Shortstop ADP Market Report: 12/17/21

With drafts beginning to ramp up, it is important to monitor where players are being drafted on a regular basis. Throughout draft season, I will be doing that work for you with regular updates on the Average Draft Position on NFBC up until Opening Day. You can find all the pieces in this series here.

Top 100 Players Rising

None

Top 100 Players Falling

Corey Seager (-10.17)- Usually when a player signs a deal, much less a big deal, his ADP will rise. However, Seager is falling in drafts, likely due to the Rangers being a really bad landing spot in terms of lineup and park. There is no doubting Seager’s talent, but this is not a great situation and he has struggled to stay healthy, having not played in more than 134 games in a season since 2017. 

Top 200 Players Rising

Nicky Lopez (+10.98)- Lopez is likely rising due to people, including me, becoming aware of just how good his 2021 season was. If you didn’t have Lopez on a fantasy team last year, you missed out on a 22 stolen base and .300 batting average season. Now, I don’t buy the batting average, he had a .347 BABIP (career .307) and a .239 xBA, but the speed is legit as it gets. Even if the average craters, he can steal 20+ bases and that is nothing to sneeze at as long as the price doesn’t jump much more. 

Top 200 Players Falling

None

Top 300 Players Rising

Josh Rojas (+10.08)- See the piece in this series on second basemen. 

Andres Gimenez (+16.45)- Gimenez’s rise likely has to do with his strong September to end the season where he hit .271 with three home runs and four stolen bases. That being said, the floor we saw at the beginning of the season was still in the profile. He was still sporting a 51.5% O-Swing percentage which helped lead to a 28% strikeout rate. There is talent here with enough power to play and plenty of speed, but the floor is still extremely low. The price right now is pretty affordable, but if it continues to rise, he won’t be worth the risk. 

Jonathan Villar (+13.53)- Villar’s rise is surprising considering he has not signed a deal yet, but it is a pretty good assumption he will land somewhere and be able to offer similar value to what he did in New York. Initially I was scared by his lack of contract, but after discussing it on our most recent podcast, I am planning on getting a few shares at this price. 

Top 300 Players Falling

None

Others of Note

Taylor Walls (+53.98)- Walls rise likely is in response to the Rays trading Wendle to Miami. That being said, I don’t think this means he is a full time player in Tampa and there is still a chance he doesn’t even make the Opening Day roster. 

Jose Barrero (-10.42)- Barrero’s drop probably has to do with the lack of a clear spot for him in Cincinnati. The Reds appear to be heading towards a tear down or rebuild, but they may have issues moving some of their contracts that are blocking Barrero from assuming an every day role. I think he gets there eventually, but you may have to wait a while. 

Tyler Wade (+72.08)- Wade’s rise has to due to the Angels trading for him. Right now, he is slated to play pretty regularly, but I fully expect the Angels to be in on Story and Correa which would move Wade back to a reserve player. However, he is multi-positional eligible and can be a useful piece in deep formats. 

Cole Tucker (+41.78)- I don’t know why Tucker is rising except for the fact that he was extremely low in the ADP. I am a fan though. He has power and speed and led off some down the stretch for the Pirates. I expect him to be a super utility guy for the Pirates with a ton of upside and he should be on about 90% of my teams this season.