Leandre: Top 30 shortstops entering 2024, 10-1
The top 10 shortstops entering 2024 wasn't hard to come up with. However, ordering them was tough as the gap between each is small.
With a premier position like shortstop, being elite on both sides of the ball is preferred.
That said, you don’t have to be an S-tier defender and hitter to be in the top 10, but it certainly gives you a leg-up on the rest of the field.
This group of 10 is full of All-Star-caliber players, not to mention four World Series winners. But before we get into them, let’s recap the middle third of shortstops.
As mentioned in the previous ranking, several members of that middle third could very well be in the top 10.
Regardless, here’s the top 10 entering the 2024 season.
10. Carlos Correa — Minnesota Twins
It’s tough to figure out where Correa should rank because he’s an elite player, but his production took a nosedive after a chaotic 2023 offseason in which he signed three massive multiyear contracts.
The reason he falls to 10 is because that production is hard to justify remaining in the top five. However, his small slip to 10 is a testament to the caliber of player I trust he still is. That said, I do have some pause because of his sketchy medicals that nixed his first two massive multiyear contracts last winter.
Like I said, he’s a tough player to rank.
9. J.P. Crawford – Seattle Mariners
Crawford was stellar in 2023, posting a career-high 134 wRC+ and 4.9 fWAR for an up-and-coming Mariners team.
Some might look at his 2023 as an anomaly, but there’s real reason to believe he’s that caliber of hitter moving forward.
First off, he maintained his more than passable line drive rate while dropping his ground ball rate and increasing his fly ball rate. As a result, he doubled his career-high for homers while almost matching his career-high for doubles.
He doesn’t hit the ball exceptionally hard but the changes to his swing, if replicated, will yield results much more comparable to 2023 than 2022 and before.
8. Dansby Swanson – Chicago Cubs
Swanson highly ranks thanks in large to his defense, which is sublime – 18 defensive runs saved and 20 outs above average.
He’s not a bad hitter, just not an exceptional one. Last year, he posted a 104 wRC+ with 22 home runs and 80 runs batted in. From a counting stats perspective, you take those numbers from Swanson – especially because he’s a great defender.
He and Nico Hoerner make up arguably the best defensive middle infielder in the game, which makes them among the most valuable in the sport.
7. Bo Bichette – Toronto Blue Jays
Is this a hot take?
I don’t know what to make of Bichette as a defender. I love his offense, but his defense sketches me out.
Last year, he wasn’t bad at short, posting five defensive runs saved, but the year before that he had -16. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he turns into a good defensive shortstop, I’m just not buying it yet.
Given the talent ahead of him, I just need more assurance that his defense is good before I rank him higher than seventh.
6. Ha-Seong Kim – San Diego Padres
Kim is one of my favorite players in the game. To be honest, he and Bryce Harper are probably my two favorite players right now.
He’s such an underrated player though because he’s one of a million shortstops the Padres have on the roster. However, he’s an elite defender with an ever-improving bat.
I think he’d shine a lot more if he was on another team, particularly one on the East Coast, where more eyes are on him nightly. But he’s good-to-great-to-elite at literally everything to do with baseball.
5. Gunnar Henderson – Baltimore Orioles
I initially had Henderson ranked as a third baseman before getting talked into moving him to shortstop.
Full disclosure, I had him at third for third basemen.
The reason he fell to fifth for shortstops is the lack of knowledge for how he’d hold up there over a full season as well as the elite talent at the top of the position. However, he has a real chance to end up in the top three by season’s end.
He’s a great hitter, defender and baserunner. If he added like five more homers to his total from last year, he’d seriously be in contention for the top spot.
4. Bobby Witt Jr. – Kansas City Royals
It’s crazy to think about the contract Kansas City shelled out to Witt this past offseason, not because of the caliber of player he is but because this organization just doesn’t spend that kind of cash.
However, if there ever was a player to break the rules for, it’s Witt Jr.
While Ronald Acuña Jr. rightfully garnered a ton of media attention for his 40-homer, 70-steal season, Witt casually posted a 30-homer, 49-steal season.
Oh, and he’s just 23 years old. He’s here and he’s only going to get better from here.
3. Trea Turner – Philadelphia Phillies
Turner remains in the top three despite a mercifully down season by his standards because he tore the cover off of the ball after the standing ovation Phillies fans gave him on Aug. 4.
It was just 211 plate appearances, but he posted a 180 wRC+ with 16 home runs and a .441 wOBA.
He’s still elite and until he goes a full season being the man he was entering play on Aug. 4 (76 wRC+), he’s going to continue getting the benefit of the doubt from me.
2. Francisco Lindor – New York Mets
Lindor became one of the most underrated players in baseball as a New York Met.
It’s funny how that happens to players after people clamored for big markets to “save” them from small market teams.
To that crowd’s defense, he only had a 101 wRC+ in 2021, but responded with consecutive 120 wRC+ and six-win seasons.
His defense is always sublime, but his offense returning to what it was in Cleveland has him back on the Hall of Fame track he was on when the Mets acquired him. He’s one of the best players in the league, regardless of position, it’s time to put some respect back on Lindor’s name.
1. Corey Seager – Texas Rangers
I mean, duh, right?
Everyone knew what this man was capable of on the baseball field, he just needed to be on the baseball field to show it.
Last year, he still missed 43 games but posted a 169 wRC+ and an fWAR north of six for a team that won the World Series.
While his glove is never Gold Glove-caliber, his offense more than makes up for it. Besides, playing between Josh Jung and Marcus Semien lessens the need for him to be pristine defensively despite playing a premium defensive position.
If he’s healthy again in 2024, it wouldn’t shock me to see him take home AL MVP, especially now that Shohei Ohtani is in the National League.
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Anderson has been hurt or awful since 2020. This addition is a net minus for the team.