Just prior to last year’s holiday season I wrote a piece for FanGraphs+ that ranked the Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015 by position. Because it’s in the middle of the offseason, it’s often an exercise in futility to properly project playing time for rookies — especially considering the large number of free agent signings and trades that have yet to take place. It’s quite fun, nonetheless, and still serves as a good starting point for understanding who might be turn into a unexpectedly valuable fantasy player for the coming year.

And with every preview, must come a review. With the regular season now behind us and the heart of the postseason underway, I present to you a review of the projected Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015. I’ve already written about the catchers, first basemen, second basemen and third basemen. Today, we wrap up the infield with the shortstops.

Actual Weighted Runs Created (wRC+) Results
133 — Carlos Correa, Astros
128 — Francisco Lindor, Indians
112 — Ketel Marte, Mariners
91 — Tim Beckham, Rays
90 — Addison Russell, Cubs

*Jung-ho Kang was included in the third basemen’s piece.

Marc’s Top 4
Addison Russell, Cubs
Francisco Lindor, Indians
Corey Seager, Dodgers
Deven Marrero, Red Sox

Honorarble Mentions
Hak-Ju Lee, Rays
Tim Anderson, White Sox

The above list of rookie shortstops would be somewhat different if I ranked by WAR, rather than Weights Runs but defence has such little value in fantasy baseball so I focused on offence with Weighted Runs Created. It bears mentioning, though, that many impressive young defensive shortstops entered the game in 2015 — led by Lindor and Russell.

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It’s second base week on RotoGraphs and that gives me the opportunity to perform the first review of my 2015 Pod Projection breakdowns. Anthony Rendon enjoyed a breakout year in both real and fantasy baseball in 2014 and given his previous top prospect pedigree, was then highly valued heading into this season. At the time of my Pod Projection, Rendon was being drafted 13th overall in NFBC leagues. Unfortunately, a knee injury that was supposed to only keep him out for a week or two to begin the season dragged on and on. He didn’t make his 2015 debut until early June and then missed another month with a quad strain. Ultimately, he finished ranked 35th in value…among just the second basemen!

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The 2015 fantasy baseball season has come to a close, so it is time to look back at the season past and determine which players were the most valuable at each position. After looking at catchers last week, we continuing moving around the diamond and focus on second basemen.

The players were ranked based on their 2015 production, using the evaluation system explained and updated on this site some time ago. The valuations are built for $260 budgets and standard 5×5 roto fantasy leagues, where only one catcher is started. Players are listed only at their primary positions from 2015.

One important thing to note is the premium (or lack thereof) placed on the position a player occupies in your lineup. For example, while a first baseman may be able to accumulate superior overall numbers, the availability of such production lower in the rankings severely dampers the amount the player was worth. These rankings are meant to reflect a player’s value should he have occupied this spot in your lineup for the entire year. A player who missed time due to injury but put up great numbers during his time on the field would be worth less.

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