bobby-witt-jr.jpg
Imagn Images

So far in our State of the Position series here at the Fantasy Baseball Today Newsletter, we've focused on positions with warts of varying sizes. Catcher is better than it's been in a long time, for instance, but there's a lot riding on a lot of one-year breakouts, which is never a sure thing. First base still has plenty of power to go around, but we're still waiting for the next generation of stars (besides Nick Kurtz) to take over from the fading superstars. 

You can poke holes at every infield position … except shortstop. It's both the deepest position when it comes to star players – six players were worth at least $20 at shortstop last season, per the FanGraphs.com Player Rater, more than any non-outfield position – and when it comes to sub-star-but-still-good contributors. There's a pretty good chance in any 2026 draft, one of your first few picks will be a shortstop, and in deeper leagues, there's a very good chance your middle infielder (and possibly your DH) will come from this crop, too. 

One thing I want to do differently with this shortstop column before moving on to our typical 2025 recap/2026 offseason preview is to highlight the prospects earlier in this piece than usual. Because the position is so ridiculously loaded with future stars you need to know about, in addition to the current group of stars. But also, because at least a few of these top prospect shortstops seem pretty likely to end up playing a different position in the majors, which should help the depth at second and third base, especially.

So, before we get to anything else about shortstop, let's run through the top prospects who could make an impact in 2026: 

Top rookies to know for 2026

Kevin McGonigle, Tigers – There's a spot here, either at shortstop (where he is considered a bit stretched defensively) if they opt to re-sign Gleyber Torres, or as Torres' replacement at second base. We'd probably prefer the second option, since second base needs a new potential impact bat, but McGonigle's bat should play anywhere. He's arguably the top prospect in the game coming off a season where he hit .305/.408/.583 as a 20-year-old across three levels, though he did run his worst numbers in Double-A – albeit still with more walks than strikeouts and 12 homers in 46 games. His upside looks something like what Geraldo Perdomo did in 2025, potentially with more power. 

Konnor Griffin, Pirates – The Pirates desperately need to show that they are serious about competing at some point, and aggressively promoting Griffin could be one way to do that. He doesn't even turn 20 until almost a month after Opening Day, but he also got all the way to Double-A and more than held his own at every level in 2025, hitting .333/.415/.527 with 21 homers and 65 steals. The tools aren't quite as loud as Elly De La Cruz's, but the Fantasy impact could be comparable. 

Leodalis De Vries, Athletics – Statistically, De Vries has operated more in the "held his own" range of things, though that started to change when he hit .281/.359/.551 after getting to Double-A last season. As an 18-year-old. He still has a lot of work to do to develop as a switch-hitter, but the tools are loud, and "holding your own" as young as De Vries has been is impressive on its own. He'll dictate his own timetable for an A's team still trying to amass talent. 

Jesus Made, Brewers – The power is still more theoretical than anything else (just six homers in 115 games in 2025), but scouts are convinced he'll get to it in games eventually. And everything else is there, as he ran above-average contact rates, good plate discipline, and plus athleticism. If he opens 2026 at Double-A (where he played five games at the end of the season), that'll tell us how likely he is to make an impact at some point in 2026. 

JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals – Wetherholt almost certainly won't be a shortstop for the Cardinals, given the presence of Masyn Winn. We can use the help at second or third base more anyway, and Wetherholt should fit in either spot. In his first full professional season, Wetherholt was excellent at both Double-A and Triple-A and has the kind of well-rounded skill set that brings to mind someone like Xander Bogaerts at his best. 

Sebastian Walcott, Rangers – Walcott is another one whose production looks a lot more impressive when you account for him being 19 at Double-A for all of last season. He might end up moving off shortstop soon, or he might end up forcing Corey Seager to a corner. Walcott has huge power potential that could lead to 30-plus homers in the long run, but like Oneil Cruz, he hasn't quite figured out how to maximize that, either due to contact limitations or a swing not quite geared toward driving the ball out of the park just yet. A 35% infield flyball rate in particular stands out as concerning here, though again, his age is a mitigating factor. A big spring could get him into some Opening Day discussions, but it's more likely the Rangers will want to see him dominate at Triple-A before calling him up, especially since he won't be 20 until just a few weeks before Opening Day. 

Colt Emerson, Mariners – If the Mariners were looking for an obvious spot in the lineup to upgrade, one of the middle infield spots is the likeliest place. He has just 40 games combined above A-ball, so Emerson probably isn't an Opening Day candidate, but a big start to the season could push Emerson onto the roster. 

Now, here's everything else you need to know: 

2025 Shortstop Review

  1. Bobby Witt: .295 - 99 - 23 - 88 - 38
  2. Francisco Lindor: .267 - 117 - 31 - 86 - 31
  3. Geraldo Perdomo: .29 - 98 - 20 - 100 - 27
  4. Elly De La Cruz: .264 - 102 - 22 - 86 - 37
  5. Trevor Story: .263 - 91 - 25 - 96 - 31
  6. Trea Turner: .304 - 94 - 15 - 69 - 36
  7. Gunnar Henderson: .274 - 85 - 17 - 68 - 30
  8. C.J. Abrams: .257 - 92 - 19 - 60 - 31
  9. Zachary Neto: .257 - 82 - 26 - 62 - 26
  10. Maikel Garcia*: .286 - 81 - 16 - 74 - 23
  11. Bo Bichette: .311 - 78 - 18 - 94 - 4
  12. Nico Hoerner*: .297 - 89 - 7 - 61 - 29

*Won't be SS-eligible in 2026 

How much better is shortstop than the other two infield positions? Well, Hoerner was the No. 2 second baseman in 2025, while Garcia was the No. 10 3B, which tells the story pretty well. Take those two out, since they don't qualify for shortstop in 2026 – and since you'd almost always rather use a multi-eligible player at the non-SS position – and you have Willy Adames and Dansby Swanson. Swanson went 24-20, and Adames had his usual 30 homers and 12 steals, and while both give you something back in batting average, they're also both excellent starting options. And Jeremy Pena (No. 15 despite missing 37 games) and Mookie Betts (No. 16 despite a long slump to open the season) were obviously starting-caliber Fantasy options when they were healthy, and Ceddanne Rafaela and Jacob Wilson both were for most of the season, too. Yeah, shortstop is the deepest position, even if the true impact bats might run out before your draft is over. 

Biggest Breakout from 2025

Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks 

If there was one player I could find out the 2026 price for right now, it would unquestionably be Perdomo. He was the No. 15 player in Fantasy last season, per the FanGraphs.com Player Rater tool, and even if you discounted that a little for a likely unsustainable 720 plate appearances, he was still unquestionably one of the best players in Fantasy at any position. And it doesn't really look unsustainable – his .370 xwOBA is a little ahead of his actual .361 mark, but a pull-heavy swing from both sides of the plate can help explain at least some of that discrepancy. He started swinging the bat harder than he had in previous seasons to tap into a bit more quality of contact, and he did it without sacrificing his elite plate discipline or swing decisions. 

And here's the thing I like most: He just kept getting better. Perdomo's three best months by xwOBA were August, September, and July. He had seven batted balls that traveled at least 400 feet in those three months; he had seven in 401 games between 2021 and 2024 combined. That was a new level of power and production we've never seen before, and it came after Perdomo had already broken out in the first half, and presumably after the league adjusted its scouting reports to account for that. The "adjustment to the adjustment" is always the biggest thing I'm looking for with breakouts, and Perdomo answered that question about as resoundingly as possible. 

So, what's the be skeptical about? Well, this was a huge outlier for Perdomo's career. He had a .547 OPS as a rookie, and then settled in with a .712 and .718 mark the next two seasons. And he wasn't much better in the minors, where he had a .755 OPS overall and just a .708 mark at Double-A (while largely skipping Triple-A). He's young, yes, but not so young that anyone likely saw this kind of leap coming. So, we have the underlying numbers largely backing his breakout up, and then we have that breakout standing out as a huge outlier for his career. That's a tough nut to crack.

Ultimately, I'm leaning toward buying Perdomo's breakout, though not entirely. He's my No. 7 shortstop in my first round of rankings and will likely end up around 50th in my overall rankings when I unveil them in a couple of months. Whether I buy Perdomo for my teams in 2026 will likely depend on where his cost settles. I could see him around 70th overall, in which case I'll have a bit of exposure, but not a ton; if he ends up around 100th or later (which seems plausible!), I'm going to end up with him on a lot of teams. 

Biggest Bust from 2025

Oneil Cruz, Pirates* 

Cruz not only didn't take a step forward this season but was actually worse in 2025 than in 2024. He's still shown basically no ability to hit lefties, and he isn't good enough against righties to overcome that and be an impact bat despite legitimate 80-grade raw power. You'll draft him, hoping for a repeat of his near-40 steals, but he feels like another Luis Robert to me. 

But he isn't shortstop eligible for 2026, so let's turn our attention to … 

Gunnar Henderson, Orioles

Henderson looked like he was turning into a truly elite hitter when he had 28 homers and hit .286/.373/.584 in 95 games the first half of the 2024 season. In 218 games since, however, he is hitting just .273/.350/.441 with just 26 homers. The perception of Henderson as an elite Fantasy option is heavily colored by that first half in 2024, and it's also starting to look like a pretty significant outlier for his career. We can't just ignore that.

On the other hand, he entered the 2025 season dealing with an intercostal strain, and while he was ultimately healthy enough to play after missing just a few games, it's entirely possible that having his Spring Training disrupted that way was enough to derail his whole season. It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened.

I'm mostly willing to give Henderson the benefit of the doubt for his 2025 season, personally. I like a player who has multiple paths to value, and Henderson stealing 30 bases in a down year as a hitter is a nice example of that. And, while the production was disappointing, the underlying numbers suggest he probably deserved better than that, with an average exit velocity of 92.1 mph (in the 89th percentile for all hitters) and an expected batting average of .285. Henderson may not be as good a bet for 35-plus homers moving forward as we thought he would be, but I think he's a pretty good bet to hit .280, to top 25 homers and steals, and give us good run production in what should be a better Orioles lineup. He probably shouldn't be a no-doubt first-rounder anymore, but he's a fine bet for a bounce-back in the second round. 

Biggest rankings movers from 2025 to 2026

Up: Zachary Neto, Angels; Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks; Jeremy Pena, Astros; Colson Montgomery, White Sox 

Neto's price will rise for two reasons: First is because he won't be coming off shoulder surgery that will limit his availability in April like he was a year ago. But, more importantly, it's because he went out there in 2025 and confirmed that his 2024 breakout was no fluke. He's a threat to go 30-30 in any given season moving forward, and while you shouldn't project a helpful batting average, he's still young enough to think there might be some room for growth there. 

Pena had a similar breakout to Perdomo, albeit with more to be skeptical of, in my opinion. For one thing, Pena is three years older, creating less room for the kind of natural growth that might lead to a breakout. For another thing, he overperformed his expected stats by a greater margin, managing a .363 wOBA compared to a .344 xwOBA. And then there's this: While Perdomo kept getting better as the season progressed, Pena was worse after the All-Star break. I hold that latter point against Pena less because it mostly came down to a tough August, which came after his return from a fractured rib that cost him all of July. Pena doesn't have Perdomo's elite plate discipline, either, so it just strikes me as a more fragile profile, overall. I'm not entirely fading Pena, to be clear, but I am more skeptical of him than Perdomo at this point. 

And then there's Montgomery, who I might be more skeptical of than any of 2025's breakouts. The power is legit, and might be enough as a carrying tool to keep him Fantasy relevant. He has a swing geared to getting the absolute most out of his above-average raw power, with a 27% pulled air rate helping explain how Montgomery hit 21 homers in just 71 games. The problem is, well, that's really the only skill he showed at the MLB level. There's no speed to speak of here (47th percentile sprint speed, zero steal attempts in the majors), and he combines both poor swing decisions and below-average contact skills. While his swing orientation might lead to lots of homers, it's going to lead to lots of easy fly balls when he just gets under one. Batting average is likely going to be a problem, and Montgomery isn't likely to run strong on-base percentages or add much value on the basepaths. If he's hitting 30-plus homers, he can still be a viable middle infielder, but if he's more like a 25-homer guy, there isn't much else to carry the profile. For a young player, I'm pretty pessimistic about Montgomery. 

Down: Anthony Volpe, Yankees; Willy Adames, Giants

There was still some hope that Volpe might take another step forward this time last year, and maybe the torn labrum he recently had surgery to repair helps explain why his 2025 was so bad. But that's now three very poor seasons with the bat for Volpe, and he doesn't do enough to make up for that at this point. He's proven he can get to 20-20 (or close, as in 2025), but it's going to come with one of the most harmful batting averages of any regular player and poor counting stats. And now he'll be coming back from shoulder surgery and potentially won't be ready for Opening Day in 2026, so I think he's squarely just a late-round middle infield flier at this point. 

Adames ended up having a pretty solid, pretty typical season in 2025, finishing with 30 homers, 12 steals, 181 combined runs and RBI, and a pretty poor batting average. The reason he's moving down is because in 2025, he had a pretty atypical season, setting career highs in homers, steals, runs, and RBI, while hitting .251, one of the best marks of his career. The batting average is a big drag, but otherwise, Adames should be a very strong contributor, and there's at least a chance he does better in 2026 after struggling early on with his new team in 2025. 

Offseason preview

Who needs an upgrade most? 

Some of these are contingent – the Blue Jays won't need a shortstop if they re-sign Bo Bichette, and the Red Sox won't need one if Trevor Story doesn't opt out. Similarly, the Tigers may not actually have a need for a shortstop if they just decide to go with Kevin McGonigle there, which they very well may. 

But the Braves' shortstop spot is one of the most obvious holes any team has, and the Yankees' spot might not be far behind. You can live with holes in the lineup when you've got MVP candidates up and down the lineup like the Braves had a few years ago, but with their lineup-wide regression, that shortstop spot has become a glaring problem, and one I expect them to take a big swing to try to fix this offseason (even if Ha-seong Kim doesn't turn down his contract option, frankly). I'm less certain the Yankees will be aggressive there, both because if Volpe gets back to being an elite defender, his problems with the bat become easier to stomach. 

Top impending free agents

*Has an opt-out for 2026
**Has a player option for 2026

If Story doesn't opt out, this becomes a one-man free agent class, and Bichette probably shouldn't be playing shortstop in the long run anyway. He's coming off a big bounce-back season and should garner a nine-figure contract, but I could also see this being another protracted free agency process, given Bichette's injury issues and long-term defensive question marks. If your team isn't operating in the nine-figure contract waters, there just isn't much here.

Trade candidates

Abrams is a pretty good player who seems like he should be a great player. Part of the issue is that he has faded in the second half of what otherwise looked to be breakout seasons two years in a row. And part of the issue is that he probably isn't a shortstop. His glove would play better at second base, and his athleticism might help him make the transition to the outfield seamlessly. He's probably a better fit in both spots in the long run. The Nationals may decide the best move in the long run is to ship Abrams out for a big haul before he gets expensive and his lack of a long-term defensive home starts to hold his value back on the market. It would be a tough pill to swallow, but the Nationals need to find a way to get off the treadmill of mediocrity.