As you prepare for your drafts, it is important to figure out who you want to target in drafts and who you want to avoid. Culling your draft list is an important process to make it go seamlessly. Shortstop is one of the deepest positions in fantasy, but it has clear cliffs that drop off drastically. Here are my picks for shortstops to target and avoid at the first base position in 2023.
- ADP Target & Avoid: Catchers | First Base | Second Base
- Fitz’s Positional Primers
- Justin Mason’s Draft Day Cheat Sheet
- Players the Experts Draft
- Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Shortstops to Target or Avoid
Targets
Bo Bichette (TOR) ADP 13.4
In what was a “down” season for Bichette, he still hit .290/.333/.469 with 24 home runs and stole 13 bases. He made a swing change midseason and was even better than the first half and has said he plans to run more with the new rules. Bichette should be going in the mid-first round.
Willy Adames (MIL) ADP 89.89
Adames is an underrated stud. In his first full season in Milwaukee, he hit 31 home runs and stole eight bases with a .238 average. His average should come up some, as he had a pretty low BABIP. He could even run some more, given the new base running rules. He is one of the last shortstops you feel great about before a decent drop-off.
Nico Hoerner (CHC) ADP 138.83
Hoerner is a pretty divisive guy in the fantasy industry. Some see him as a boring accumulator, and others see him as a great hit-tool guy with speed that can be a difference-maker in multiple categories. I am in the latter group. He was top five in the Major Leagues in zone contact and stole 20 bases in just 135 games. He will be a full-time player this year at second base, so he will gain that eligibility at a terrible position. Love him this year.
CJ Abrams (WAS) ADP 224.66
The fantasy community buries prospects that struggle in their first go around. Abrams struggled last season, but he was rushed by the Padres and then was traded in the Soto deal. He should play every day in Washington and offers a ton of stolen base potential, but I think the hit tool is very good, and I think there is enough power to get over double digits in Nationals Park. He’s efinitely a good fallback option if you miss out on shortstops or need speed late.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | SoundCloud | iHeartRadio
