I’m old enough to remember when shortstop was a thin position. Now, the 26th-ranked shortstop in our expert consensus rankings, Danny Santana, nearly went 30-20 last season. And three players at the position are off the board by pick 10 in consensus average draft position.
In other words, do you hear that sound? That is the sound of options. Do options make a sound? Well, if they did, it would sound like what you’re hearing now.
You want to draft an elite option right out of the gate? You have your pick of the litter. Want to scoop up an incredibly solid and reliable option in the middle rounds? You’ve got your choice. Want some upside? There are several potentially dynamic options late.
As you can see, I’m a bit lower than the consensus on players like Elvis Andrus, Jean Segura, Didi Gregorius, and Paul DeJong. My lower ranking of them is more based on their lack of upside, rather than any particular knock on their skill set. If I’m waiting to the point where those players are typically drafted, I prefer to target others with more upside.
I’m old enough to remember when shortstop was a thin position. Now, the 26th-ranked shortstop in our expert consensus rankings, Danny Santana, nearly went 30-20 last season. And three players at the position are off the board by pick 10 in consensus average draft position.
In other words, do you hear that sound? That is the sound of options. Do options make a sound? Well, if they did, it would sound like what you’re hearing now.
You want to draft an elite option right out of the gate? You have your pick of the litter. Want to scoop up an incredibly solid and reliable option in the middle rounds? You’ve got your choice. Want some upside? There are several potentially dynamic options late.
As you can see, I’m a bit lower than the consensus on players like Elvis Andrus, Jean Segura, Didi Gregorius, and Paul DeJong. My lower ranking of them is more based on their lack of upside, rather than any particular knock on their skill set. If I’m waiting to the point where those players are typically drafted, I prefer to target others with more upside.
A few players who have fallen in my rankings since the delay began are Danny Santana and Scott Kingery. I have strong doubts that Santana can come close to replicating his numbers last year, but he stayed afloat in my ranking after Willie Calhoun‘s jaw injury guaranteed him playing time even if he got off to a slow start. Without that safety net, he’s dropped about six spots.
As for Kingery, there are two reasons I’ve moved him down my rankings. The first is that Kingery was expected to bat leadoff when the season began because Andrew McCutchen was set to miss at least a month in his recovery from ACL surgery. Now, after the delay, McCutchen should be healthy and Kingery will likely bat seventh, hurting his value.
The second is that as of this writing, Kingery has recently been placed on the IL for undisclosed reasons, which likely means he has contracted COVID-19. With all the uncertainty and with some time before the season starts, I wouldn’t avoid Kingery entirely, but it’s certainly reason enough to drop him a few spots.
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Dan Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter @danharris80.
