MLB Top 10 Shortstops- 2017

The shortstop position is full of young talent and looks to be a competitive position going into 2017. For a top 10, it was difficult to rank each shortstop because there are so many young shortstops and it is difficult to project how they will perform. There are still a few veteran shortstops that are top ten quality that make it into this list. One qualification this list has is the players must have played full time shortstop in 2016.

(note: NL= National League, AL= American League, HR= home run, RBI= runs batted in, OBP= on base percentage, SLG= slugging percentage, SO= strike outs, BB= walks, SB= stolen bases, E= errors, TC= total chances with putouts, assists, errors put together)

10. Didi Gregorius- 26, NYY

Didi Gregorius has played four season with being a full-time player in his last two seasons. For a Shortstop, he has had two straight solid seasons with last year being his best year. In 2016 he had good offensive stats where he batted .276, hit 20 HR, hit 32 Doubles, drove in 70 RBI, with a .304 OBP, and a .447 SLG. His other stats include 7 SB and only 82 SO. His defensive stats with a .974 fielding percentage and 15 Errors with 575 TC are not as impressive as others on the list. He has yet to be selected to an All-Star game but he has room to improve because he is young enough at 26, which is why he is number 10. He is also entering his prime years so he may have his best numbers over the next few seasons.

9. Corey Seager- 22, LAD

Corey Seager is the first young shortstop on the list and was awarded the NL Rookie of the Year in 2016. He also won the NL Silver Slugger and was selected to the NL All-Star team in 2016. He has played for two seasons but 2016 was his first full time year playing where he batted .308, 193 hits, hit 26 HR, 40 Doubles, drove in 72 RBI, with a .365 OBP, a .512 SLG, and only 54 BB. Offensively he was a top shortstop but there are several areas that hold him back from being higher on the list. He only had a fielding percentage of .968 with 18 Errors with only 569 TC, which is not very impressive. Fielding is an important stat for the shortstop position and he is towards the bottom among full time SS, but he is towards the top offensively so he is number 9. He is above Didi Gregorius because he has a higher ceiling being four years younger, which means has more room to improve.

8. Alcides Escobar- 30, KC

Alcides Escobar has eight years of experience having been selected as an AL All-Star once in 2015 and won the AL Gold Award in 2015. He has played every game of his career at SS except for five games. He has been durable with 145 plus games played seven years of being a full-time player. He has been consistent with his defense by having a .970 plus fielding percentage in five seasons. He has had 600 plus Total Chances in six seasons with less than 15 Errors in in four of those seasons. Last year he batted .261, hit 7 HR, 24 Doubles, drove in 55 RBI, had a .292 OBP, .350 SLG, 17 SB, and only 96 SO. His defensive stats were better with a .979 fielding percentage and 14 Errors with 661 TC, which were impressive with the number of fielding chances he had. What puts him at number 8 is his experience, durability, and his past defensive accomplishments. What holds him back from being higher on the list is his weak ranking in stats among SS.

7. Elvis Andrus- 28, TEX

Elvis Andrus has eight years of experience playing every game at SS with two AL All-Star selections with the last being in 2012 and has been durable with 145 plus games played every year in seven-year career. He has also been consistent with some offensive numbers by having 25 plus Doubles in five seasons, a .270 plus batting average in four seasons, 25 plus SB in six seasons, and less than 100 SO every season. His defense has been even better with a .970 plus fielding percentage in six seasons and less than 20 Errors in five seasons with over 600 TC in seven seasons. In 2016 he batted .302, hit 8 HR, 31 Doubles, drove in 69 RBI, with a .362 OBP, a .439 SLG, and 24 SB. He had a good defensive season as well with a .974 fielding percentage and 17 Errors with 659 TC. He is number 7 because he is a good defensive and offensive Shortstop who has been durable and is still young. Some of his batting stats are impressive even though he does not hit for power but his defensive stats hold him back from being higher on the list, which is not as good as others higher up.

6. Troy Tulowitzki- 32, TOR

Troy Tulowitzki has 11 years of experience while playing every game he has been in at the SS position. He has been selected to five NL All-Star teams with the last one being 2015. He has won two NL Sliver Slugger and two NL Gold Glove awards, but both where in 2010 and 2011. He has been consistent offensively when he has been healthy with a .280 in eight seasons, 20 plus HR in seven seasons, 20 plus Doubles in eight seasons, and 70 plus RBI in seven seasons. He has also been consistent defensively with a .980 plus fielding percentage in 10 seasons, less than 10 Errors in nine seasons, but has only had 600 plus TC in four seasons. In 2016 he batted .254, hit 24 HR, 21 Doubles, drove in 79 RBI, with a .318 OBP, and .443 SLG. He is also one of the top defensive SS with .983 fielding percentage and 9 Errors but with only 533 TC. He has faced injury problems having only played 140 plus games in three seasons in his 10-year career. Troy Tulowitzki is number 6 because he has experience being an offensive force and has been a great defensive SS. What holds him back from being higher is his lack of durability and his lower numbers the last few seasons.

5. Addison Russell- 22, CHC

Addison Russell is another young impressive SS who has played two full seasons and was selected to the NL All-Star team in 2016 along with being on a World Championship team. His offensive stats in 2016 were impressive where he hit 21 HR, 25 Doubles, drove in 95 RBI, 55 BB and .417 SLG. Some of his other offensive stats are less impressive like batting .238, with a .321 OBP. He has decent Defensive states with a .975 fielding percentage and 14 Errors but only 554 TC. What puts him in the top five is he has put up some good numbers in his two seasons and his high potential with how much he improved in two season and is likely to improve more, which is why he is number 4.

Carlos Correa- 22, HOU

Carlos Correa is like Addison Russell in that he is another young impressive SS having played two seasons, although one was not a full season but he put full season numbers up. He won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2015 but has not been selected to an All-Star game yet. His offensive stats in 2016 were impressive where he batted .274, hit 20 HR, 36 Doubles, and drove in 96 RBI. His other offensive stats are impressive as well with 13 SB, 75 BB, .361 OBP, and .451 SLG. His defensive stats were very good with a .978 fielding percentage and 14 Errors with 642 TC. He is number 4 because he is great offensively, good defensively, and has potential to improve being only 22. What holds him back from being higher is his inexperience having only played two seasons.

3. Francisco Lindor- 23, CLE

Francisco Lindor is yet another impressive SS with two years of experience and has many impressive statistics. HeHe was selected to the 2016 AL All-Star team and winning the AL Golden Glove for 2016. He had impressive offensive statistics in 2016 where he batted .301, hit 15 HR, 30 Doubles, and drove in 78 RBI. His other impressive offensive stats include 19 SB, 57 BB, only 88 SO, 57 BB, with a .358 OBP, and a .435 SLG. His defensive stats are good with a .982 fielding percentage and 12 Errors with an impressive 674 TC. He is number three because he is a great overall SS who is consistent among Offensive and Defensive stats. He is young with a lot of potential to improve but that inexperience holds him back from being higher like up the list.

2. Xander Bogaerts- 24, BOS

Xander Bogaerts is another in a long list of impressive young SS with four years of experience who was selected to the 2016 AL All-Star team and has won the last two AL Silver Sluggers. His offensive stats in 2016 were impressive where he batted .294, hit 21 HR, 34 Doubles, and drove in 89 RBI. His other offensive stats include having 13 SB, 58 BB, a .356 OBP, and a .446 SLG. His defensive stats were good with a .979 fielding percentage and 12 Errors but only 562 TC. He is number 2 because he is young with a lot of potential who is already the best offensive Shortstop. What holds him back from being number 1 is not being as good defensively and has some inexperience.

1. Brandon Crawford- 30, SF

Brandon Crawford has six years of experience having played every game at SS and has been a part of two world championship teams. He was selected to the NL All-Star team once in 2015, won the NL Silver Slugger in 2015, and has won the NL Gold Glove the last two seasons. He has had some success offensively by having three seasons with 10 plus HR, five seasons with 20 plus Doubles, and three seasons with 60 plus RBI. He has had more success defensively by have five seasons with a .970 fielding percentage and four seasons with 15 or less Errors with 600 plus TC in four seasons. His offensive stats in 2016 were not as good as others on the list where he batted .275, hit 12 HR, 28 Doubles, and drove in 84 RBI. He had a .342 OBP, and a .430 SLG, 57 BB. The stats that put him number one on the list are his defensive stats with a .983 and 11 Errors with 633 TC. He is number 1 because he is the best overall Shortstop who is the best defensive Shortstop and has put together two solid offensive seasons in a row. He is above all the other players on this list because of his experience, durability having played an average of 149 games per season over the last five years, and his defensive skills.