Updated Shortstop Rankings – July
It’s been a little while since we’ve updated the shortstop rankings. There’s been some substantial movement since the last edition, including a new number one. Please feel free to debate the rankings/call me an idiot in the comments.
Tier 1:
Jose Reyes
Asdrubal Cabrera
Troy Tulowitzki
Reyes has easily jumped to the number one spot rankings, taking his place back amongst the fantasy elite. He’s easily having the best season of his career, hitting .354/.398/.529 which would all shatter his previous highs. Even though the slugging percentage is excellent he’s only hit three home runs, which may have to do with CitiField more than anything as Reyes is on pace for career highs in triples and doubles. The BABIP is .375, which is likely to go down, but Reyes is the type of player who could sustain that for a single season. Ranking Cabrera second over Tulowitzki and Peralta was tough for me, but his 12 steals was the deciding factor. I’ve written enough about him this season, and as long as he keeps up the power numbers he’ll maintain a high ranking. Tulowitzki has the potential to make a run at Reyes with a strong second half, but until he can improve on his current .256 BABIP that’s going to be hard.
Tier 2:
Jhonny Peralta
Elvis Andrus
Starlin Castro
The only thing keeping Peralta out of Tier 1 is his utter lack of speed. He’s having a career best season, but adding even 10 steals would improve his stock dramatically. It’s just not how he’s built. Conversely, the main reason for Elvis Andrus’ inclusion in this tier is his 25 steals. He’s actually hit three home runs, which is utterly shocking, but the .271 average isn’t impressive. If he continues to run he’ll keep his spot. If you’re in a league that counts BB%, Castro and his 4.2% wouldn’t be a good pick. However, most leagues count hits, and thanks to his lack of walks Castro has 110 of them. Add that to his .307 average and 10 steals and you have a very solid fantasy shortstop.
Tier 3:
Erick Aybar
Jimmy Rollins
Yunel Escobar
Alexei Ramirez
Hanley Ramirez
I finally had to move Hanley down. I know his past two weeks have been very good, and maybe that’s a sign he’s breaking out of his long slump. If that’s the case I’ll be happy to add him back to the elite. Until then he’s relegated to this collection of solid yet unexciting players. Rollins and Aybar steal bases while Escobar and Ramirez have brought more home runs to the table. I’ve been on the Escobar bandwagon all season so it’s nice to see him succeeding again.
Tier 4:
Stephen Drew
J.J. Hardy
Ryan Theriot
Orlando Cabrera
Darwin Barney
There is room for Hardy to move up considerably. An injury has limited him to only 214 AB thus far, which is a main reason for his placement in this tier. He’s got 12 HR and a .294 AVG. He plays in a great hitters’ park, so if he can stay healthy he could climb fast. Drew has been a big disappointment, his .266/.336/.416 line all considerably less than last season. His current SLG and ISO (.150) numbers would be his lowest since 2007.
The Rest:
Ian Desmond
Alcides Escobar
Jason Bartlett
Derek Jeter
Alexi Casilla
Jamey Carroll
Alex Gonzalez
Emilio Bonifacio
Yuniesky Betancourt
Cliff Pennington
Brendan Ryan
Jeff Keppinger
Omar Infante
Juan Uribe
Nick Punto
This is a collective grab bag of terrible.
Erik writes for DraysBay and has also written for Bloomberg Sports. Follow him on Twitter @ehahmann.
These rankings are a collective bag of terrible.
Agreed. I don’t know where to begin, other than making some low-ball offers for Hanley in every league if this is how some people truly feel about him ROS.
If what he is saying is… he wouldn’t trade Aybar for Hanley STRAIGHT UP…
Then yea, I’d say this is possibly the worst Fan/Roto/NotGraphs article ever. Which, hoooooboy, is saying a lot.
For sure. Starlin Castro is BY FAR the most over rated player on fangraphs. Outside of sustaining a high babip (so far), he does nothing well.
He’s a 21 year old shortstop with a 108 wRC+. What’s your definition of “doing things well”?
I usually defend even the worst articles because I respect the time that the author put into their work, but this is by FAR the worst ranking I have ever seen in all of my years of reading bad rankings.
Reyes is #1! So I can get Tulo + something else or Hanley + something else for my Reyes?
Nice!
Looking for Jeter in this article reminds me of those Where’s Waldo books.
Hint: left hand side near the bottom
Did you forget Rafael Furcal just came off the DL? I’m sure he won’t hit like he did last year, but there’s no reason for his omission.
Where would you rank Maicer Izturis in this group. He’s available in my league and I need a suitable backup incase Tulowitzki turns out to be injured worse than reports say.
Also Rafael Furcal since he was left off your rankings as well.
I think you have to keep Tulowitzki, H.Ramirez, and Reyes as the top 3 before ranking Andrus and Cabrera. After those first five, the rest seem capable but pretty similar in overall value. Castro, Aybar, Furcal, Rollins, A.Ramirez, etc….these guys are all serviceable, but most people would happily deal them for any of the top 5 I named.
Seriously. Asdrubal over Tulo???? Because he’s been SLIGHTLY better for 1/2 a season? This is horrible. I won’t even start on Hanley…
OK, I can’t resist…. for the first half of the season:
at his WORST, Hanley has 42 R, 7 HR, 29 RBI, 14 SB
at his BEST, Aybar has 35 R, 5 HR, 36 RBI, 17 SB
So even if you judge on performance to date, Hanley at his worst has still been essentially equal in HR+SB and R+RBI, and the only difference is the AVG so far.
So basically, the author is implying that going forward he believes that (1) Aybar will continue to keep pace with HANLEY RAMIREZ in the counting stats and (2) Aybar (career .275 AVG) will continue to produce a higher AVG than Hanley (career .307 AVG).
You said feel free to call you an idiot…. sir, you get your wish. Honestly, if you only put these articles out every 1-2 months, could you at least put a modicum of thought into them?
and since we’re riding the idiot train, I love this nugget defending ranking Tulo so low: “until he can improve on his current .256 BABIP that’s going to be hard.”
ummmm…. Tulo has a career .309 BABIP. He is almost certain to improve that in the 2nd half!! His .256 BABIP in the first half is actually evidence that he WILL improve, not a strike against him! Are we at Fangraphs or on some alternative planet of stoopid?
Asdrubal should keep it up, he is taking a different approach this year with less than 2 strikes and 2 strikes, he added strength, plus he is becoming the leader of a young and up and coming team. Tulo is the only SS participant in the All American Home Run Derby, and should probably be above Cabrera. He has always been a second half player. Peralta will fade down the stretch, he has never been good for a whole season because he is not in shape. I wouldn’t be surprised if he finished with less than 17 HR’s. Reyes will also fade a little or get hurt. Alexi Ramirez is a notorious 2nd half player and I will be targeting him in the leagues.
Indians Fan
I guess Reid Brignac has been so bad that he doesn’t even qualify as “the rest”.
Scutaro also got ignored-1.3 WAR
Scutaro ignored and Starlin Castro is 2nd tier with only .5 WAR more..hmm
My fantasy league is 1×1 (WAR and tERA).
Dear Rotographs,
Just like the esteemed author, I am also capable of sorting yahoo by current season rank. May I become a famous journalist as well?
Thanks so much for your reply!
Erik Hahmahnn is famous?
I think this is a good list…if you put no weight on future performance
lol.
My goodness, this is the most reactionary fangraphs article I’ve read in awhile. Maybe you could save yourself the time and just list year-to-date player ratings based on 5×5 leagues instead of ranking them.
Baseball players don’t just completely forget how to play in their prime. Hanley is going to out perform Peralta and others. Come on…
So I guess I should be super happy that I traded Hanley away 2 weeks ago for Yunel and CarGo. It’s like I got CarGo for free!
Sure, Hardy’s .380 wOBA and 13 HRs make him Tier-4. Definitely.
This list is terrible. TURRRRible.
It’s even more frustrating that the author dumps a pile of burning poop on our collective front porch and then doesn’t even re-appear to justify their rankings in the comments. At least have nads to show up and make your case!!
dude who wrote this should be fired on the spot