tier are, and they are really good, Machado is in a tier unto himself.
The Near-Elite
There’s an argument that Correa and Seager could be in their own tier, but I am not making that argument, so stop yelling at me, please. In the end, all four of these guys are young studs who are just going to continue to get better.
There’s very little to say here. All except Seager will give you a nice combination of speed and power, and Seager, though he provides almost no steals, will likely give you the most homers, and you can expect those 72 RBIs to increase significantly this year as well. If you land one of these guys in the second or third round, you’re in solid shape for the rest of your draft.
The Extremely Solids
Jean Segura would fall into this category, but since I’ve determined he best fits into the second base tier (through my fancy algorithm which I call “flipping a coin”), I’ve mentioned him there. But he’d be right here with these two.
Story and Villar both had excellent seasons, neither of which was expected. If they could show the same skills as last season, they’d be a threat to move into the tier above. But there are obvious question marks.
Story hit 10 of his 27 home runs in April and struck out 130 times in 415 plate appearances. Villar struck out 174 times in 679 plate appearances and never batted higher than .275 in the minors.
Both should be strong contributors this year, and it’s unlikely that either one will fall off a cliff even if they do regress a bit. But they’re still a notch below the next level.
The Last Line of Defense
In my opinion, these are the last guys you want as your starting shortstop. You can get any of these guys in the 10th to 12th round, and feel just fine about rolling him out there every day.
Diaz had a great season, but it was totally out of line with his minor league numbers. Russell batted just .238 last season, though his batted ball profile suggests that should rise. And Tulowitzki is on the decline, but 25-homer shortstops with solid RBI production are still valuable.
None of these guys is going to win you your league. But they won’t lose it for you either.
The Relevants
You don’t want to be relying on these guys as your starting shortstop, but they’re fine as middle infield options. Miller never showed 30-homer power in the minors, so it’s hard to count on anything close to a repeat.
Swanson is a great ballplayer in real life, but his fantasy production is lacking. Andrus provides no power, and his .302 batting average came out of absolutely nowhere.
And Eduardo Nunez. I mean, I don’t know how a mediocre part-time player suddenly morphs into an elite power-speed combination at age 29, but I’m certainly not banking on a repeat.
The Bench Players
Other than Arcia, these guys have all shown that they can fill in for you as an injury replacement if need be. And while Arcia may not have lit the world on fire in his cup of coffee in the majors last season, his track record in the minors suggests he’ll be a solid contributor, particularly in steals.
Everyone Else
Not much to see here. But, if you have a deep bench, these guys can give you a bit of power or speed if you’re desperate.
More Tiers
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Relief Pitcher Rankings Tiers
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Dan Harris is a correspondent with FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter at @danharris80
