Justin Mason’s Top 50 Shortstops for 2020
It is that time of year again! With the new year upon us, I am releasing my first set of ranks during this week and next for those doing early drafts or prep over the holidays. All ADP and position eligibility are based on NFBC Draft Champions leagues.
Justin Mason’s Top 50 Shortstops for 2020
| Rank | Player | Team | Position(s) | ADP | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Lindor | CLE | SS | 8.45 | Missed the first three weeks of the season and still went 32/22. A move to a better overall team will make the price rise as well. |
| 2 | Trea Turner | WAS | SS | 9.82 | Had an arguably better year with 40 less games than 2018. If he stays healthy, he could be the best player in fantasy. |
| 3 | Trevor Story | COL | SS | 11.32 | Pretty much repeated 2018 which makes him feel safer, but needs to stay on the field. |
| 4 | Alex Bregman | HOU | 3B, SS | 8.23 | Arguably the highest floor of the top four, but lack of speed keeps him outside of the top three. |
| 5 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | SD | SS | 18.18 | Rookie year was amazing before being cut short by injury. Can he do it again? |
| 6 | Gleyber Torres | NYY | 2B, SS | 26.32 | Murdered the Orioles to the tune of a 394/.467/1.045 triple slash and .267/.316/.470 versus the rest of the league. I am not saying he can’t repeat it, especially since he gets to play the Orioles a ton again. |
| 7 | Jonathan Villar | MIA | SS, 2B | 29.36 | If he was going to leave the Orioles, Miami was a pretty good landing spot. He still bats high and no reason to not let him run. |
| 8 | Javier Baez | CHC | SS | 36.64 | Lost the multi-positional eligibility, but I have no problem seeing him ranked anywhere in the top 10 at SS. |
| 9 | Adalberto Mondesi | KC | SS | 38.5 | Price could go up if shoulder looks good, but there are things that worry me. Shoulder, Matheny, OBP. |
| 10 | Xander Bogaerts | BOS | SS | 34.95 | About as stable as they come, but what happens if Boston starts dismantling? |
| 11 | Marcus Semien | OAK | SS | 74.27 | Coming off of a career year. Can he do it again? |
| 12 | Carlos Correa | HOU | SS | 87.45 | No way he finishes at this spot. He is either much higher or much lower depending on health. |
| 13 | Tim Anderson | CWS | SS | 90.64 | Still trying to figure out how he hit .335 |
| 14 | Manny Machado | SD | 3B, SS | 61.95 | ADP this high because of name value. |
| 15 | Bo Bichette | TOR | SS | 78.05 | Bichette has a ton of upside, but will he struggle as he gets more exposure? |
| 16 | Jorge Polanco | MIN | SS | 147.41 | No reason to think he can’t repeat breakout. |
| 17 | Elvis Andrus | TEX | SS | 119.27 | Andrus being this low shows how amazing the position is. |
| 18 | Paul DeJong | STL | SS | 189 | Who is the real DeJong, the first half guy or second half? |
| 19 | Kevin Newman | PIT | 2B, SS | 198.27 | My most drafted player thus far. Should leadoff in Pitt and contribute in all categories. |
| 20 | Amed Rosario | NYM | SS | 130.32 | Showed growth with contact and patience. Could jump up a tier or two with more growth. |
| 21 | Corey Seager | LAD | SS | 152.23 | Name value is the only thing keeping him relevant at this point. |
| 22 | Jean Segura | PHI | SS | 179.05 | Will gain more eligibility. Lineup is stacked. |
| 23 | Didi Gregorius | PHI | SS | 221.14 | Where he hits in that lineup could determine a lot. |
| 24 | Willy Adames | TB | SS | 268.82 | Love adames, but will he lose playing time in Tampa? |
| 25 | Luis Uris | MLW | SS, 2B | 337.32 | Move to Milwaukee should help him deliver on pedigree. |
| 26 | Nico Hoerner | CHC | SS | 337.59 | High floor, low ceiling. |
| 27 | Jorge Mateo | OAK | SS | 499.18 | Could be a fantasy star, if he gets playing time. |
| 28 | Carter Kieboom | WAS | SS | 294.86 | Post-hype prospect has a path to playing time. |
| 29 | Dansby Swanson | ATL | SS | 244.64 | Has never publicly responded to our feud. |
| 30 | Andrelton Simmons | LAA | SS | 330.23 | Decent AL Only accumulator |
| 31 | Jon Berti | MIA | 3B, SS, OF | 200.27 | Was a sneaky sleeper until the Marlins started signing people. |
| 32 | Nick Ahmed | ARZ | SS | 340.14 | Probably going too late, but the position is stacked. |
| 33 | Miguel Rojas | MIA | SS | 473.23 | Not super interesting. |
| 34 | Orlando Arcia | MLW | SS | 453.23 | Defense will give him at bats, but will be on a short leash. |
| 35 | Niko Goodrum | DET | 2B, SS, OF | 303.64 | Great multi-positional eligible for your reserve list. |
| 36 | David Fletcher | LAA | SS, OF, 2B, 3B | 308.41 | Plays all the positions. |
| 37 | Jose Peraza | BOS | OF, 2B, SS | 444.18 | If Boston doesn’t sign anyone else, he is a really sneaky grab. |
| 38 | J.P. Crawford | SEA | SS | 475.5 | Defense first. |
| 39 | Freddy Galvis | CIN | 2B, SS | 352.5 | Defense keeps him in the lineup, but his bat isn’t empty. |
| 40 | Nicky Lopez | KC | 2B, SS | 489.14 | Remember when people spent all their faab on him during the season last year? Pepperidge Farms remembers. |
| 41 | Chris Taylor | LAD | 2B, SS, OF | 400.27 | No longer starting limits his value. |
| 42 | Brandon Crawford | SF | SS | 546.82 | Great defender, poor offensively on a bad team. |
| 43 | Cole Tucker | PIT | SS | 563.32 | Remember when everyone spent a bunch of FAAB on him? That was fun. |
| 44 | Royce Lewis | MIN | SS | 546.82 | He should be up at some point this year. |
| 45 | Willi Castro | DET | SS | 548.95 | Low ceiling, but should play. |
| 46 | Richie Martin | BAL | SS | 709.09 | Will play, but does it matter? |
| 47 | Myles Straw | HOU | SS | 598 | Correa insurance. |
| 48 | Wander Franco | TB | SS | 469.18 | Most likely not going to be up this year, but has a ton of promise. |
| 49 | Ehire Adrianza | MIN | 1B, SS, 3B | 661.23 | Always figures a way to get at bats. |
| 50 | Danny Mendick | CWS | SS | 740.91 | Should be replaced in Chicago within a few weeks of the start of the season. |
Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.
Embarrassing Dansby Swanson rank
I’m missing the inside joke/comment there about the ‘feud’, for I imagine he should be higher unless Justin doesn’t believe in a repeat.
He was injured, he’s not going to repeat last year, he’s going to do even better (unless he’s hurt, which is possible).
I figure he had a lucky first half. He has always reminded me of Addison Russell – just an average guy with a super long leash fueled by his prospect status in a great spot. In this era anyone can put together a good offensive stretch, especially with unlimited opportunity. In nearly 2000 PA he has been well below average
Dansby seems to stay hurt/injured since turning pro. Actually even missed most his freshman year in 2013 because of injuries. It’s a shame he missed so much time with the juiced ball in play this year because when he retires he could have been able to say he had a 20-homer season. But alas, Dansby gets injured very often. Probably gonna happen again this year given his track record. Hopefully at some point in his career he can hit for some real average, stay healthy, get on base at a healthy clip while playing good defense for an entire season. Just do it once, Dansby. Please. For crying out loud stay healthy.
Where do you rank Schoop?
While he qualified at SS in 2019 in some formats based on games played in 2018, Schoop didn’t play any games at SS in 2019 so he’ll be 2B only in 2020
Well I asked the same question in the 2B thread to no avail. I’m trying to garner some general insights as to whether industry folk think he’s got bounce back potential or has officially faded, but I can’t even determine if he was left out intentionally or not.
I think the industry doesn’t like him – I think you know that already based on how he bounces around. I think he is a good offensive player but his skill set doesn’t match what people want a hitter to look like so I think he will run out of chances soon. He really gets penalized for his lack of BB. If he had an everyday job I think he could really produce but don’t count on that. He is a big boy and injuries are a big part of his game now. I think he is a great late round flier but I don’t think you can count on him for anything
Just missing the 20 game qualifier but meeting a 10/5 qualifier: Ketel Marte (11G/5GS), Brendan Rodgers (9/5), Kike Hernandez (11/6), Garrett Hampson (15/10), and Scott Kingery (18/12).
(Also, probably not fantasy relevant, but raise your hand if you remembered Logan Forsythe getting 10 starts and 15 games overall at SS in 2019)
i barely even remember logan forsythe
But I will never forget Wily Mo Pena.
Kind of a harsh assessment of Corey Seager, he’s usable in all my leagues not just for name recognition
yeah, he was certainly nothing special last year but you have to remember he was coming off a bunch of surgeries. imo it’s very possible that he’ll get back to being something like what he was once he gets further away from all that. didi’s in a similar boat
I agree with you, but then I had a hard time ranking Seager above most of the guys above him for two reasons: Seager doesn’t steal and he hasn’t hit 30+ homers yet. However, given his age he should get some benefit of the doubt that he’ll build on his excellent ’16 and ’17 seasons. I personally think that a guy who, when healthy, can do a pretty good Justin Turner impression is quite valuable, so if one can get Seager at a serious discount due to league mate short term memory issues, then great!
If he is ever healthy like he was he is easily in the top 10. There is no building on 16 and 17 – he is a different guy now unfortunately.
Agreed. Reads like an unnecessary dig.
While not a standout in traditional 5×5 leagues, Seager is significantly more valuable in any league that rewards OBP and XBHs (other than HRs), which, I mean, if yours isn’t, it should. It’s not that his BB% is remarkable, but his bankable BA sustains a higher floor in OBP than some of the empty HR/SB types above him here who may walk a little more, but with possible .230 BA downside. For example:
I could see taking him over DeJong. Seager is a safer bet in all the triple slash categories, and Rs and RBIs probably too.
Semien is another interesting one. He was the definition of being borderline rosterable in 12-team leagues for several years. Hat tip for last year’s breakout, but I don’t trust a repeat. I’d consider Seager over him at equal value, let alone at a 75 pick discount.
An unnecessary dig would read something like: Seager simultaneously lost a visually obvious ~25-30 pounds and his power. Keeping it factual, but there are inferences available. You should definitely draft him though. I would rather have Segura 6-8 rounds later if my league is that deep. Until further notice, Seager is a deep league SS and totally agree with JM here. As does ADP in my drafts so far.
ETA – “you” generally, not really responding specifically to the well-named Oozy here.
Well, ADP at this point is relatively foolish to rely on, as three months is a long time for player development. If Seager shows up in the spring looking like his old self in terms of weight and power, then ADP in December goes out the window. I still think his minor league and early major league results are going to jump him up the March ADP lists eventually, especially if he gets that weight/power back.
There is also the not small detail that this is NFBC, which is a very specific format. Those rankings should not carry much weight in your standard or keeper league. NFBC isn’t a format where you want to waste your mid picks because waivers are often locked. I can see not wanting Seager in that format but i na longer term there is still appeal.
Don’t think these are specific NFBC rankings. I think he is just using NFBC to set position eligibility and show ADP by player.
You think he lost that much weight? I kind of thought that myself but never really looked into it. I would believe it. Another fact is that he had hip surgery – know of anyone who has ever made it fully back from that? Buster Posey had hip surgery too and his profile has suffered similarly. I agree that it was an unnecessary dig especially when several players get one unsubstantiated glowing sentence. There is a reason that someone always reaches for Seager – its because he was really great at one point not long ago and he is young. Personally I am getting tired of getting burned on him already. A lot of us saw him play a few years ago and he really was great – I imagine that is where the love comes from.
His brother did too, lost a ton of weight.
Except that, he didn’t lose power, he just didn’t gain much. 19 HRs in 134 Gs is about what we’d seen from healthy Seager, and his .211 ISO was actually above his career average.
I get he bit people who took him in the top 50 last year. I would not invest in him there this year. I don’t agree that his 2019 which included 180ish Rs + RBIs (despite missing time) should push him out of the top 150, though.
Agreed, and since we posted SS rankings almost on the same day, you can see Seager ranks a good tier higher here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/ottoneu-top-20-shortstops-for-2020/
But… These rankings are for 5×5. You say “if your league” as if people are only running one week. To me, standard 5×5 is still the gold standard.
Obviously he is not a fan. I doubt he ever gets back – I think he had back and hip problems and those don’t sound like good things for a young man to be dealing with.
Seager
made a conscious effort to lose a ton of weight which killed his power. He is an accumulator and is on a good team. That is what his value is.
I get the ranking, however, I still think I’d jump Berti up in a draft with all that eligibility – then fall back on one of the guarantee plate appearance guys. Marlins suck and guys get hurt.
I am curious about Trea Turner’s path to the best player in fantasy. You didn’t make it clear and it has never happened before so I don’t think it has any chance of happening. Does anyone get the benefit of the doubt more than Turner. I’ll answer that for you, nope! Its like every year people want to take the pieces of his best season and put them all together with some projection and full health. 1 spot behind Lindor feels like a terrible value to me. Baez is the best value of the top 10.
There is a real chance Seager never recovers from his injuries but he used to swing it as well as anyone prior to his injuries. He is the best sleeper out there for a guy that has a full-time job and has shown something before. Kind of crazy to write him off and then proclaim your love for Adames who is as replaceable as they come without any speed. I don’t think Hoerner has a high floor. His floor is not playing at all like Ian Happ. He looked bad at SS from what I saw – he is likely just a utility infielder. He doesn’t have power or speed, so you must be wanting a middling average which isn’t that hard to come by. I do’nt think you should expect Royce Lewis up this year. He has played 33 games in AA and got owned pretty well. He is also switching positions – so he may never even have SS eligibility.
I mean… there’s not much in the way of piecing things together needed with Turner. Literally one thing — take his 2019 stats averaged across his 2018 games played.
.298 / 25 HR / 127 R / 76 RBI / 46 SB. From a shortstop, that looks like the best player in fantasy to me.
Agreed with you till you mentioned Seager, disagree on that part.
A lot of the guys who I frequently end up with on my fantasy teams give me stolen bases anyway, so to me if I got Turner it would end up being overkill and I’d have too many steals. No real point in winning stolen bases by anymore than one, unless it’s overall, and even then it’s likely bad. I still don’t get the obsession with Turner. He has basically no path to being better than Lindor, let alone Yelich, Acuna, etc. Yelich would of gone near 50-40 if he hadn’t gotten hurt. Acuna nearly went 40-40. To me it seems silly to draft Turner that early. He has played basically a full season last two years and has hit 19 hrs, and between 35-43 sbs and 100 runs while being a positive in batting average. I would much rather wait and grab Bichette, Semien, hell even Andrus much later in the draft.
I know his name was kind of a throwaway at the end, but I’d be realllllly leery of Andrus. I drafted him last year and rode him for a good chunk of the season and he was pretty much a disaster after his monster April. His line from May 1st onward was 256/288/352 for a .272 wOBA with 7 HR, 62 R, 52 RBI and 25 SB. Yuck. I mean the SB are nice and the BA/R/RBI are anywhere from meh to bad, but trying to carry a guy with 7 HR over 5 months in today’s HR environment is brutal.
Andrus missed May of 2018 but of the other 11 months he has played since the start of 2018 he has as many months with an OPS under .600 (4) as he has with an OPS over .700 (4) and he’s moving to what will likely be a worse hitter’s park with the Rangers opening their new stadium.
That nice 2016-17 run is increasingly looking like either his peak or an outlier. . . . .
I think people look at Turner and dream that one of these years he’s going to go 25/60 and score 130 runs. I’ve never drafted him and probably never will, given that every year it seems like there’s an owner (or two or four) who is willing to pay for that dream.
Makes sense, I don’t understand how they expect it. I bet he does one day have a monster fantasy season, sure. But his pick in the draft doesn’t make sense imo. And, at least to me while steals have tremendous value, drafting someone like Turner early takes you out of the running for a lot of the other guys who steal a fair amount of bases since you don’t want to win stolen bases by too much. I’d much, much rather grab someone else, even though the 10 spot might be the toughest spot to draft out of. I’d personally rather have Story, who finished 8th overall last year, and iirc 3rd overall year prior. Story will likely go in the 30/20 with up to 40 HRs range, and Turner in the 20-30 range. To me, if you get Turner at that price you are hindered in the rest of the draft and then you shouldn’t really get a lot of my favorite targets (Baez, Meadows, Hiura). I dunno, 15 hrs and 30sbs in the first round seems like an absolutely horrible idea to me.
I think the realistic expectation for a full season is 15-20 HR (depending on the ball) and 40 SB give or take. The SBs will come close to leading the league and the taters are just enough to make him a power-speed guy. Barring injury, it seems to me that the SBs are more bankable with Turner than with some of the other first or second round bats. But yeah, he could go 20-45 or 20-50. SBs are so rare, the 40 is already super solid.
Bogaerts has been #2 in wRC+ the last 2 years and, as mentioned, is pretty damn stable. There are many question marks above him related to health or “can they repeat?,” him being lower than #5 is unacceptable.
This is a comedy piece, right? Tim Anderson over Machado? Villar over Baez and Bogaerts? Lol.
It’s 5×5. Hopefully everyone is aware of that.
I was not aware of that, per my first comment.
Nobody abbreviates Milwaukee that way! Just use MIL like everyone else!
I am using MLW from now on. It is among the top 2 abbreviations for Milwaukee, the other being MWK.
Is it me, or has Ss gotten so much stronger the past 10 years?
The days of praying for either ARod, Jeter or Nomar in the first few rounds are long gone, thankfully. Yep, when one can wait for 20+ shortstops to get drafted and get ‘stuck’ with Seager, Gregorius, or Adames, the position has certainly vastly improved in the past 10 years.
bregman and correa will fall like a rock. book it. no more knowing what pitch is coming. Bregman and Correa are frauds. both should be banned from the game. at least for a few years. cheaters
DeJong deserves more love.