2017 Shortstop Rankings: Projected

The first full day of no baseball is behind us. It felt weird, but luckily most of us are able to continue riding the high that Game 7 provided. How long will that last? Who knows. Luckily, we continue to run out new 2017 fantasy baseball content each week on the site and today we put some projections to Ray's 2017 Shortstop Rankings.

If you've missed the previous entries in this series, feel free to go back and catch up, we have plenty of time:

2017 Catcher Rankings: Projected

2017 First Base Rankings: Projected

2017 Second Base Rankings: Projected

A couple of notes on the shortstop rankings you see below. First, Trea Turner will more than likely not be eligible to start the season at shortstop. At this point in the off season I can't predict if the Nationals will use him at shortstop enough to gain eligibility in 2017, however, since Ray included him in these rankings, I also copied Turner's projection from the second base list. For a more in-depth view of the ranking process, check out Projecting Trea Turner for 2017, posted earlier this off season.

Second, Ray is pretty high on Colorado shortstop Trevor Story (pun possibly intended). As you will see below, even with a slightly modest plate appearance total (as compared to the other top options at shortstop), Story has the skill to put up monster numbers in 2017. As with any player that has a small set of data to pull from, the error bars are wider on the projection, but if you feel like attempting to hit a home run and don't mind a little risk, Story might be right for you.

Lastly, positional scarcity appears to have shifted from the middle infield and catcher, to the outfield and catcher for the upcoming season. Players such as Marcus Semien (projected 30 HR+SB), Elvis Andrus (projected 30 HR+SB) & Eduardo Nunez (projected 50 HR+SB), are all available after the elite options will be off the board. Of course with players such as Nunez who are coming off of a career year, there's a chance their 2017 draft price is inflated. There's also a chance people see the name Eduardo Nunez and brush off his impressive 2016 season, ignoring the fact that he's displayed these skills for multiple seasons now and was finally awarded enough playing time to pile up the counting statistics. The regression might not be as steep as some expect and if the price to acquire is right, the speculation risk/reward ratio could be perfect.

DISCLAIMER:

It is important to note that while a set of projections might add up to a dollar value when converted using a variety of methods that would rank a certain player above another, that doesn't necessarily mean the projection is correct and the ranking is incorrect. With a ranking things such as consistency and the odds of more or less playing time can be the difference between one spot in a ranking list and another. When converting projections straight over to dollar values, this can be lost at times. Using both projections and rankings from your favorite sources is an ideal way to build an appropriate expectation level for the coming season.

As always, please share any thoughts or questions in the comments below.