The top 20 shortstops for 2024 fantasy baseball are Daddy Warbucks and all of you are greedy Little Orphan Annies with your hands out wanting more, more, more. That’s all right, due to a high-yield savings account in the British Virgin Islands that he hasn’t paid taxes on for twenty years, Warbucks has plenty to go around and you should be plenty satiated for cashola, I mean, shortstops. I.e., there’s a lot of shortstops and you should be drafting them early and often. Okay, let’s get to it! Here’s Steamer’s 2024 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2024 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. Subscriptions are up and running, and you can already get Rudy’s Draft War Room. Anyway, here’s the top 20 shortstops for 2024 fantasy baseball:
NOTE: All my rankings are currently available on Patreon for the price of a Starbucks coffee, if you get one of those extra grande frappuccino jobbers. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out over the next month, and get them all now.
NOTE II: Free agents are listed as just that and not yet projected. Once a guy signs, I will write out their blurb and add in projections, or remove them, if they sign in an unfavorable place. They are ranked currently where I think they might be if they sign on for a full-time job.
NOTE III: Watch us on Youtube discuss the shortstop rankings:
1. Bobby Witt Jr. – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
2. Mookie Betts – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
3. Trea Turner – Already went over him in the top 10 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
4. Francisco Lindor – Already went over him in the top 20 for 2024 fantasy baseball.
5. Corey Seager – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until here. I call this tier, “Sticky note on the top 20.” Print out this top 20 shortstop list that goes to like 50-something, cut out Seager’s blurb like a Post-It, adhere some sticky substance by Semien– um, by his name, and stick Seager right there. There’s no reason why Seager isn’t in the top 20 other than there just wasn’t enough room. Felt a little like that with Pete Alonso, Austin Riley and even Adolis, but Seager was the one that stood out the largest in my mind. He’s a top 20 guy who just isn’t in the top 20. If he would’ve just gave five to ten steals, he would’ve easily been in the top 20 instead of being a top 20 guy who isn’t in the top 20. 2024 Projections: 96/33/109/.310/3 in 533 ABs
6. Bo Bichette – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Nico. I call this tier, “No adhesive.” This tier name refers back to the previous tier. You can try to stick this tier to the top 20, but it’s not sticking. Not to say I don’t like the guys in this tier. I do, but they weren’t in any real discussion for the top 20.
As for Bichette, true story alert! I was drafting my first 2024 team while I was writing up the shortstops. When it was my turn to draft, Gunnar was off the board and Bichette was staring at me at pick 29. That seemed like a great price for him. I hadn’t yet done my research though, so I was flying a bit by the seat of my pants. I knew the generalizations on him, obviously. He had great average and an odd lack of speed, but I hadn’t dug in yet. I pulled the trigger, then immediately started looking at his stats to see if I messed up. Was almost like the rules changes weren’t implemented in Canada. He’s 25 and is a career .299 hitter in 2328 plate appearances. Great! He had 5 steals last year and 3 caught stealings? Funny that I drafted him based on the seat of my pants, because it’s like he’s running with a seat of pants that is full of crap. Someone change his diaper, he’s afraid to slide! Thankfully, he had a quad injury last year. You have to think (I do at least) that heals by this year, and he regains at least his speed to 13 steals from the previous year, though that was in 21 attempts. Okay, so I know they use meters in Canada, but did Bichette hear Canadians don’t use feet and started running on his hands? 2024 Projections: 92/26/81/.295/13 in 608 ABs
7. Gunnar Henderson – Don’t want to make too much of one draft that I was in, as discussed in the Bichette blurb, but it wasn’t just my draft where Gunnar was drafted in front of Bichette, it’s on average. Gunnar is going before him. That’s a bummer because that means I’m likely going to be drafting Bichette everywhere as people take Gunnar before him. I don’t dislike Gunnar, but let’s just go off what they did last year. Gunnar went 28/10/.255, and Bichette went 20/5/.306. On the Player Rater, those HRs/SBs/AVG for Gunnar were $7.4 in value; Bichette’s average value alone was $8.1. Bo was a negative in steals ($-0.4), but those two categories were still $7.7, which is more than Gunnar. Bichette’s HRs were $1.3. Gunnar was better when you factor in runs and RBIs, but those are fluky, and the Jays had a historically unlucky year for hitting. Gunnar is so young, has upside, way more power, but hitting .255 does hurt. 2024 Projections: 106/26/71/.257/11 in 571 ABs
8. CJ Abrams – He had such a good season last year that his statline: 83/18/64/.245/47 is better than what I’m projecting Elly De La Cruz for. This will begin to feel like a gang up on Elly, but it’s not. That’ll come in Elly’s blurb. It’s that damn .191 in the 2nd half. Any hoo! Corange Juice Abrams was only caught four times last year. He stole 33 bags in the 2nd half last year in 35 attempts. Abrams could steal 60 bags, and hit 20 homers. He’s neutrally a .250 hitter. I’m defending my ranking of Abrams being above Elly because I know it’s coming, but if you just look at their projections, Abrams is better. 2024 Projections: 90/18/59/.251/52 in 585 ABs
9. Nico Hoerner – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
10. Oneil Cruz – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until here. I call this tier, “Love, love, lurve.” This tier is filled with guys I’m batshizz crazy for.
As for Oneil, boy, that last season was a soul-crushing one. I did awful in many leagues because of the hideous luck of drafting Jazz and Oneil everywhere. Jazz, well, we’ll save that for the outfielders rankings, but Oneil was about as unlucky as they come. Such a fluky, dumb injury. Raise your hand if you held Oneil all year because his injury was so unfair that you thought he’d return and at least have a good final month. I’m typing with one hand; my other hand above my hand. He played in nine games last year. Little did we know at the time, but he, and our teams, were doomed by April 9th. Since last year didn’t exactly happen for him, here’s what I said last preseason, “Even Steamer, which is usually very conservative, is giving Cruz 30/20/.250-type projections in a full season. As I talked a lot about last year, Cruz went outside of the Pirates organization to hire a hitting coach. To infer his thoughts, ‘This crap team taught Ke’Bryan Hayes to hit the ball weakly to the 2nd baseman? Yeah, I’m good without that.’ Good for Cruz, and right after Cruz did that, the Cruz Missile was born. He hit .288 in September/October and cut his strikeout rate from 42.3% to 29.8%. If he’s hitting 117 MPH tightropes like a kamikaze trapeze artist with a sub-30% strikeout rate, he’s going to hit .250+ and 30+ homers. That comes with the 12th best sprint speed in the majors. My God. Someone drop their cape behind me, I’m going to faint and I don’t want to get dirty.” And that’s me quoting me! Cruz next to each other in the rankings is a special kind of insane exit velocity harmony, but, remember this, Oneil actually made gains on his contact, and Elly did not. 2024 Projections: 82/25/64/.248/25 in 547 ABs
11. Elly De La Cruz – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until here. I call this tier, “How come I’m suddenly so thoughtful?”
As for E!, maybe I’m crazy, but I see people drafting Elly De La Cruz above Bichette and I scratch my head, after a thoughtful pause. That’s right, me taking a thoughtful pause. What on earth has gotten into me? How did Elly De La Cruz move so far ahead of Oneil Cruz in drafts? Did everyone who is drafting Elly De La Cruz in the top 20 overall forget what he did last year? Couldn’t Elly possibly hit .230? Am I clearly writing these blurbs up after drafting Bichette in one league, and it’s shading all of my other blurbs? I don’t know, I don’t know, maybe, maybe, MAYBE! Okay, on the reals, I love Elly. E! went 13/35 in only 98 games at 21 years of age. That’s absurd. What’s he gonna do for an encore, go 30/60 at 22? Him hitting .191 in the 2nd half is yanking down on my sleeve and whispering, “Thoughtful pauses are your new thing.” Sadly, I fear, I’m out on E! That’s wild. 2024 Projections: 68/20/72/.219/50 in 514 ABs
12. Xander Bogaerts – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Swanson. I call this tier, “Seeing 20/20 with glasses, contacts and just squinting real hard.” All of the guys in this tier have chances for a 20/20 season, but they will go about it in many different ways. Xander, for example, might go 10/10 in April, then take May through August off, then go 10/10 in September. Bogaerts has such an odd way of accumulating stats. He is the hottest guy in the majors for sixty days, but is also the coldest hitter in baseball for sixty days, then is merely mediocre for sixty days. 2024 Projections: 94/18/61/.297/20 in 572 ABs
13. Thairo Estrada – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
14. Anthony Volpe – How will it be weird that Volpe goes 20/20? He’ll do it while making you kinda want to drop him in shallower leagues. Well, that’s how it was last year, at least. I expect his .209 average to come up, due to his BABIP being artificially low, and his contact will get better. Wouldn’t be surprised, honestly, if I end up drafting Volpe in a bunch of leagues. He was overshadowed by guys like Corbin Carroll and Gunnar, but Volpe going 21/24 his rookie year was excellent. 2024 Projections: 71/25/69/.237/27 in 551 ABs
15. Dansby Swanson – How will it be weird that Swanson goes 20/20? Well, by not going 20/20 ever before and likely not going 20/20 this year, but he has 20+ homer power and 20-steal speed. He has some serious Saberhagenmetrics going in his career. His odd years see him hit below .250, and his even years have him hitting .275+. What numbered year is this? Oh snap! Guess what I saw? A fella pointin’ at a calendar that has an even-numbered year. 2024 Projections: 81/25/85/.254/12 in 545 ABs
16. Ha-Seong Kim – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Story. I call this tier, “Ya know.” This tier refers to your noodle. The “Ya know” tier is what you know. As in, you know these guys already. Either because I’ve gone over them in a previous post or you just know about these players because they’ve been in the league for a bit.
As for Kim, already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
17. Willy Adames – Don’t take this the wrong way. Shortstops are stacked, but that doesn’t mean you should be punting all the way down here. Draft a shortstop in the top 10 of the position, and a middle infidel in the next 10 (give or take, don’t quibble). These are utility guys, or wonky middle infidels. 2024 Projections: 75/32/89/.226/6 in 572 ABs
18. Jeremy Pena – Wow, his Launch Angle went into the dumper last year. He had a 26.6% fly ball rate. Which I’d point out as crazy low, but it’s the same fly ball rate as Bichette, so I [sticks head into sand like an ostrich] What’s up? I can’t hear you. Are you saying something? Maybe if you put a straw in the sand next to where my head is and yell into the straw? 2024 Projections: 73/15/77/.267/15 in 566 ABs
19. Carlos Correa – God, can you hear me? It’s me, Grey. Thanks for finally hearing my wish for people to realize Correa is overrated. Can I get one more wish? Can you make me rich? I know, I should’ve made that wish first but–God? That’s weird, there’s a dial tone coming from the clouds. 2024 Projections: 72/20/70/.274 in 521 ABs
20. J.P. Crawford – I’m always a little wary when I see a huge difference in Launch Angle from career norms. Crawford went from a 8.9 Launch Angle guy to a 15.1? He still only had 37.7% fly ball rate and a went from a 4.3% HR/FB to 12.3? I don’t know, guys and five lady readers, that sounds suspicious to me. 2024 Projections: 86/15/51/.271/3 in 547 ABs
21. Trevor Story – I saw FanGraphs projecting Story for 146 games and I cackled for three hours, until a team of nurses showed up at my house, wrapped me in a blanket, put me in the back of a paddy wagon, and drove me off to the nearest hospital for “head tests.” 146 games?! I mean, sure, that’s possible. You’d have to combine his next three years, but sure. Absolutely. 2024 Projections: 45/12/51/.215/20 in 373 ABs
22. Maikel Garcia – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Turang. I call this tier, “Magical realism.” That’s a genre of literature that depicts the real world with some fantastical elements. Well, what better place for fantasy to show up then in fantasy baseball rankings. This tier’s name refers to the unicorn standing off to the side of your desk right now. Look left, you see it? Read the banner on its saddle, “Ride me if you want all of these guys to reach their ceilings, and watch as they out-perform their draft spots.” All of the guys in this tier have nice ceilings to dream on.
As for Garcia, if I squint hard enough, I can see a 10/30/.300 hitter, also I’m seeing stars I’m squinting so hard. Is that bad for my retinae? 2024 Projections: 66/6/53/.282/25 in 481 ABs
23. Vaughn Grissom – Gave you my Vaughn Grissom fantasy when he was traded. Go there, and digest appropriate amounts of hype. UPDATE: Seems likely to miss Opening Day. 2024 Projections: 62/12/64/.286/22 in 477 ABs
24. Matt McLain – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
25. Luis Rengifo – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
26. Ezequiel Duran – Ya know what no one will say? The Rangers just won the World Series with no platoon players. Trying to square the circle that says Kevin Cash is so smart because he platoons everyone with that Rangers’ winning circle and there’s two sides to this circle and I’m not sure how you even square a circle. By the way, I am way higher on Duran than everyone I can find, and I’m not entirely sure why, which means I’m going to benefit so much from my ranking of him, or I’m missing some critical piece of information. Duran played nearly every day last year, and will only play more this year. He’s a 17/10/.255 guy with at-bats. That’s not incredible, but he’s being drafted way after this ranking. 2024 Projections: 61/17/58/.253/10 in 447 ABs
27. Jackson Holliday – Already gave you my Jackson Holliday fantasy. It had its rookie card already in hard plastic. 2024 Projections: 64/10/58/.278/17 in 404 ABs
28. Ceddanne Rafaela – Already gave you my Ceddanne Rafaela fantasy. Mensa called it a masterpiece. 2024 Projections: 49/13/44/.254/19 in 367 ABs
29. Masyn Winn – Already gave you my Masyn Winn fantasy. It was reading It by Stephen King. 2024 Projections: 41/8/45/.258/18 in 388 ABs
30. Jackson Merrill – Itch said, “Supreme contact skills from the left side give Merrill a fantastic base from which to develop his game over the next decade. He struck out just 62 times in 114 games across two levels last year, posting a 111 wRC+ in High-A and a 104 in Double-A despite being 4.3 years younger than the league average age. Only person I like to imagine with better contact is my fist to Grey’s head.” What on earth? Most people are projecting Merrill for 12/8/.250-ish, but they’re honestly throwing darts at numbers. He could be 7/30/.280 or 20/20/.250 or somewhere in-between. Clearly worth a flyer though for upside. 2024 Projections: 59/14/58/.253/18 in 453 ABs
31. Zach Neto – Worth noting with this tier, that these guys aren’t necessarily ranked based on their ceilings but there is some element of “Their ceilings are what I’m drafting, even though I know their projections are more realistic and likely.” It is also worth noting how you can’t really rank for 10-team, 12-team, 15-team and 15-team Draft and Hold leagues all in the same rankings. Oh, I try! It’s why we have so many different rankings, here’s our 15-team rankings, for example, and you see a bunch of different types of rankings on that page. I say you can’t rank for all of them in the same rankings because whether you take a flyer on a guy like Neto vs. someone safer like Amed Rosario really matters in a 15-team Draft and Hold league, but not so much in a 10-teamer. Neto doesn’t work in a 10-teamer? You move on. Neto doesn’t work in a Draft and Hold league? Well, you’re screwed. With that said, I like Neto, but no one likes him as much as Steamer, appizzarently! Wow, his projections are great. (Roughly 22/12/.250 in 150 games.) Super intrigued, but getting him to 20+ homers feels incredibly optimistic. Well, this is a magical realism tier, so let’s give him 35 homers! And a unicorn to ride around the bases for each of his homers. 2024 Projections: 61/16/67/.256/12 in 471 ABs
32. Ezequiel Tovar – People will say, “Tovar, como usted be muy boring and play half games in Coors and other half games sin Coors? You are so muy facil that you make Grey write in broken Español as he attempto to bring something/anything of interest to your blurb.” Those people are correctamundo. He is incredibly boring, but I guess Coors and being so young makes him [imagines a guy much better than Tovar]. Yeah, that could happen! 2024 Projections: 72/14/75/.251/12 in 579 ABs
33. Brice Turang – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
34. Tim Anderson – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Baez. I call this tier, “The shortstops’ nipples are bleeding.” After you have a long run, your nipples bleed. Well, shortstops had a good run and now their nipples are bleeding.
As for Anderson, signed with the Marlins. Jazz and Tim on the same team is going to be nonstop entertainment (in their own mind). If they deliver 20% of what they promise, we are so good! Let’s just hope the Marlins don’t face the Guards when Jose Ramirez is in a bad mood. Any hoo! For fantasy, Anderson is what he is at this point, and doesn’t have much upside. Unless you’re in a 6×6 league with KOs. 2024 Projections: 64/5/42/.268/13 in 504 ABs
35. Orlando Arcia – Back to my Ezequiel Duran point about the Rangers not platooning anyone, neither do the Braves, a team whose lineup was so good, it even made Orlando Arcia seem good. 2024 Projections: 57/15/60/.261/2 in 450 ABs
36. Tommy Edman – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
37. Javier Baez – [wavy lines indicating a dream sequence] Oh, wow, we’re back in 2016, right before the Cubs win the World Series. Hey, why is that devil bargaining with Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez about their souls? Are they going to sell them for this World Series win? [wavy lines as the dream sequence ends] Huh, that’s odd. Weird thing to drop in on, any hoo…Javier Baez sucks now, not sure why. 2024 Projections: 55/15/61/.220/12 in 505 ABs
38. Oswaldo Cabrera – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until the end of the list. I call this tier, “Mr. Buts.” This tier name is the guys that you’re like, “You missed, er, but…Hmm, not sure if you did miss that player or if you don’t want to rank him, but…” Or Mr. Buts for short.
As for Cabrera, Yankees are shameful with how they don’t play their prospects, especially last year when they were clearly playing for nothing. Not sure that ever ends, tee be aitch, so Cabrera is interesting but likely won’t play. 2024 Projections: 35/10/38/.251/10 in 271 ABs
39. Jordan Lawlar – Already gave you my Jordan Lawlar fantasy. It was presented warts and all. UPDATE: Will start the year in the minors. 2024 Projections: 41/8/33/.244/18 in 321 ABs
40. Geraldo Perdomo – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
41. Marco Luciano – The Giants are finally moving on from Brandon Crawford? I can’t believe it! Have I fallen asleep for the last two decades of them trotting out a guy hitting eight homers and .210 in everyday at-bats year after year? Wow, I haven’t, but they’re still moving on! Check your toast for a picture of Jesus burnt into it because this must be a miracle! Wait, what’s that? They’re looking at signing Tim Anderson? Oh no! Right now, I have Luciano penciled into the Giants’ lineup, but I’ll believe it when I see it on Opening Day. 2024 Projections: 41/17/47/.207/4 in 334 ABs
42. Zach McKinstry – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
43. Liover Peguero – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
44. Amed Rosario – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
45. Enrique Hernandez – Already went over him in the 1st basemen rankings.
46. Chris Taylor – Good news is he always out-performs his projections. The bad news is his projections are usually: bad/terrible/ugh/you kidding right now/bad again. 2024 Projections: 39/13/41/.221/13 in 295 ABs
47. Jon Berti – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
48. Oswald Peraza – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
49. Taylor Walls – Already went over him in the 2nd basemen rankings.
Omitted but considered: Jorge Mateo, Colson Montgomery, Adalberto Mondesi, Brayan Rocchio, Gabriel Arias, Brooks Lee, Jackson Merrill, Luisangel Acuna, Orelvis Martinez, Matt Shaw, Elvis Andrus, Darell Hernaiz, Marcelo Mayer, Jose Caballero, Addison Barger, Casey Schmitt, Osleivis Basabe, Miguel Rojas, Aledmys Diaz, Paul DeJong, Nick Allen, Kyren Paris, Joey Wendle, Pablo Reyes, Garrett Hampson, Adael Amador, Ernie Clement, Zack Short, Josh H. Smith, Rece Hinds, David Hamilton, Rodolfo Castro, Jacob Amaya, Jose Barrero, Ryan Kreidler