Now that we’ve recapped the top 20 catchers, top 20 1st basemen and top 20 2nd basemen, we’re starting to see clarity on depth of positions, and shortstops had a cataclysmic disaster happen to them. 1st basemen out-classed them by a decent amount. Ezequiel Duran barely snuck into the top 20 1st basemen and here he’s 10th. Meidroth was 13th for 2nd basemen, here he’s 11th; Rocchio was 16th at 2B, here he’s 12th. 2nd basemen were deeper than the shortstops! So, here’s the final ranking from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater with my comments. The Player Rater allows me to be impartial while looking at how I ranked them in the preseason. Anyway, here’s the top 20 shortstops for 2026 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. CJ Abrams – Corange Juice had an endless supply of [mimes juicing oranges, Cancel Police break down door]…No! Wait! I was miming juicing oranges not honking hooters! So, Corange Juice was incredible with way more power than I expected, but 40 more RBIs is insane. I shouldn’t be that far off for anyone on ribbies. I promise you, I was not that far off from anyone else doing projections. No one was expecting that. Mookie Betts only had 69 RBIs hitting cleanup in the Dodgers’ lineup. Nats’ offense was like Opposite Day for 162 games. Every other team had a down year for hitting and the Nats were out there banging with CJ as the head banger, call him Riki Rachtman drinking Corange Bang. Preseason Rank #6, 2026 Projections: 94/21/67/.261/31 in 584 ABs, Final Numbers: 93/33/106/.261/34 in 579 ABs
2. Elly De La Cruz – Even the top hitters at shortstop are down from their preseason projections. It was a very poor year. When comparing E! to other players who were poor, he was excellent. He had a solid 2nd half, and looks primed to have a 40/40 season next year, but under 100 runs and under 80 RBIs? Well, more in Witt’s blurb. Preseason Rank #2, 2026 Projections: 112/29/93/.266/46 in 601 ABs, Final Numbers: 99/30/79/.283/30 in 559 ABs.
3. Bobby Witt Jr. – What if the Royals move in the fence some more? Hmm, can we get them to do that? So, this was a goofy year for offense as BDon and I talk about on the last podcast of 2026 (before the 2027 draft podcast). Hitting was down everywhere.
Ignoring strike years/2020…
.316 average is lowest to lead the majors ever
45 homers is lowest total to lead the majors since 2014
116 RBI is lowest total to lead the majors since 2014
119 runs scored is lowest total to lead majors since 2014
40 doubles is lowest total to lead majors since 1972— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot.bsky.social) September 27, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Qualified hitters with a .900 OPS
2019: 29
2020: 23
2021: 14
2022: 5
2023: 10
2024: 9
2025: 6
2026: 3 (Alvarez, Crow-Armstrong, Wn. Contreras)Tied with 1976 for the low total of the live-ball era.
— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot.bsky.social) September 27, 2026 at 5:37 PM
The Cubs had the lowest OPS+ to lead the league since 1969, tying the Orioles of that year with 110. That year was famously the year of the pitcher. Let’s lower the mound five feet below ground so hitters can only see the chest up of the pitcher. And move the mound to 2nd base. The joys de Witt were plentiful this Suzanne Somers but mostly from his steals and average and not his 18 homers. Preseason Rank #1, 2026 Projections: 106/30/93/.304/42 in 619 ABs, Final Numbers: 94/18/54/.281/45 in 558 ABs
4. Otto Lopez – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
5. Zach Neto – Some troubling trends to his numbers. His fly balls are going up and not in a good way and his strikeouts are following. 2027 is going to be an interesting year for him, because it’ll be reverse course and he returns to a 30/30/.260 hitter or it gets worse and becomes 25/25/.220. If you’re going off his 2nd half, it’ll be more the former than the latter if the former is the first one and I haven’t confused the two. Preseason Rank #4, 2026 Projections: 90/30/74/.256/31 in 577 ABs, Final Numbers: 102/27/77/.239/24 in 619 ABs
6. Kevin McGonigle – This goes to what I was saying in my 2nd basemen recap. I wasn’t super close on the McGonigle preseason rank or projections, but I loved him, drafted him and was all-in from Jump Street. So, it appears I was off on him, but I was actually more off on Treat Urner and I absolutely nailed his ranking. So caveats aside, a police chief screaming, “McGonigle!” Was absolutely perfect for a rookie. I hate to do this to him, but he reminds me of a young Gunnar. Shove me into a locker right now for that comp. Hold on, I mean what we thought Gunnar was before he became whatever this is. Preseason Rank #25, 2026 Projections: 47/12/49/.266/12 in 418 ABs, Final Numbers: 97/18/72/.278/12 in 605 ABs
7. Trea Turner – Building what I was saying in the last blurb, you can’t nail a guy’s ranking and projections much better than I did with Urner, and, yet, his final numbers are the most concerning kind. An older player, who relies on speed, loses that much in BABIP (.350 to .284) and average (.304 to .242) is alarming. Next year he’s gonna look like: 15/15/.230. Preseason Rank #7, 2026 Projections: 86/16/61/.291/25 in 537 ABs, Final Numbers: 101/19/58/.242/21 in 643 ABs
8. Jeremy Pena – He had an excellent season for only playing 112 games. But, in the big picture, he barely snuck in the top 100 overall. He also barely snuck in the top 100 in the preseason ADP, and was the 13th shortstop. That means there’s at least five shortstops missing from the top 100. Where is Lindor? Where is Seager? Where is Thumbkin? I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know. Preseason Rank #15, 2026 Projections: 74/17/61/.273/18 in 506 ABs, Final Numbers: 82/22/56/.277/12 in 447 ABs
9. Brooks Lee – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
10. Ezequiel Duran – See his recap at the top 20 1st basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
11. Chase Meidroth – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
12. Brayan Rocchio – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
13. Dansby Swanson – A 19/17/.213 season is brutal as the 13th best shortstop year but even more worrisome is Swanson did all his stats in a five-game span. Call him Five Game Spansby. Five Game Spanson? Meh, you get what I’m saying. Swanson’s career fell-off a cliff and here he is sniffing the top 10 for shortstops. It was a mess of a position. He only had 428 ABs! He shouldn’t be ranked anywhere near here. Preseason Rank #16, 2026 Projections: 76/21/72/.243/15 in 597 ABs, Final Numbers: 82/19/69/.213/17 in 428 ABs
14. Bo Bichette – Well, we’ve finally found what kind of hitter Boba Chette is — a 18-homer/.260-.290 hitter. Top end of that is fine-slash-solid, and the bottom end of that is dreadfully yawnstipating. Josh Naylor has creeped into every player’s stats and now I see two steals from Boba and I just think, “This guy isn’t trying hard enough.” Preseason Rank #13, 2026 Projections: 79/17/81/.291/5 in 561 ABs, Final Numbers: 76/18/78/.260/2 in 638 ABs
15. Gunnar Henderson – If the company you keep says more than anything I could say, Dubon and Gunnar being nearly identical for fantasy value says reams. Said like a Shark on Shark Tank, “…and because of that I’m out.” In retrospect, it was clear I shouldn’t even have been in this year. I can’t say I fully understand why I was so obstinate about a bounce back from Gunnar. I really discounted all of 2025 and decided he was more the 2024 Gunnar and I don’t know where that 2024 Gunnar went, but he adios’d out of here like a baby daddy. Preseason Rank #3, 2026 Projections: 103/27/89/.280/26 in 584 ABs, Final Numbers: 88/24/60/.226/10 in 623 ABs
16. Mauricio Dubon – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
17. Nico Hoerner – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
18. Mookie Betts – This is kinda funny (not funny). Mookie was one of my preseason overrated schmohawk posts that I felt was poorly received because people were believing the Spring Training narrative that he was injured in 2025, and hence the down year. People were also convinced Mookie couldn’t be bad again because of the lineup around him. Well, he was extremely not good. The funny part is while most disagreed with me on Mookie, I think most people bought what I was selling with my PCA overrated post. Preseason Rank #8, 2026 Projections: 85/18/71/.254/8 in 556 ABs, Final Numbers: 71/23/69/.257/2 in 478 ABs
19. Geraldo Perdomo – Just checked his 2nd half because I dropped him in one league around the trade deadline (in an NL-Only, I was picking up Skubal and needed to clear cap space), and Perdomo was okay after I dropped him. About nicest thing you can say for him. He hit one homer and stole four bags in August and September combined. That sounds like the final weekend from Ronny Mauricio, so, yeah, okay. Call him Geraldokay Perdomokay. Preseason Rank #10, 2026 Projections: 91/12/70/.282/21 in 576 ABs, Final Numbers: 75/9/59/.262/21 in 562 ABs
20. JJ Wetherholt – See his recap at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2026 fantasy baseball.
