Are we looking at the best group of shortstops ever?
There’s a saying in baseball: Be strong up the middle.This refers to the defensive players that play in the middle of the diamond: catcher, second base, shortstop, and center fielder. If these players are strong defensively, your pitchers will have more success, and your defense is naturally stronger. A shortstop is arguably one of the most important positions to play in all of baseball.
Having to cover an enormous amount of range, have a strong arm, and have soft hands, the duties and expectations of shortstops are tall tasks for any baseball player. On top of that, the greatest of the greats can also swing a big stick.
I took a look at different recent eras of shortstops, including some of the prime years when shortstops seemed to rule. This current group, which was tracked back to 2014, hasn’t quite caught up to some of the greater groups, but they’re close scary close. Some of the numbers are below:
A little analysis, Jay Bell fell into two categories, the middle of his prime as a pretty good shortstop. A lot of the other names prior to turned out to either be HOF or will have a good case to become HOF players.
This article generally looks at the possibilities of the players currently playing shortstop. It becomes impossible to truly predict how well any player will turn out. That being said, the current list of Crawford, Lindor, Tulowitzki, Bogaerts, and Desmond only missed beating a crew of Bell, Larkin, and Ripken. This also can be considered a projection, considering the players on the current list that are missing. Narrowly missing the list: Correa, Simmons, Russell, Gregorious, Seager, and Turner. The depth of players after the Top 10 is also stronger than many other groups of years.
Additionally, Lindor only has two seasons within this range. Seager only has 1, in which he won rookie of the year and had a WAR of 6.1. If he continues that trend, and Lindor stays at his current pace or improves some, he will have a resultant three-year WAR of ~15, and Seager could have a three year of ~ 18. Bogaerts dramatically improved after a less than stellar rookie year, and could prove to be one of the greatest in this generation.
Crawford and Tulowitzki are still holding on as the old guys in this group, and continue to produce solid years. Outside of these guys, there were eight players under the age of 25 that produced WAR seasons of 2.0 or higher in 2016. This means that the possibilities of this group extend far beyond the current scope. Russell, Simmons, and Correa all provide All-Star caliber players that have to potential to take a step beyond that. Simmons has proven year after year that he’s got a Gold Glove and the arm to match, but has struggled to be an above average hitter. Russell, while not quite in the same league as Simmons defensively, has shown flashes of brilliance with the bat, but continues to be inconsistent. A full season of high productivity could skyrocket him to the top five. Correa is a very good hitter, but hasn’t had the same impact defensively, but has shown flashes and will continue to develop offensively. Soon, his name will be among the top five.
With these players and others that are waiting in the wings, it will be exciting to see stellar shortstop play for years to come.
