Last week I broke down a loaded position in my First Base Tiers article, but this week I’m taking a look at the deep position that is shortstop. When I hear the word “deep”, I instantly think “value”. Today, I’ll be taking a look at shortstops with an Average Draft Position above 150 according to FantasyPros. Already drafted? Don’t worry because these players could be found on a waiver wire near you!

Paul DeJong- ADP 184

I could see Paul DeJong finishing among the top 10 shortstops in 2020. With the most at-bats of his career, DeJong set career-highs in runs, home runs, and steals. His strikeout rate and walk rate have improved each year in the league and he set career-bests in both categories last season. He is extremely streaky. In his first 56 games, he had a 17.3 K% with a .280 average. Over his final 54 games, his strikeout rate spiked to 27.9%, and his averaged bottomed out at .203. Over the final five months of 2019, he hit .206 with 65 RBI, 25 home runs, and 71 runs. He did get off to a HOT spring training this year before COVID-19 shut him down! Over 11 games, he slashed .464/.484/.929. That’s just an OPS of 1.412.

Dansby Swanson- ADP 253

First off, he bats in a tremendous Atlanta lineup. Swanson set career highs in home runs, runs batted in, runs, and hits. He also played in just 127 games. That’s his lowest total over the last three years. His second-half fell apart due to injury. From July 4th on, he did not hit a home run. Swanson hit .270 with 17 home runs with 57 RBI and 58 runs in the first half of 2019. He played in just 38 games and hit a measly .204 with a goose egg in the home run department.

His 37 barrels ranked 63rd among MLB hitters. His barrel rate did spike to 10.1% in 2019. That is up from 4.1% in 2018. His average exit velocity ranked just inside the top 100 MLB hitters. Heading into his fifth MLB season, he should be a lock to finish as a top 20 shortstop.

Nick Ahmed- ADP 345

Nick Ahmed set career bests last year in hard-hit rate (33.8 percent), barrel rate (6.6 percent) and average exit velocity (87.5 MPH). He played the most games of his career last season with 158. His 82 RBI, 79 runs, and 19 long balls were all career highs. Ahmed’s walk rate has improved in each of the last four seasons, while his strikeout rate has improved in each of the last three seasons. As the everyday shortstop in what should be a very solid Arizona line up, I expect Ahmed to vitally outperform his ADP.

Targeting Steals From Shortstop?

Well don’t you worry, because shortstop has plenty of players who offer stolen base upside. I know I said I’ll be looking at players with an ADP above 150, but I have to mention Sanatana. With an ADP of 135, Danny Santana stole 21 bases in 130 games during the 2019 season. Oh, and he chipped in 28 long balls as well. Santana may have eligible at every position other than catcher in 2020. He did outperform his x stats last season and his 29.5 strikeout rate was bottom seven percent of the league. Santana’s average exit velocity of 91.4 MPH was 22nd in Major League Baseball. He had 31 barrels in 2019 which ranked 99th in baseball.

Amed Rosario has an ADP of 171. He had a promising 2019 in which he stole 19 bags and jogged 15 trips around the bases. He hit .287 with 72 RBI and 75 runs. Rosario under performed his x stats slightly. His xBA and Sprint Speed were 90th percentile or better.

Coming in with an ADP of 154, Elvis Andrus stole 31 bases last year. He hit .275 with 12 home runs, 81 runs, and 72 RBI. Since 2009 Andrus has played in at least 140 games in all but one season. He’s had 20 plus steals in each of those years. He has over 30 steals in five of the ten years, but last year was his first time topping the 30 stolen base mark since 2013. Taking a closer look at his Baseball Savant page, his profile is not so pleasing to the eye.

Shortstop Shout Out

Last, but not least, I want to give a quick shout out to Scott Kingery and Kevin Newman. Kingery has an ADP of 166, while Newman’s ADP is just north of 200. Newman will be leading off for a horrendous Pirates team in 2020. He hit .308 with 16 steals in 531 plate appearances last season. In 2018, Newman stole 28 bags in 109 Triple-A games. In 2019, Scott Kingery stole 15 bases with 19 home runs in 500 plate appearances. His 29.4 strikeout rate is a concern, but he is young and still adapting to big-league pitching. Both youngsters offer 20/20 upside at ADP’s above 250!

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