February and March are my absolute favorite times of year for Fantasy Baseball, but the hot stove is hard to beat for a sense of anticipation. The reality can never quite match up to all the rumors flying around, but I’m probably not the only one who is checking in on RotoWorld every half hour these days.
These offseason deals have plenty of impact in Fantasy, but we here at So-Called Fantasy Experts want more, so we’ve gone about assembling a team of experts from around the industry and tasked them with formulating their first draft of rankings for the 2016 Fantasy Baseball Season.
We started at Catcher and then moved on around the diamond from First Base, to Second Base, and to Third Base. This week it’s time for our Early 2016 Shortstop Rankings.
Shortstop is always thin, but it looks even more so right now. Maybe it’s just the fact that Troy Tulowitzki is out of Colorado, and to be honest, he wasn’t even all that great while in Colorado last year. He still slots in at No.2 in our consensus rankings, but the real difference I think, will be how far he falls in Fantasy drafts this coming spring. Being the second best shortstop, doesn’t necessarily translate to being a first or second round option at the draft. There’s some good young talent that could leap to the top of the rankings, but as a whole, the shortstop position is a wasteland, devoid of impact players.
The lack of talent does make for some interesting rankings though. Let’s meet the experts who have put their early rankings out for all to see.
Meet the Experts
Jake Ciely – Jake Ciely, also known as the All-In Kid, is a Senior Writer at RotoExperts, who treats life like poker, and has an extreme hatred of two-catcher leagues. He also likes quiet walks on the beach, ladies.
Jim Finch – Jim is one of the main men over at Fantasy Assembly. It’s from him that I blatantly stole the idea of doing rankings with an associated podcast. They were selfish at Fantasy Assembly and kept their rankings in house. We’ll forgive Jim since he’s sharing with us now. He’s on probation though. Jim is on Twitter at @TheJimFinch.
Mike Hilbig – Mike , @TheFantasyDr, is the co-host of The Fantasy Insider Show, where you’ll here us talk about these rankings over the next few weeks.
Fabian Taylor – Fabian is one of our own. His work for So-Called Fantasy Experts has been extraordinary. He’s one of the top new baseball writers in the industry and you’ll be hearing a lot more from him. Check out all his work at SCFE and follow him on twitter at @CanucksRule247
Doug “RotoDaddy” Anderson – The RotoDaddy moniker came about when my son was born in 2003, not because I spank everybody in Fantasy Baseball (though it does happen quite a bit). You can follow me on Twitter at @RotoDaddy, although right now I don’t post very often because I’m buried in player projections and profiles.
Early 2016 Shortstop Rankings
And away we go. There was as much variance in our 2016 shortstop rankings as any position we’ve done. That’s likely because it’s hard to tell one piece of dung from another, though to be fair, there are quite a few players who’ve done some nice things in the past, even if 2015 wasn’t so nice to them.
| Player |
Ciely
|
Finch
|
Hilbig
|
Taylor
|
Anderson
|
Consensus
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlos Correa |
1
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
| Troy Tulowitzki |
2
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
| Xander Bogaerts |
3
|
3
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
| Ian Desmond |
6
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
7
|
4
|
| Francisco Lindor |
4
|
6
|
6
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
| Jose Reyes |
7
|
5
|
9
|
5
|
4
|
6
|
| Corey Seager |
5
|
8
|
12
|
6
|
5
|
7
|
| Elvis Andrus |
9
|
11
|
5
|
14
|
8
|
8
|
| Brandon Crawford |
8
|
10
|
8
|
10
|
11
|
9
|
| Jung-ho Kang |
10
|
7
|
14
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
| Jhonny Peralta |
11
|
12
|
15
|
8
|
10
|
11
|
| Jean Segura |
12
|
15
|
7
|
15
|
15
|
12
|
| Addison Russell |
13
|
22
|
11
|
11
|
13
|
13
|
| Marcus Semien |
14
|
14
|
24
|
12
|
14
|
14
|
| Alexei Ramirez |
15
|
16
|
17
|
13
|
17
|
15
|
| Starlin Castro |
16
|
9
|
21
|
23
|
18
|
16
|
| Alcides Escobar |
20
|
25
|
19
|
16
|
12
|
17
|
| Asdrubal Cabrera |
18
|
24
|
13
|
18
|
20
|
18
|
| Erick Aybar |
19
|
20
|
18
|
19
|
21
|
19
|
| Wilmer Flores |
17
|
13
|
NR
|
22
|
19
|
20
|
| Brad Miller |
23
|
23
|
22
|
20
|
16
|
21
|
| Ketel Marte |
21
|
17
|
23
|
21
|
22
|
22
|
| Jedd Gyorko |
22
|
21
|
NR
|
17
|
NR
|
23
|
| Didi Gregorius |
24
|
NR
|
16
|
NR
|
23
|
24
|
| Eugenio Suarez |
25
|
18
|
NR
|
NR
|
25
|
25
|
| J.J. Hardy |
NR
|
NR
|
10
|
NR
|
NR
|
26
|
| Freddy Galvis |
NR
|
19
|
NR
|
24
|
NR
|
27
|
| Chris Owings |
NR
|
NR
|
NR
|
25
|
24
|
28
|
| Adeiny Hechavarria |
NR
|
NR
|
20
|
NR
|
NR
|
29
|
| Andrelton Simmons |
NR
|
NR
|
25
|
NR
|
NR
|
30
|
So what do you think of our 2016 Shortstop Rankings? Did the experts get it right? Let us know what you think about them in the comments below.
Also check back next week when we tackle the outfield. Things may get a little heated with a larger player pool and controversial players like Yasiel Puig and Bryce Harper on the docket.
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