Now that we’ve summarized the top 20 catchers, top 20 first basemen, and top 20 second basemen, we’re starting to see clarity on position depth, and shortstops are robust, and they’ll eat metaphorically. Maikel Garcia was a top three 2nd baseman, here he is 9th. That goes deeper, friend thrown by the obvious. So here are our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater’s final rankings with my comments. The Player Rater allows me to be impartial and look at how I ranked them in the preseason. Anyway, here are the top 20 2025 fantasy baseball shortstops and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Francisco Lindor – This is nothing against him, but the shortstops weren’t nearly as good as I think we expected in the preseason. A lot of guys were disappointed to some extent. Elly was good, but disappointed; Witt was good, but disappointed; Gunnar was great, if you were expecting CJ Abrams; Mookie, Oneil, Seager, McLain, Tovar, and Xavier Edwards all had varying levels of blech. There were a few guys who did better than expected, but they were guys you didn’t trust at all (Perdomo, Story, Bichette), which might have made you sell high or just not pick up or hold on. As for Lindor, I’ve basically nailed his projections and he’s consistently underrated. The crazy thing is that Lindor was even recently in our top 20 overall podcasts, Lindor was still underrated even though I said he was underrated. I think admitting it is the first step. Rank #4 Preseason, 2025 Projections: 112/32/93/.276/30 in 603 ABs, Final Figures: 117/31/86/.267/31 in 644 ABs
2. Bobby Witt Jr. – Takes a bit of a step back this year, but the numbers under the hood basically say it was just as good, if not better, in some respects. His Ks went up, but not by much, and his HardHit% went up quite a bit, and his club plane stayed the same. I think he was a little unlucky with where he hit his catches, i.e. if he pulled the ball a little more he would have a handful more home runs. Also, unimportant but funny, if he had called SacTown home, he would have hit 38 home runs. Preseason Rank #1, 2025 Projections: 112/33/102/.314/37 in 611 ABs, Final Figures: 99/23/88/.295/38 in 623 ABs
3. Geraldo Perdomo – Without Cal Raleigh, more of Perdomo’s crazy year would have been made. Well, maybe not. Okay, I’ll explain. He hasn’t had a flashy year. A guy who hits 60 home runs is Big News as his ass. A guy who hits 20 home runs and hits .290 like Perdomo? Isn’t that the case? However, he is neutrally a .290 hitter, so Perdomo may not be as out of nowhere as initially thought. His 27 steals are so hard to estimate, other than him shrugging his shoulders and saying “pitch clock.” Preseason Ranking #46, 2025 Projections: 66/6/42/.261/13 in 471 ABs, Final Figures: 98/20/100/.290/27 in 597 ABs
4. Elly Dela Cruz – Too bad he didn’t play in the 2nd half. Can I also recommend Bob’s Hypnosis Emporium on Sepulveda? I went there and asked them to take away all the pain from the second half of the season when my teams with James Wood and Elly collapsed and… I’m sorry, I forget what I said, but I’m going to cluck like a chicken now. Preseason Rank #2, 2025 Projections: 111/30/72/.267/51 in 602 ABs, Final Figures: 102/22/86/.264/37 in 629 ABs
5. Trevor story – A career that peaked in at-bats at age 32. Sorry that’s confusing, because of his career you might think I mean he had a career high of 32 plate appearances. No, 32 was his age. He hasn’t even played 100 games in the last three years. If you drafted Story and kept him all year, you deserve the year he gave you, but he also didn’t deserve the loyalty you offered him. The best place for Story happened to be in the Best Ball competitions, because you drafted him and forgot about him. Preseason Rank #30, 2025 Projections: 41/8/38/.228/12 in 303 ABs, Final Figures: 91/25/96/.263/31 in 612 ABs
6. Trea Turner – He won the NL batting title with the lowest NL average, which isn’t nearly as improbable as his 36 steals. His highest total since 2018. Goes back to my Pitch Clock 12 rule. That rule states that the pitch clock can add 12 steals to a player’s winnings if he wants to steal, because the pitch clock allows that kind of wiggle room. This rule is about to become the Josh Naylor 27, as the pitch clock can add plus or minus 27 steals. Juan Soto stuck to the Josh Naylor 27. Season Rank #6, 2025 Projections: 91/20/72/.287/22 in 541 ABs, Final Figures: 94/15/69/.304/36 in 589 ABs
7. Bo bichette – Here’s the problem with Boba Chette: You could tell me he’s going 78/18/94/.311/4 in 582 ABs, and I’ll admit that’s a solid line for fantasy, but it’s not the kind of line I appreciate. So if you tell me that 78/18/94/.311/4 in 582 ABs is the 7th best shortstop, I would still rank him 15th. Rank #24 preseason, 2025 Projections: 71/16/73/.272/6 in 507 ABs, Final Figures: 78/18/94/.311/4 in 582 ABs
8. Gunnar Henderson – Bichette, then Gunnar and then Gray go to a therapist. I’m going to try to chime in here and say that Gunnar wasn’t bad in a fantasy vacuum. Too bad I don’t play fantasy in a vacuum, and speaking of vacuum cleaners: Gunnar blows and sucks. I’m still waiting for Gunnar to say that he played most of last year with an oblique injury, and I think he’ll make me wait until spring training next year to say that. The most underrated hilarious thing about the 2025 season is that the Orioles brought in their gates. Too bad they didn’t tell their players. Rank #3 Preseason, 2025 Projections: 111/35/93/.289/17 in 569 ABs, Final Figures: 85/17/68/.274/30 in 577 ABs
9. Michael Garcia – See his summary of the 20 best second basemen for fantasy baseball of 2025.
10. C.J. Abrams – Perhaps the best news for Abrams is that two players were suspended for gambling last year, and he was not. I was just thinking, what if Abrams hears about the Naylor 27 Rule? He would be a man of 60. Corange Juice Abrams doesn’t seem interested in maximizing his fantasy value in my mind (I think he’s a 50-steal guy), otherwise I might just have the wrong idea about how good he is. Anyway, I basically nailed his projections. Rank #8 Preseason, 2025 Projections: 87/20/66/.244/34 in 557 ABs, Final Figures: 92/19/60/.257/31 in 580 ABs
11. Zach Neto – These year-end rankings are a bit misleading, because if you filled in for him while he was away, you got more value than the 11th best shortstop. What’s somewhat interesting (to me) is that he was only the 5th best daily shortstop for $/Game on the Player Rater (I excluded Colson, who was 2nd best, because he only played half a season). Top 4: Witt, Trea, Lindor and Story. I thought Neto would have been higher. Rank #23 Preseason, 2025 Projections: 62/15/69/.241/26 in 477 ABs, Final Figures: 82/26/62/.257/26 in 502 ABs
12. Willy Adames – If I can pat myself on the back, Adames was also a man whose projections were nailed down. Crap, I had ketchup on my hand, can you check if I got it on my back? Hello! Little help! By the way, Adames’ loss of value in San Fran was one of the most obvious stories to emerge and stay true this year. A slightly crazy Buster Posey didn’t see it coming. MLB needs to make a new rule for GMs, players need to tell their new club that they won’t be as good as before. Preseason Rank #10, 2025 Projections: 81/27/92/.238/12 in 581 ABs, Final Figures: 94/30/87/.225/12 in 591 ABs
13. Dansby Swanson – I understand why he is ranked here and not higher than Bichette, but Swanson’s 24/20 and figuring out the average elsewhere sounds much more attractive than 18/4. One little thing about Swanson and a lot of players that continues to strike me: guys play in a lot more games. Swanson played in 159 games. Played 11 shortstops in 150 games or more. Maybe it’s confirmation bias, because guys in the top 20 will have played more than guys who didn’t make it, like Seager or Winn or others. Rank #21 Preseason, 2025 Projections: 78/19/67/.248/15 in 527 ABs, Final Figures: 84/24/77/.244/20 in 590 ABs
14. Mookie Betts – There isn’t a ton of money made from Mookie’s downfall. Mookie Best to Mookie Mid. He went 20/8/.258. If he had one of his fairly usual 145-ish game seasons, he wouldn’t even be close to the top 20. His HardHit% is in the gutter (he understands bowling, right?), and his ground balls are up (not literally). Age comes to us all, and his profile doesn’t age well. More in the next blurb. Rank #5 Preseason, 2025 Projections: 107/33/102/.294/17 in 579 ABs, Final Figures: 95/20/82/.258/8 in 589 ABs
15. Jeremy Foam – Betts’s 20/8 or Pena’s 17/20 in 25 fewer matches and exemptions to fill for those matches in mixed competitions? Is there a question which one do you want? Betts’ 150 games puts his stats up quite a bit, and Pena’s month missed hurts his ranking here, but he was much better than Betts. Pena and Neto would have been top 10 players with better runs and RBIs coming from ABs. Preseason Rank #19, 2025 Projections: 74/14/72/.258/17 in 581 ABs, Final Figures: 68/17/62/.304/20 in 493 ABs
16. Ceddanne Rafaela – See his summary of the 20 best second basemen for fantasy baseball of 2025.
17. Bryson Stott – See his summary of the 20 best second basemen for fantasy baseball of 2025.
18. Oneil Cruz – At some point this year I decided I was going to go with the Cruz Missile until further notice. His worst tendencies took root in his underlying skills and his Ks began exploring nearby schools in case they had children. Going 20/38 and being that bad is a red flag. He’s reached the point where even the Pirates are done with his shenanigans and have dropped him in the order and platooned him against some lefties. I’d like to see him traded to a team that can help him, because the Pirates haven’t had a good coach since Ray Searage, and he was pitching. The last good Pirates hitting coach was probably Jim Leyland, and I’m not kidding. Now the Pirates’ motto seems to be a father who catches his kid smoking and puts him in the closet to finish off the pack. “Go in there and hack yourself to death until you find out.” Preseason Rank #7, 2025 Projections: 81/28/86/.257/20 in 556 ABs, Final Figures: 62/20/61/.200/38 in 471 ABs
19. Otto Lopez – See his summary of the 20 best second basemen for fantasy baseball of 2025.
20. Jacob Wilson – I’m trying to make this about the past year and not future years, but is it safe to bet that Wilson will win three or more batting titles in the next decade? If so, I’ll take that bet. Ooh, I hear Emmanuel Clase will honor my bet. Nice! Preseason Rank #36, 2025 Projections: 51/7/54/.263/3 in 503 ABs, Final Figures: 62/13/63/.311/5 in 486 ABs
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