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2018 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Shortstop

Top Ranked Fantasy Shortstop, Francisco Lindor
Not only did Francisco Lindor play the entire season, he got better as the season wore on. There's no reason to think Correa and Turner won't have full seasons this year, but we had to give Lindor the nod (this year).
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The days of slap-hitting, defense-only shortstops are gone. Nowadays, there is no shortage of fantasy baseball studs at the shortstop position. On this page, we'll rank the Top 40 shortstops, and we'll be the first to tell you that this list could shuffle significantly by the time the All-Star break rolls around. 

​First, we really struggled to justify not giving Trea Turner the top spot, but he just lacks the power of Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa. Then, we really struggled not giving the top spot to Carlos Correa, but then Correa doesn't have the speed that Turner and Lindor have (and no one has the speed that Trea Turner has, either).


How did we choose the top fantasy shortstop? Well, we couldn't find a 3-sided coin to flip, so we went with the best lineup, the and best likelihood that one of them would approach a 30/30 season. That and Francisco Lindor blew us away with his 33 HR and 44 doubles. Honestly, the last ranking factor was the fact that, out of the top 3, Lindor was the only one who stayed healthy last season, and we all know your best ability is your availability. But given that all these guys are practically teenagers, you can expect a full, kickass season out of any of them. If your top 3 is different than ours, take yer pick and don't look back with any regrets. Given they all stay healthy, you can't go wrong with any of them as your top shortstop pick.

​Top 40 Shortstops for 2018

RankPLAYERGABRH2B3BHRRBIBBKSBCSAVGSLGOBPOPS
1Lindor, Francisco1596519917844433896093153.273.505.337.842
2Turner, Trea984127511724611453080468.284.451.338.789
3Correa, Carlos109422821332512484539221.315.550.391.941
4Gonzalez, Marwin134455671383402390499983.303.530.377.907
5Segura, Jean1255248015730211453483228.300.427.349.776
6Seager, Corey1455398515933022776713142.295.479.375.854
7Andrus, Elvis1586431001914442088381012510.297.471.337.808
8Bregman, Alex1555568815839519715597175.284.475.352.827
9Gregorius, Didi136534731532702587257031.287.478.318.796
10Cozart, Zack122438801302472463627830.297.548.385.933
11Beckham, Tim1375336714818522623616765.278.454.328.782
12Bogaerts, Xander14757093155326106156116141.272.402.342.744
13Baez, Javier14546975128242237530144103.273.480.317.796
14DeJong, Paul1084175511926125652112410.285.532.325.857
15Owings, Chris97362419725112511787122.268.442.299.741
16Semien, Marcus85342538519110403885121.249.398.325.722
17Simmons, Andrelton1585897716438214694767196.278.421.331.752
18Polanco, Jorge1334886012530313744178135.256.410.313.723
19Story, Trevor1455036812032324824919172.239.457.308.765
20Reyes, Jose1455017512325715585079246.246.413.315.728
21Anderson, Tim14658772151264175613162151.257.402.276.679
22Cabrera, Asdrubal135479661343201459508332.280.434.351.785
23Solarte, Yangervis128466491192101864376130.255.416.314.731
24Pinder, Chad8728236671511542189221.238.457.292.750
25Tulowitzki, Troy662411660100726174001.249.378.300.678
26Arcia, Orlando15350656140172155336100147.277.407.324.731
27Galvis, Freddy16260871155296126145111145.255.382.309.690
28Crawford, Brandon1445185813134114774211335.253.403.305.709
29Russell, Addison11035252842131243299121.239.418.304.722
30Ahmed, Nick53167244281621103934.251.419.298.717
31Iglesias, Jose13046356118331654216574.255.369.288.657
32Diaz, Aledmys792863174170720134241.259.392.290.682
33Peraza, Jose14348750126945372070238.259.324.297.622
34Hechavarria, Adeiny973303786145830136741.261.406.289.695
35Mercer, Jordy145502521282451458518804.255.406.326.733
36Marte, Ketel732233058112518293731.260.395.345.740
37Camargo, Johan822413072212427125100.299.452.331.783
38Adrianza, Ehire70162304392224162581.265.383.324.707
39Escobar, Alcides162599711503656541510247.250.357.272.629
40Aybar, Erick10633037781517222757114.236.352.300.652


Three Different Astros Qualify at Shortstop and They're ALL in the Top 10

We're not gonna check the fantasy baseball nerd annals, but this has to be a record: the Houston Astros have three different players who qualify as fantasy shortstops and they're all fantasy studs, too. Carlos Correa is the obvious choice as he's the Astros' actual shortstop. But when he got hurt, Marwin Gonzalez and Alex Bregman got enough playing time at short to qualify on this list, Not only that, but each of them lit it up in 2017, landing each of them not just in the top 40, but in the top 10 list of all fantasy shortstops. Ridiculous, man. 

When you average these 3 guys out to a full season, they paced at 97 runs, 27 HR, 100 RBI and 11 stolen bases while hitting .299. Those numbers could have de-throned Francisco Lindor at the #1 spot, so keep that in the back of your mind on draft day.

Jean Segura as the #5 Fantasy Shortstop

This was a tough call, but we had to do it because of Jean Segura's potential and somewhat-relevant track record. Jean Segura has the potential to go 20/30 (maybe even 20/40), and he's in a stacked lineup in Seattle. Dee Gordon just showed up to hit leadoff which means more RBI for Segura. Plus, the Mariners added Ryon Healy into the mix to go along with Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager, Mitch Haniger and Mike Zunino behind him. Segura's on-base percentage over the last 2 seasons is .359, so we fully expect him to score 90-100 runs, 15 HR, 60-80 RBI and 25-45 stolen bases - yes, anywhere in there for steals. 

Who Was the Top Fantasy Shortstop in 2017? Elvis Andrus

Don't let anyone lie to you if they told you they knew that Elvis Andrus was going to be the #1 fantasy shortstop in 2017. Anyone who says that is full of shit, hence he's at #7 on our list in 2018. Andrus went crazy last season with 100 runs, 20 HR, 88 RBI, 25 stolen bases and a .297 batting average. That is, officially, a career year. In standard fantasy baseball leagues, you have to win 5 offensive categories, and Elvis Andrus helped his teams win each one of those categories every week last season. Do we think he'll do it again in 2018? Hell no. But do we now have to respect him a little more? Fo sho. He's only 29 years old, too, so it's not like he's out of gas. Draft him appropriately in 2018 and you just might get away with murder again.
Fantasy Baseball Rankings 2018
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Photos used under Creative Commons from Keith Allison, Keith Allison, Keith Allison