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A Look back at our 2014 Fantasy Shortstop Rankings

Ray takes a look back at our preseason shortstop rankings to see where we went right and where we went wrong.

By Ray Guilfoyle
Mike Zarrilli

I am in the middle of my review of our 2014 consensus position rankings, having completed analysis of the following position rankings:

Catcher

First Base

Second Base

Today, I will review our consensus shortstop rankings, a position that had several disappointments in our top 10 rankings. We ranked Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez as our #1 fantasy shortstop, but even though he had a good year at the plate, he wasn't the #1 fantasy shortstop at season's end. Troy Tulowitzki was enjoying a terrific year at the plate before a season ending hip injury that bares watching this offseason. He will more than likely be ready for spring training and Opening Day 2015, but I wonder how many more years we will see him playing the most demanding position on the field.

Here is another look at our 2014 fantasy shortstop rankings, ranked 1 - 15:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
1 Hanley Ramirez LAD 254 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1
2 Troy Tulowitzki COL 250 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2
3 Ian Desmond WSN 231 3 6 7 3 3 4 4 3
4 Jose Reyes TOR 229 4 4 3 6 5 3 5 5
5 Jean Segura MIL 221 5 3 8 4 9 5 3 6
6 Elvis Andrus TEX 213 11 5 4 5 4 9 9 4
7 J.J. Hardy BAL 190 6 10 13 10 10 10 7 8
8 Starlin Castro CHC 188 7 11 10 9 11 8 10 10
9 Ben Zobrist TBR 184 9 7 5 7 7 6 6
10 Everth Cabrera SDP 183 12 8 9 8 8 14 15 7
11 Jed Lowrie OAK 172 10 16 11 14 12 7 13 9
12 Xander Bogaerts BOS 162 8 9 6 13 14 11 8
13 Andrelton Simmons ATL 161 13 13 14 11 16 12 12 12
14 Asdrubal Cabrera CLE 149 19 14 15 12 13 13 18 11
15 Alexei Ramirez CHW 141 15 15 12 20 15 17 11 18

Here is another look at our 2014 fantasy shortstop rankings, ranked 16 - 30:

Rank Player Team Ranking Points Ray Matt Brian Alex Daniel Joe Jason Zack
16 Jhonny Peralta STL 136 20 17 18 15 6 20 19 13
17 Jimmy Rollins PHI 125 18 12 16 19 24 21 14 15
18 Erick Aybar LAA 111 21 19 22 16 19 18 21 17
19 Brad Miller SEA 111 14 20 28 17 18 15 17 24
20 Stephen Drew FA 104 22 22 17 25 17 22 16 19
21 Zack Cozart CIN 99 25 21 19 18 21 16 23 22
22 Alcides Escobar KCR 96 23 25 20 21 22 23 20 14
23 Jonathan Villar HOU 92 17 26 27 22 20 19 25 16
24 Yunel Escobar TBR 80 24 27 21 23 23 24 22 20
25 Derek Jeter NYY 58 18 24 26 30 27 27 21
26 Chris Owings ARI 55 16 23 25 24 29 26
27 Jose Iglesias DET 47 26 27 29 29 28 26 24 28
28 Brandon Crawford SFG 35 29 28 26 28 26 30 29
29 Pedro Florimon MIN 24 23 27 25
30 Didi Gregorius ARI 24 27 29 30 28 27


What we got right

Chris Owings, Diamondbacks

Owings was a preseason sleeper, with the potential of putting up a 15 home run, 15 stolen base season hitting in the friendly confines of Chase Field, but dealt with a shoulder injury for most of the season. He sat out the last few games of the season and will have offseason surgery on his left shoulder to repair the posterior labrum. The injury limited Owings to just 332 plate appearances, hitting .260-.300-.406 with 6 home runs, 34 runs scored, 26 RBI and 8 stolen bases in 9 attempts.

Looking ahead to the 2015 season, Owings, assuming good health, has the potential to put up the double digit home runs and stolen bases we expected from him in 2014.

Ian Desmond, Nationals

Desmond was our 3rd ranked fantasy shortstop heading into the 2014 season, and he did not disappoint, hitting .255-.313-.430 with 24 home runs, 73 runs scored, 91 RBI and 24 stolen bases in 29 attempts. 2014 was his third straight 20 home run, 20 stolen base season, and his fourth straight 20+ stolen base season. The 29 year old shortstop is entering his walk year, and there is a chance the Nationals decide to deal him this offseason as they have to consider signing Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper to long term contracts in the next few seasons, and the time is ripe to see what they can get for Desmond.

What we got wrong

Elvis Andrus, Rangers

We ranked Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus as our #6 ranked shortstop heading into the season, but Andrus endured his worst season as a big leaguer, hitting .264-.313-.333 with 2 home runs, 72 runs scored, 41 RBI and 27 stolen bases in 42 attempts. His walk rate is in a three year decline and his strikeout rate has increased in each of the last three years. The Rangers signed him to a long term contract and now have to live with a guy who had a bad offensive and defensive season in 2014.

Jean Segura, Brewers

We ranked Segura as our #5 ranked shortstop, and he disappointed fantasy owners as he continued the decline that started in the second half of the 2013 season. Segura hit just .246-.289-.346 with 5 home runs, 61 run scored, 31 RBI and just 20 stolen bases in 29 attempts. It appears his 2013 season may have been an aberration as it took pitchers a few months to learn what his weaknesses are. It is now Segura's turn to make the necessary adjustments. He was never a power hitter in the minors, so it is likely he won't sniff double digit home runs going forward. His stolen base total dropped from 44 in 2013 to just 20 in 2014, and he will drop in my 2015 rankings as a result.

Jimmy Rollins, Phillies

We ranked Rollins as our # 17 fantasy shortstop, but he had a bounce back season at the plate after a sub-par 2013 season. Rollins hit .243-.323-.394 with 17 home runs, 78 runs scored, 55 RBI and 28 stolen bases in 2014. Among qualified shortstops, he ranked third in home runs, runs scored and stolen bases last season, but will probably be ranked in the lower half of the top 10 heading into the 2015 season. That would be a mistake.

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