Top Five at Every Position Right Now: Shortstop

Photo Courtesy of Call to the Pen

By: Chris Larson 

Moving onto the next part of our "Top Five at Every Position Right Now" Series, today's focus shifts to the shortstop position. Some could argue that shortstop is the hardest position around the diamond because of the amount of ground balls that travel to that position. Furthermore, when it comes to shifts and making double plays, the shortstop is absolutely critical for a team's defense.

When you take a look at the top five shortstops around baseball currently they possess a lot of likable qualities. Those qualities include an ability to be athletic and make those critical plays with their glove, display a high amount of energy on the field and in the dugout, and a bat that has a significant impact on the overall offensive numbers of their respective team during a given season. In many regards, you might refer to the top five shortstops on this list as five-tool players because they embody speed, the ability to throw and field as well as strong enough offensive skills to hit for average and power alike.

Over the last ten years, there have certainly been some notable shortstops around baseball. Some of those individuals are still playing the game today such as Elvis Andrus of the Texas Rangers, Andrelton Simmons of the Los Angeles Angels, and Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants. All three of those individuals are talented in their own way and have had big moments over the last decade, but it's hard to triumph what Troy Tulowitzki did during his prime years with the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays. Tulowitzki's career came to an abrupt end, but there are plenty of memories for Rockies and Blue Jays fans alike from his time with those teams.

With that being said, here are the top five shortstops around the game of baseball right now.

* Statistics present under each player's name are for the 2019 regular season. *

Photo Courtesy of CBS Sports

1. Francisco Lindor (Cleveland Indians) 

• Defensive Runs Saved: 9 (T-8th Among Shortstops with 700 Innings Played) 
• Ultimate Zone Rating: 6.4 (8th) 
• Defensive Rating: 12.6 (8th) 
• Offensive Rating: 9.9 (9th Among Shortstops with 400 PA) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 4.4 (T-5th) 

When you look at the Cleveland Indians, one of the first names that you likely think of is shortstop Francisco Lindor. Lindor is a typical All-Star caliber baseball player because he embodies the ability to play the game at a high level, displays a tremendous amount of energy out on the field and in the dugout, and has the offensive abilities to back up his craft. Going into this offseason, Lindor was one of the names being heavily touted and discussed on the trade market, but the Indians decided to go in a different direction by trading starting pitcher Corey Kluber to the Texas Rangers. Therefore, Lindor is now solidified as part of the Indians 26-man roster for at least the first half of this coming season, but that doesn't mean that he will play out the remaining two seasons he has left on his current contract with Cleveland. Rather, the Indians could still look to trade him at this year's July 31st Trade Deadline, next offseason, or even next year's July 31st Trade Deadline. 

Taking last year's overall offensive and defensive numbers into account, an argument can be made that it was a little bit of a down season for Lindor. However, that doesn't taint his placing as the best shortstop in all of baseball by any means. Lindor, who turned 26 this past November, is still in his prime peak years and there's a lot of talent to still unlock. Last season, Lindor recorded a Batting Average on Balls In Play of .291, which was the highest that value has been since the conclusion of the 2016 regular season, and had an Isolated Power value of .234 - the second highest value in that category of Lindor's five-year big league career. Heading into this season, the Indians are banking on a feared duo of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez in the middle of their lineup. Both players are certainly capable of doing that and you can't go wrong with the player that Lindor is either. 

Photo Courtesy of The Denver Post 

2. Trevor Story (Colorado Rockies) 

• Defensive Runs Saved: 17 (2nd Among Shortstops with 700 Innings Played) 
• Ultimate Zone Rating: 8.6 (5th) 
• Defensive Rating: 15.1 (3rd) 
• Offensive Rating: 23.8 (4th Among Shortstops with 400 PA) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 5.8 (4th) 

The Colorado Rockies have a very special player in shortstop Trevor Story. In fact, when you couple Story with All-Star third baseman and superstar Nolan Arenado, a case can be made that the Rockies have the best left side of the infield in all of baseball. Both Story and Arenado are true five-tool players in every regard and provide a considerable amount of value to the Colorado Rockies every game. The Rockies rewarded Story for his contributions about a week ago when they signed him to a two-year, $27.5 million dollar contract extension which bought out his remaining arbitration years. If the Rockies were to trade Arenado, which seems more likely than not at this point even if it won't happen until around the July 31st Trade Deadline, they would definitely be weakening their infield defense in a big way, but the team might also view Trevor Story as the face of the franchise moving forward should an Arenado trade happen. Story was originally drafted by the Rockies during the first round of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft and has been a huge fan favorite ever since. 

When it comes to defense, there are few better than Trevor Story at the shortstop position. Story has a tremendous amount of athleticism at that position and the glove definitely plays day in and day out as indicated by the amount of Defensive Runs Saved he racked up last season. According to Baseball Savant, Story had an Outs Above Average (OAA) value of 15 for last season. If you were to rank that among all of the other qualified infielders around baseball, it would put Story fifth on the list behind four other tremendously gifted, defensive shortstops. Beyond that, Story has tremendous offensive skills as well and it's not just because he plays at Coors Field. Away from Coors Field last season over the span of 320 plate appearances, Story slugged: .260/.322/.445 with 11 home runs, 29 RBI, 25 walks, and 95 strikeouts. For the Rockies to be a good team this year, Story will need to continue doing what he has been doing and there's a very good chance of that happening. 

Photo Courtesy of Bleacher Report

3. Javier Baez (Chicago Cubs) 

• Defensive Runs Saved: 15 (3rd Among Shortstops with 700 Innings Played) 
• Ultimate Zone Rating: 10.0 (3rd) 
• Defensive Rating: 15.7 (2nd) 
• Offensive Rating: 11.2 (11th Among Shortstops with 400 PA) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 4.4 (T-5th) 

Javier Baez, also known as El Mago, is another talented, five-tool, All-Star caliber shortstop. Baez is an integral part of the Cubs 26-man roster and is viewed by the organization as someone that could be the face of the franchise moving forward depending on what the team ends up doing in regards to the future of third baseman Kris Bryant. The Cubs have shown an inclination that they would prefer to sign Javier Baez long-term over Kris Bryant, but it's just a matter of coming to the financial terms and length of a deal that works for both parties. At the age of 27, it seems like Baez continues to find a way to improve his game every single season and it would not be a surprise to see him put together another quality season there on the northside of Chicago this year. Furthermore, Baez is a homegrown talent in the Cubs organization, originally being drafted by the team during the first round of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft. Since then, there have been many accomplishments that Baez has achieved and he has turned into quite a fan favorite as well. 

When it comes to Javier Baez overall style of game, Baez wins with his glove. Baez has a tremendous amount of defensive instincts at the shortstop position and the athleticism to make critical plays throughout the course of an entire game. When you couple that with his ability to play at a high level with a tremendous amount of energy, there's a case to be made why he is currently among the top three shortstops around baseball. However, one of the biggest things that hurts Javier Baez in the offensive category is his strikeout rate which sat at 27.8% last year. Using the criteria from above, that put Baez in a tie with Chris Taylor of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the third most strikeouts among shortstops last year. The Cubs would agree that they would like to see more plate discipline from Baez and want his walk rate to improve as well. Therefore, it is going to be interesting to see if that approach changes with new manager David Ross at the helm. Ross, who is a former big league catcher, might see something in Baez swing path or approach at the plate that he can help Baez to fix so that he can hit on a more consistent basis. Regardless, Javier Baez is still a very special player and one that plays the game with a ton of heart and passion. 

Photo Courtesy of The Athletic

4. Marcus Semien (Oakland Athletics) 

• Defensive Runs Saved: 5 (9th Among Shortstops with 700 Innings Played) 
• Ultimate Zone Rating: 6.7 (5th) 
• Defensive Rating: 14.1 (4th) 
• Offensive Rating: 37.5 (3rd Among Shortstops with 400 PA) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 7.6 (2nd) 

As you look back on what happened last season, it's very obvious to see how underrated Marcus Semien was nationally. Semien put together almost what seemed like a career year, but he's also strung together several good seasons back-to-back for a few years now. Overall, the Oakland Athletics have quite a bit of talent around the field and Semien is a big part of that talent. Furthermore, Semien helps to compliment the core group of first baseman Matt Olson, third baseman Matt Chapman, and outfielder Khris Davis for an Oakland Athletics team that is heading into this season, with hopes of winning the American League West for the first time since 2013. Altogether, Semien is one of the most talented shortstops around baseball right now on both sides of the baseball and can provide the Athletics with a lot of value at the plate or defensively at shortstop with the glove. 

From an offensive perspective, one of the most exciting elements about Marcus Semien and his style of play is his overall plate discipline. Semien is one of the most disciplined shortstops at the plate, as indicated by his 11.6% walk rate, which ranked second behind only Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros last season. Overall, when you combine Semien's walk rate and strikeout rate from last season together, it comes out to equal a career high 0.85 ratio. Furthermore, Semien was really seeing the ball well last year and hit for a lot of power. Semien had an overall Hard Hit Rate last season of 41.9% which was up almost ten percentage points from his Hard Hit Rate from the year before of 32.5%. Granted, some of that might be due to the dynamics of the baseball from last season, but Semien has some legit power and it's fascinating because The Coliseum, where the Oakland Athletics play all of their home games at, isn't a hitter friendly ballpark by any means. In fact, according to data compiled by ESPN, The Coliseum had the fourth fewest runs on average per game last season at 0.887 and had the fifth lowest home runs per game as well at 0.854. 

Photo Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

5. Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox) 

• Defensive Runs Saved: -21 (22nd Among Shortstops with 700 Innings Played) 
• Ultimate Zone Rating: 1.1 (14th) 
• Defensive Rating: 8.2 (13th) 
• Offensive Rating: 37.6 (2nd Among Shortstops with 400 PA) 
• Wins Above Replacement: 6.8 (3rd) 

Overall, an argument can certainly be made that Xander Bogaerts is the best shortstop in baseball especially if you were to look over the last handful of seasons. Bogaerts, like the aforementioned Marcus Semien of the Oakland Athletics, doesn't receive nearly as much national recognition as he deserves. It seems like every season Xander Bogaerts quietly goes about his craft with the Boston Red Sox and little to no noise is made about him, but don't sleep on his ability to play the shortstop game at an elite level especially from an offensive perspective. That was a big reason why the Boston Red Sox came to terms with Bogaerts on a six-year, $120 million dollar contract extension last April. The Red Sox view Bogaerts as an integral part of their team and wanted to reward him for the impact that he has had there dating back to at least his age 22 season in 2015. Since that time, Bogaerts has won three Silver Slugger Awards, been named an All-Star twice, and finished fifth in American League Most Valuable Player voting last year. 

When you look at Xander Bogaerts overall style of play, the offense definitely triumphs the defense overall. However, it's important to remember that Bogaerts is entering his age 27 season and there's still quite a few peak years left in the tank. Therefore, it's only a matter of time before that defense bounces back to the same level that the offensive production was at last year. Last season alone, Bogaerts put up a Weighted On-Base Average (wOBA) of .390 and had an overall Weighted Runs Above Average (wRAA) of 42.0. Using the criteria from above, that put Bogaerts second in wOBA and second in wRAA. Depending on what ends up happening with the Mookie Betts trade drama, Xander Bogaerts may very well end up being the face of the Boston Red Sox moving forward. If that ends up happening, then it's going to be a tremendous boost for Bogaerts and the amount of national recognition that he gets.