Welcome back to another week of Top Dynasty Keepers for 2025. The spotlight turns to shortstops this week.
Unlike second base, which has a pretty steep drop off in talent outside the top 15 or so players, the shortstop position is loaded with talent, the type of talent that is ranked among the best in baseball, not just this position. The players ranked in Tier 2 will still provide solid production and that continues into the players ranked in Tier 3.
And this talent is young. Of the 30 players ranked in Tiers 1 through 3, 23 of them are under the age of 30. Missing out on a Tier 1 player is not going to cripple your team.
Now, let’s get to the rankings.
Just Missing the Cut
Javier Baez not close to being the player he once was, but he still has some pop in his bat, but that is about all that is left. If you are needing to add Baez to your team, you’re in trouble.
Miguel Rojas is a solid player who can play several positions and won’t kill you in the slash line categories. He will also hit a few homers and steal a few bases, but at 36 next year, he is a fill-in player right now.
Blaze Alexander had a decent 61-game showing with the Diamondbacks last season, slashing .247/.321/.343, while Nick Allen, who just got traded from the A’s to Atlanta, and Trey Sweeney could be emergency shortstops to turn to, but they really aren’t going to provide one stat that will help you win.
Top Prospects
- Carson Williams, Tampa Bay
- Marcelo Meyer, Boston
- JJ Wetherholt, St. Louis
- Colt Emerson, Seattle
- Sebastian Walcott, Texas
Tier 5
| RANK | PLAYER | 2024 TEAM | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Brooks Lee | MIN | 24 |
| 49 | Nicky Lopez | CWS | 32 |
| 48 | Trevor Story | BOS | 32 |
| 47 | Leo Jimenez | TOR | 23 |
| 46 | Daniel Schneemann | CLE | 28 |
| 45 | Tommy Edman | LAD | 29 |
| 44 | Zach McKinstry | DET | 28 |
| 43 | Jorge Mateo | BAL | 29 |
| 42 | Kevin Newman | ARI | 31 |
| 41 | Max Schuemann | OAK | 27 |
Depth Player Only
Trevor Story has had a nice career, but his best days are behind him thanks in large part to injuries. In the last three years he has played in 94, 43 and 26 games. If you want to take a chance that he can stay healthy and hit 15 or so homers and drive in 60 to 70 runs, it’s worth the chance with a player this far down in the rankings. But at this point, I’ll take a chance on a younger player.
Always a Need for Utility Players
Most dynasty leagues consist of more than 12 teams. Many are at least 16 or 20 teams and some have the full allotment of 30 teams. In these deep leagues, players who can play multiple positions and not kill your team have some value.
This is where players like Daniel Schneemann, Tommy Edman and Zach McKinstry come in as well as most of the players in this tier. Schneemann can play short and third as well as left and right field, Edman can play at short and center field and McKinstry at second, short, and third and, depending on your league rules, left field and right field. McKinstry has the best speed out of this bunch with 16 steals this past year after swiping 16 in 2023 as well
Tier 4
| RANK | PLAYER | 2024 TEAM | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Brayan Rocchio | CLE | 24 |
| 39 | J.P. Crawford | SEA | 30 |
| 38 | Jacob Wilson | OAK | 23 |
| 37 | Edmund Sosa | PHI | 29 |
| 36 | Dylan Moore | SEA | 32 |
| 35 | Isiah Kiner-Falefa | PIT | 30 |
| 34 | Geraldo Perdomo | ARI | 25 |
| 33 | Paul DeJong | KC | 31 |
| 32 | Orlando Arcia | ATL | 30 |
| 31 | Jordan Lawlar | ARI | 22 |
Making Contact is His Game
Jacob Wilson is not going to be a prolific home run hitter, though he has some pop as he hit eight homers in 79 minor league games. He also won’t steal a ton of bases.
What Wilson does so well is make contact. The A’s shortstop had only a 4.4% strikeout rate during his three seasons at Grand Canyon University with an 8.7% walk rate. His slash line was a very healthy .361/.419/.558. Since turning pro in 2023, all Wilson has done is slash .401/.446/.606 thanks to 39 doubles in those 79 minor league games. And his strikeout rate is only 7.7%, though his walk rate is only at 5.9%.
Wilson appeared in 29 games for the A’s this past season and slashed only .250/.314/.315, but his strikeout rate was still a very nice 9.7% to go with a 7.8% walk rate.
Looking for Cheap Power?
If you need some power off your dynasty bench or to slot in as a middle infielder or shortstop when your starter has an off day, Paul DeJong and Orlando Arcia are decent choices.
DeJong smashed 24 homers with the White Sox and Royals this season, but that is the extent of where he really helps on offense as he had a .227/.276/.427 slash line and he has not hit better than .233 since the 2020 season.
Arcia hit 17 homers both this past season and in 2023 as well as 15 in both 2017 and 2019. His career 162-game average is 15 homers and 58 RBI. But his career slash line is .242/.295/.374. Thanks to the low average and OBP, he lands here in Tier 4.
The Sleeper
Jordan Lawlar has only 31 at-bats with the Diamondbacks, but all of those came in 2023. This past season he was limited to 23 games in the minors due to a hamstring injury and then thumb surgery. Lawlar, like many other shortstops, can hit for power and steal bases and has a career slash line of .294/.392/.501 in 230 career minor league games.
He should compete for the starting job at shortstop, but there is also a strong chance he starts the year in the minors. But he has tremendous upside, which is why I rank him ahead of incumbent Arizona shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. And if Lawlar comes close to the potential he showed previously in the minors, I will look silly for ranking him in this tier. But I’m not 100% sold on him so I’m playing it very safe here.
Tier 3
| RANK | PLAYER | 2024 TEAM | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Luisangel Acuña | NYM | 23 |
| 29 | David Hamilton | BOS | 27 |
| 28 | Xander Bogaerts | SD | 32 |
| 27 | Xavier Edwards | MIA | 25 |
| 26 | Jose Caballero | TB | 28 |
| 25 | Josh Smith | TEX | 27 |
| 24 | Nico Hoerner | CHC | 27 |
| 23 | Ha-Seong Kim | SD | 29 |
| 22 | Tyler Fitzgerald | SF | 27 |
| 21 | Ceddanne Rafaela | BOS | 24 |
Really a Second Baseman
Luisangel Acuña played most of his games at shortstop last season thanks to the Francisco Lindor injury. But with Lindor entrenched at short, Acuña will slide over to second base in 2025 and how much time he gets at shortstop is a question that will be answered next year. I am going to assume he gets enough action there to remain shortstop eligible in 2026 and hopefully beyond. Acuña’s main asset is his speed as he has 198 career steals in 505 minor league games. He also has some power, but his ability to steal bases is why you should target him.
A Sleeper at Short?
Xavier Edwards is a former top 100 prospect who has a career minor league slash line of .313/.385/.399. After playing 30 games for Miami in 2023, the Marlins gave him more of an opportunity to show what he can do this past season as he appeared in 70 games and had 303 plate appearances. All Edwards did was slash .328/.397/.423 with 31 steals in 35 attempts. In 100 career games in the majors he has a .321/.383/.402 slash line with a 17% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. He isn’t going to hit a lot of homers, but he gets on base and steals bases, which is a good player to have on your team.
Expecting Improvement
Ceddanne Rafaela did not put up eye-popping numbers as a rookie this past season, but he put up very solid numbers with 15 homers, 79 RBI and 19 steals while splitting time between shortstop and center field. The downside to Rafaela this season was a .246/.274/.390 slash line and only 15 walks in 571 plate appearances with 151 strikeouts (2.6%/26.4% rates).
I expect Rafaela to improve his walk rate and cut down on his strikeouts, helping him increase his slash line and power output. Once he does that, he will be a Tier 2 player.
Tier 2
| RANK | PLAYER | 2024 TEAM | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Dansby Swanson | CHC | 31 |
| 19 | Willi Castro | MIN | 27 |
| 18 | Carlos Correa | MIN | 30 |
| 17 | Anthony Volpe | NYY | 23 |
| 16 | Jeremy Pena | HOU | 27 |
| 15 | Masyn Winn | STL | 23 |
| 14 | Bo Bichette | TOR | 27 |
| 13 | Matt McLain | CIN | 25 |
| 12 | Trea Turner | PHI | 31 |
| 11 | Corey Seager | TEX | 30 |
Injury Concerns – Every Year
Carlos Correa had a really good year for the Twins, hitting 14 homers and driving in 54 while slashing .310/.388/.517 for a .905 OPS and a 152 OPS+. But The problem was that production came in only 86 games. And having Correa on the field for a full season seems to never happen. Only twice in his career has he topped 140 games played. And while the .517 SLG was outstanding this season, it could be an outlier as it is 45 points higher than his career average of .472 and reversed a trend of a declining SLG since 2021.
Correa is not getting younger, and since he doesn’t provide steals any more, I can’t rank him higher.
Not Perfect, But Pretty Good
Jeremy Pena and Masyn Winn are not perfect shortstops. If they were, they would be in Tier 1! But both are very good players who offer both power and speed.
Pena hit 22 homers and had 63 RBI with 11 steals as a rookie in 2022 and the belief was he would be a 20-homer, 15-steal player. But he followed that season with a 10 homer, 52 RBI, 13 steal season in 2023. This past year the power increased to 15 home runs to go with 70 RBI and 20 steals with a .266/.308/.394 slash line.
After struggling in his 37-game debut in 2023, Winn provided a glimpse of what he can do by hitting 15 homers, driving in 57 runs and stealing 11 bases while slashing .267/.314/.416.
What hurts both Pena and Winn is an OBP that could be a lot better. Winn had a 6.4% walk rate while Pena had a 3.9% walk rate. If both players can increase that walk rate and get on base more, it will allow them to take more advantage of their speed and thus increase their fantasy value.
A Shortstop or Second Baseman?
This is what I said about Matt McLain in my second basemen rankings: McLain missed all of the 2024 season thanks to a shoulder injury that required surgery. But in 2023 he slashed .290/.357/.507 with 16 homers, 50 RBI and 14 steals in 89 games. That translates to a 162-game average of 29 homers, 91 RBI and 25 steals. Give that production every year and I am a happy man.
In all likelihood, McLain will get the majority of his time at second base in 2025. But I see him getting some starts at short when Elly De La Cruz gets a rest. That would be great in order to keep McLain as a shortstop through at least 2026.
Just Outside the Top 10
It is hard to imagine Bo Bichette, Trea Turner and Corey Seager being outside the Top 10, but that speaks to the talent and depth at this position, especially among the younger players.
Bichette had a miserable 2024 season, slashing .225/.277/.322 with four homers and 31 RBI in only 81 games. Even when healthy, however, Bichette’s production has slid since his breakout 2021 campaign when he hit 29 homers, drove in 102 runs and stole 25 bases. While his slash line since then has remained relatively the same (except for this past year), his other numbers have dropped. Even if he duplicates his 2023 season for the next three to five years, there are younger shortstops who will do as well if not better.
Both Trea Turner and Corey Seager are now in their 30s but are still outstanding players. So why are they not Tier 1 players? Mainly because they are 30 and 31 years old next season. Turner put up solid numbers over his 121 games and his stats were in line with what he has done throughout his career. The 20-plus power and speed are still there. Seager reached 30 homers for the third straight season and his .512 SLG equaled his career average.
If I am starting a team from scratch, I would gladly have Turner or Seager on my team. But I would prefer my Tier 1 players more.
Tier 1
| RANK | PLAYER | 2024 TEAM | AGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Oneil Cruz | PIT | 26 |
| 9 | Ezequiel Tovar | COL | 23 |
| 8 | CJ Abrams | WAS | 23 |
| 7 | Zach Neto | LAA | 24 |
| 6 | Willy Adames | MIL | 29 |
| 5 | Mookie Betts | LAD | 32 |
| 4 | Francisco Lindor | NYM | 31 |
| 3 | Elly De La Cruz | CIN | 23 |
| 2 | Gunnar Henderson | BAL | 23 |
| 1 | Bobby Witt Jr. | KC | 24 |
Take Him for His Bat
The beauty about fantasy baseball is defense is not a concern in nearly every league out there. That allows Oneil Cruz to come in as my 10th-ranked shortstop. Defensively, Cruz is not a great shortstop as he committed 24 errors at the position last year. Things got so bad that the Pirates moved him to center field, and that move will obviously affect Cruz’s standing as a shortstop beyond 2025. I’m thinking he gets in enough games at short to give you at least one more season at short in 2026.
But even if he remains qualified at short for only 2025, he is still a great bat to add. He has both power and speed as he hit 21 homers and stole 22 bases in 2024 and his 162-game average is 27 homers, 91 RBI and 23 steals. And I don’t think he has reached his ceiling.
Love This Trio
Ezequiel Tovar, CJ Abrams and Zach Neto are three shortstops I would be thrilled to have on my team. All three of them are 24 or younger next season, all three of them have power and two of them have speed.
Tovar is the “slugging” shortstop in this group, hitting 26 dingers this past season to go with a .269 batting average and .469 SLG. He took a nice leap from his rookie season when he hit 15 homers and slashed .253/.287/.408. The OBP actually increased to .295, but he needs to show a little more patience at the plate as his walk percentage ranked in the 2nd percentile and his chase rate ranked in the first percentile.
Let me get the negatives about Abrams and Neto out of the way first. Both players are not great when it comes to batting average or OBP. In 2024 Abrams came in at .246/.314 in those two stats while Neto was .249/.318. But outside of those two areas, they are top dual threat shortstops. Abrams hit 20 homers and stole 31 bases and Neto slugged 23 homers and swiped 31 bases.
Since debuting in 2022, Abrams has seen his Barrel% rate climb from 2.1% to 6.9%and his Average EV has increased from 86.5 mph to 88.2 mph. Neto, who debuted in 2023, has a career Barrel% of 8.5% compared to the MLB average of 7.0% and his Hard Hit% of 39.3 is nearly 3% higher than the MLB player.
Both players have lots of room to grow, and I fully expect to see that as they get older. But if you want to play it safer and go with a more established shortstop, then you can slot Turner and Seager here and move two of these players down.
Possible Position Change
There is a chance that Willy Adames could be headed to third base next year depending on who he signs with and what that team’s needs are. But if he does move to third, we will deal with that next year. For 2025, Adames is a shortstop and one of the better hitting ones at that. Adames has been on the radar screen of dynasty players for years as he was a former top 100 prospect when he was with Tampa Bay.
In every full season since 2019, Adames has hit at least 20 homers and in two of the past three seasons he has topped 30 homers. And this past season he added the stolen base to his game. After never having more than eight steals in a season, Adames swiped 21 bases this past season and was only caught four times.
Adames isn’t perfect. He sports a career batting average of .248 and his OBP is a pedestrian .322. He also has a career strikeout rate of 27.2%. However, he has a good understanding of the zone as he has a career walk rate of 9.6% and his walk rate has been at 10.8% or higher in three of the last four seasons.
The Two “Old Men”
I ranked Turner and Seager just outside of the top 10 due to their age, yet here are Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor at No. 5 and No. 4, respectively. So you may be asking “what gives, Jakkers?”
Well, Betts is one of the best overall players in baseball as he excels at shortstop, second base and right field (and likely anywhere else on the field if he played there). He has all of the tools to build a winning fantasy team – speed, hitting and power.
The same goes for Lindor. He his 33 homers this past season with 91 RBI and 29 steals while slashing .273/.344/.500. Those numbers are in line with his career 162-game average of 29 homers, 91 RBI and 22 steals to go with a .274/.342/.476 slash line.
So if Betts and Lindor are so great, why are they not ranked first and second? Because they are not 24 years old or younger like the trio of players ranked ahead of them.
Loved the Above Trio, REALLY love this Duo
Elly De La Cruz doesn’t quite compare to Gunnar Henderson or Bobby Witt, but that may not be the case for long.
De La Cruz hit 25 homers, drove in 76 runs and stole 67 bases this past season – in only his second season in the majors. His 162-game average is 24 homers, 75 RBI and 64 steals with a .250/.324/.471 slash line. His Average EV, Barrel% and Bat Speed ranked in the 86th percentile or higher in 2024, his Walk% ranked in the 72nd percentile and his Sprint Speed ranked in the 100th percentile. He still strikes out too much, but if strikeouts keep you from wanting De La Cruz, then someone else in your league will be ecstatic to take him.
In 2023, Henderson’s first full season with the Orioles, he slashed .255/.325/.489 with 28 homers, 82 RBI and 10 steals. All he did this season was improve across the board, slashing .281/.364/.529 with 37 homers, 92 RBI and 21 steals.
His Statcast numbers are a sea of red. His xwOBA, xBA, xSLG, AEV, Hard Hit% and Bat Speed all ranked in the 92nd percentile or higher while his Walk% and Chase% ranked in the 80th and 86th percentiles. And his Sprint Speed is nothing to sneeze at as it ranked in the 88th percentile. And unlike De La Cruz, Henderson’s strikeout numbers are in line with the league average, ranking in the 45th percentile in K%.
A Step Above the Rest
When my 2025 Top Dynasty Player rankings come out toward the end of the year – Bobby Witt Jr. very well could be the No. 1 ranked player.
Seriously, what is there to not like about Witt?
Power? In his three years he has hit 20, 30 and 32 homers. Speed? His steals the last three seasons have been 30, 49 and 31. Hit Tool? He has that as well. His average, OBP and SLG have improved every year and came in at .332/.389/.588 this past season.
He finished fourth in ROY voting in 2022, was seventh in MVP voting in 2023 and is a finalist for MVP this season.
And he doesn’t even turn 25 until June of next year.
Come Back Next Week
Thanks for reading and come back next week for the top 50 third basemen.
Previous Rankings
Top 50 Dynasty Keepers for 2025 – Relievers
Top 100 Dynasty Keepers for 2025 – Starting Pitchers
Top 40 Dynasty Keepers for 2025 – Catchers
Top 50 Dynasty Keepers for 2025 – First Basemen
Top 50 Dynasty Keepers for 2025 – Second Basemen
