Shortstop 2025 Fantasy Rankings

At just 24 years old, Bobby Witt has already accumulated back-to-back 30/30 seasons and made big strides in his in-zone contact rate and walk rate while increasing his exit velocities and barrell percentage. He is arguably not just the top shortstop, but the top player in drafts this season depending on how you feel about Ohtani and Judge.

An absolute freak of nature, Elly De La Cruz backed up his 2023 breakout with an amazing 2024 season in which he led MLB with 67 stole bases while crushing 24 home runs. He could easily be the top player in fantasy this season, but the red flags that had some people (including me) fading him last season are still present. His in zone contact rate was just 80.5% which was 118th among qualified hitters and while he has the physical tools to overcome that (and did last season,) it is fair to regress his average some. That being said, there is no reason the think the floor isn’t still amazing.

Gunnar Henderson keeps getting better and better. Building off of his 2023 rookie season, Henderson made big improvements in his zone-contact, o-swing, and walk rate while not sacrificing any of his power metrics. The batting average gain is supported by a higher contact approach and better swing decisions. The most important thing is his improvement versus left-handed pitching. He hit .257 against south-paws and it wasn’t with an inflated BABIP either. The increase of stolen bases is just icing on the cake for a young superstar.

Just a stolen base away from back-to-back 30/30 season, Francisco Lindor is one of the more reliable options at shortstop and there is an argument for him to be above Betts, but until we know what the rest of the lineup looks like in New York, I will hedge my bets a little bit.

If not for missing time last season, Trea Turner would likely be at the top of this tier, but he only played in 121 games. The contact skills actually improved last season and while the power metrics are down from his levels from pre-2023, they were in line with his 2023 season. If he stays healthy, he should rebound nicely and could be a value.

Mookie Betts is double or triple eligible depending on your format, but the injury plagued 2024 is a bit concerning and keeps him out of the first tier for now. At 32-years-old, It is hard to not be concerned that injuries could prevent him from getting back to 600 plate appearances. He still performs to the point that he won’t be a complete bust if he gets hurt, but the floor is lower than it used to be.

CJ Abrams started off 2024 really strong and then struggled for the beginning of the second half before rebounding in September. We know there is a ton of speed and enough power to play, but I am a tad concerned to see his in-zone contact numbers drop almost 4%. His aggressive approach is always going to keep him with a batting average in the .240-.250 range, but he is a 20/30 guy that can potentially steal 50 at some point and the lineup in Washington is getting better around him which should bring up his runs and RBIs.

Some may look at this ranking as me going back to my “hating” Corey Seager roots, but I swear it is not. Seager was still fantastic in spite of missing big chunks of time for the second season in a row. It is really hard to project that he will get back to 600 plate appearances but on a per plate appearance basis, he is still an elite talent when on the field. If you are in shallow leagues or have either deep benches or a lot of IL stints, there is a lot of reason to rank him much higher.

I love Adames going to San Francisco as a Giants fan, but as a fantasy player, this will hurt his value. It is a much worse park and the offense around his is lackluster. That being said, he may drop in the ADP more than he should because Oracle Park is harder on lefties than righties and he will still bat in a prime spot in the order.

When it comes to physical tools, very few players possess the type of talent that Oneil Cruz has. He can crush the ball harder than anyone in the league and had the highest max exit velocity in the league last season. However, his contact issues continue to mean he struggles to take his game to the next level as his zone contact rate is among the worst in baseball. This gives him a truly high ceiling mixed with a terribly low floor.

Sometimes all you need is a chance and when Xavier Edwards got his, he took it and ran with it, literally. His high contact approach and blazing speed worked well in his 300 plate appearances and he was a league winner as a pick up in a lot of leagues. That being said, he was extremely lucky in the BABIP department and there is no power in the bat. The lineup around him is not good at all and there is a chance he gets exposed in a full time role.

After an amazing rookie season in 2023, Anthony Volpe was a bust in 2024 in spite of making improvements in his zone contact and strikeout rate. The problem was he hit too many balls on the ground and stopped pulling the ball as much which hurt his power production. There is still a ton to like and he is just going into his age 24-year-old season, so I am buying the dip on him in drafts as a potential bounceback candidate that still has a ton of upside in the bat.

Zach Neto looked like he would likely just be a very good accumulator heading into 2024, but completely changed his outlook by hitting 23 home runs and stealing 30 bases. Unfortunately, offseason shoulder surgery makes his outlook for the start of the season a bit murky which is why he is not leading off this tier. More information on his timetable and recovery could boost him up or drop him down considerably.

Bryson Stott took a step back in 2024 after being moved down the lineup and not getting very lucky in the BABIP department. That being said, the skills are still pretty good and in spite of getting almost 80 fewer plate appearances, he still managed to steal more bases that he did in 2023. I don’t think his projection for 2025 should look that much different than his 2024 production which means he is an affordable source of speed that isn’t a zero in other categories.

Dansby Swanson isn’t much more than a very good accumulator at this point in his career but the power drop off was concerning. He hit just 16 home runs as his launch angle and flyball rates both dipped. I would expect that he can fix that, but he also hasn’t been the plate appearance monster that he was in Atlanta leading one to believe that while he will continue to accumulate, he likely won’t get back to the 25+ homers we saw in 2021 and 2022.

After a breaking onto the scene in his 2022 rookie season, Jeremy Pena has been much more of an a accumulator who contributes to all the stat categories without doing much to move the needle in any particular one.

A premium accumulator that wasn’t able to accumulate due to injuries last season, Xander Bogaerts finished the season strong, hitting seven home runs and stealing nine bases in the second half with a .292/.333/.429 triple slash. His second half underlying contact numbers were great, posting a 91% zone contact rate. He should be looked at a bounceback candidate in 2024.

Maysn Winn is the epitome of an accumulator. He doesn’t do anything that moves a single category, but he does everything well. He is reliant on getting a ton of plate appearances and he should do that again leading off in St. Louis. I don’t see much room for growth unless the Cardinals start letting him run more, but he should have a pretty safe floor and can contribute to all five categories.

I know I will get heat for hating on Ezequiel Tovar in spite of his 2024 breakout making me look stupid, but here we are. The underlying numbers scare me when we are talking about a hitter that does not walk at all and has a 19.2% swinging strike rate which was the highest in baseball. He is aided by Coors Field and his defense should keep him on the field in Colorado, but there is a ton of risk that the batting average regresses and the fact he doesn’t run a ton limits his production on a bad Rockies team.

Matt McLain missed the entire 2024 season with a shoulder issue, but was playing at the Arizona Fall League where he hit .240/.356/.520 with four home runs in 50 plate appearances. He has all the talent to be the guy we saw in his 2023 rookie season where he hit 16 home runs and stole 14 bases in just 403 plate appearances if he is completely healthy, but that is a red flag that we should be wary of until we see him in spring training.

Bo Bichette missed half of 2024 with injury, but was terrible when he was on the field. You could just chalk it up to an injury washout, but I don’t know what Bichette even is at this point. His power has dipped every season since his 2021 breakout and he isn’t running much anymore as well. He should still be a good source of batting average and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got close to 20 home runs, but unless you are a believer in the “contract season player,” there is not much reason to believe he will be extremely valuable in fantasy this season

After missing the majority of the 2024 season with injury, Tommy Edman was a spark plug in the playoffs for the Dodgers during their World Series run. He should be an everyday player for the Dodgers in center with the ability to play both middle infield positions if needed which means he will gain SS eligibility where he isn’t already eligible and potentially second base as well.

I love Ha-Seong Kim, but there are questions that need to be answered before I buy in for 2025. He is currently a free agent and his landing spot will definitely impact his value as he doesn’t have great power and is reliant on being allowed to run. The bigger issue may be that he is coming off of shoulder surgery and while the reports are good, we don’t know how he will look once he is back on the field.

Carlos Correa is a great player when he is on the field, but injuries plagued him again in 2024 which is concerning with his history and now that he is in his 30’s. Reports are good that he is recovering well and could be ready for spring training but it is hard to project him for 600 plate appearances when he hasn’t been able to do that since 2021. Add in the fact he hasn’t stolen a base since 2019 and you have an injury prone accumulator which is not super enticing for fantasy.

2019 was the last time that Trevor Story logged 600+ plate appearances in a season and we have had two straight seasons in which he didn’t even get to 200 plate appearances. He finished the season on the field and there is reason to believe he will be able to enter the season healthy, but there is a ton of risk in his health profile. The lack of time on the field makes it difficult to even know what the 32-year-old is at this point. Does he still have the power that he once showed? Will the batting average even be palatable? We know he will play when healthy and he could be a an accumulator when on the field, but he needs to stay on the field to have value at this point in his career.

A super utility man, Willi Castro was able to get to 635 plate appearances in 2024 due to the rash of injuries the Twins had in their lineup. There is a bit of power and a good amount of speed, tho in spite of having 200 fewer plate appearances in 2024 than 2023, he stole 19 less bases. The problem is that if the Twins start the year healthy, Castro will be a utility guy once again. Let’s be honest though, the Twins probably won’t be completely healthy when they are constructed with a ton of injury prone hitters. Castro’s positional eligibility makes him an ideal candidate for deeper or daily lineup leagues where he can move around your roster and fill holes.

There is no bigger Nico Hoerner fan than me and I would be buying him right now if not for offseason flexor tendon surgery. We know he likely won’t be ready for the start of spring training, but until we know a more concrete timetable, it is hard to draft him.

Every season a player or two come out of nowhere to have a massive fantasy impact and in 2024, it was Tyler Fitzgerald. In a little over half a season, he hit 15 home runs and stole 17 bases. However, most of that damage came in a three week span after the All-Star Break where he hit .350/.404/.800 with 12 home runs with five stolen bases. In the final six weeks of the season he hit .230/.281/.311 with one home run and five stolen bases in spite of a .366 BABIP. He is clearly not the player that went on that torrid three week stretch, but he might be better than the end of the season sample showed too. Right now he is penciled in as an everyday player batting second in the Giants lineup, but they could look to add a shortstop and force Fitzgerald into a super utility role.

Joey Ortiz falls into the accumulator bucket, but he also hits in the bottom of a lackluster lineup. He should have a full time role, but there are other option in the organization if he can’t hit enough. That being said, he is a very good defender and that has been a priority for the organization in the infield, so there is a very good chance he can stick and be a deep league option

Ceddanne Rafaela has all the tools we look for in fantasy from the power and speed perspective as well as being a good defender that can handle center, second and short. However, what he lacks is the ability to make contact. His 79.6% zone contact was in the bottom 10 of all Major League qualified hitters and he mixes that with the second highest swing rate in baseball. It seems very likely that the Red Sox will bring in another outfielder at some point this offseason which would move Rafaela back to a utility role which is hard to manage in fantasy especially when he runs so hot and cold.

I love David Hamilton, but the returns of Story and Grissom from the IL and Rafaela being another utility guy puts a lot of risk into the playtime for him. In spite of some really bright moments last season, he struggled against left-handed pitching which may relegate him to the strong side of a platoon, but the stolen base upside is massive as we saw with his 33 stolen bases in just 317 plate appearances.

Jose Caballero is a speedy accumulator that seems to be locked into regular playing time with the Rays because he is so strong defensively. There isn’t much going on with the bat and that could eventually cost him time, but he is a deep league speed option with multi-positional eligibility.

Luisangel Acuna had a nice little cup of coffee in the Majors last season with the Mets and was fairly productive. He doesn’t have a ton of power, but he does have speed and right now he is projected to be in the Mets lineup. However, the Mets will likely sign a number of free agents in the next few weeks and that could relegate Acuna back to the minors or onto the bench. If he gets a shot to start, he could climb up these ranks a fair amount.

Brayan Rocchio is a low level accumulator that should have a better hit tool than he showed in 2024 with his 87% zone contact. There is a bit of power and speed in the profile and his defense will keep him on the field. He is a decent deep league bench bat.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is mostly just a low end accumulator that doesn’t really have a ton of fantasy value, but he is triple eligible and led off for the Pirates at the end of the season. He could be a cheap source of stolen bases and roster flexibility in really deep leagues.

We saw a bit of a breakout from J.P. Crawford in 2023, but he came crashing back to earth in 2024 and then also struggled with injuries. It seems likely that he isn’t much more than the low end accumulator he has always been, but he plays every day and there is a little bit of speed and power to accumulate if he can avoid the injuries this season.

Josh Smith is another low end accumulator that found a lot of playing time in Texas in 2024 due to their injuries. He can play a lot of positions, but with the Rangers likely healthier heading into 2024 it seems unlikely he will get back to 500+ plate appearances which means he is not usable in most fantasy formats until he finds a path to playing time.

Jacob Wilson is an empty average accumulator that seems to be in position for an everyday role in Sacramento. There isn’t much pop or speed to speak of here so you are reliant on him being able to put up a premium batting average which can be pretty fluky or a stat to bank on.

While eligible at SS in all formats, Brooks Lee is eligible at 2B and 3B in some formats and looks like he may get a shot at the second base job in spring. The former prospect projects to be an accumulator that has just enough power and speed to be interesting if his high in-zone contact rate from last year can translate into hits. I don’t think there is a ton of upside here even with full time playing time, but he could be a 15/10 guy with a decent average if it all comes together, but there is a risk he doesn’t play full time and then is fairly worthless for fantasy.

Colson Montgomery is a prospect whose stock has tumbled a bit after struggling to hit for average in AAA last season. There is a good chance he is up early. There is some pop and speed in the profile, but he will need to be able to make contact to unlock them and he may not be ready to do that at the Major League level.