Welcome to the position tiered rankings for 2015. The tiers are broken out into five tiers with five being the highest and one being the lowest. Five star players are players that will be taken in the first couple of rounds or will go for $30-plus. Four star players will have $20-plus. Three stars $10-plus, two stars $5-plus and the one star are players you want to avoid or players to stash on your bench.
The statistics for each player are my semi-final projections. The projections are going to change going forward, but if you follow me on Twitter @MattCommins I will tweet out when my projections are updated and posted on MattCommins.com. If I was a reader I would focus on the tiering of players and the overall idea of the projections. For example, if I project a player for 28 home runs that means I think he’ll hit for a lot of power.
Links the other position previews:
What you will find below are the fantasy tiers for shortstops. When you look at the projections for Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Ramirez I haven’t baked in the replacement level statistics yet. So in essence you’re looking at the exact numbers I think they’ll provide. This is the position where you want to get your stolen bases. If you got your stolen bases elsewhere you may be able to draft home run first players like J.J. Hardy, Jhonny Peralta, Xander Bogaerts and Wilmer Flores on the cheap.
Five Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 425 | 0.311 | 28 | 70 | 70 | 1 |
| Hanley Ramirez | 450 | 0.29 | 22 | 82 | 72 | 12 |
| Ian Desmond | 590 | 0.265 | 20 | 85 | 74 | 21 |
Five-Star Value Pick: Ian Desmond
Ian Desmond has posted three consecutive seasons of 20/20 production so I’m not going on much of a limb here.
Four Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Jose Reyes | 550 | 0.289 | 9 | 53 | 90 | 30 |
| Alexei Ramirez | 620 | 0.27 | 12 | 71 | 75 | 24 |
Four-Star Value Pick: Jose Reyes
Jose Reyes has a lower floor and higher ceiling while Alexei Ramirez has a higher floor and lower ceiling. When you’re drafting it’s all about preference.
Three Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Starlin Castro | 650 | 0.291 | 16 | 79 | 70 | 5 |
| Elvis Andrus | 620 | 0.275 | 3 | 55 | 88 | 27 |
| Danny Santana | 580 | 0.265 | 9 | 55 | 75 | 27 |
| Jean Segura | 530 | 0.269 | 6 | 55 | 65 | 30 |
| Erick Aybar | 560 | 0.275 | 7 | 70 | 65 | 18 |
| Xander Bogaerts | 550 | 0.276 | 15 | 70 | 77 | 2 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 550 | 0.24 | 11 | 65 | 70 | 22 |
Three-Star Value Pick: Xander Bogaerts
When evaluating any young player who struggled in his rookie season I always fall back on the tool set when projecting him the following year. Just one year ago Xander Bogaerts was a consensus top five prospect and when I read his scouting reports it’s hard to believe he struggled as much as he did last year. This year the shortstop job is and he’s not going to be moved to another position during the season.
Two Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| J.J. Hardy | 540 | 0.264 | 16 | 70 | 70 | 0 |
| Chris Owings | 500 | 0.267 | 11 | 55 | 55 | 18 |
| Jhonny Peralta | 550 | 0.26 | 18 | 70 | 62 | 2 |
| Alcides Escobar | 590 | 0.255 | 3 | 50 | 68 | 24 |
Two-Star Value Pick: Chris Owings
Of the four players Chris Owings has the widest range of possibilities. He could be 15/15 player with a .290-plus batting average or he could be a 9/9 player with a sub-.260 batting average. When you’re picking this low in your draft it depends on what you need, but in a vacuum Owings is the only player who has the ability to provide production in all five categories.
One Star
| Player | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | R | SB |
| Javier Baez | 550 | 0.219 | 23 | 55 | 55 | 15 |
| Wilmer Flores | 470 | 0.265 | 16 | 50 | 60 | 1 |
| Jed Lowrie | 480 | 0.265 | 11 | 65 | 55 | 0 |
| Andrelton Simmons | 560 | 0.249 | 10 | 55 | 60 | 5 |
| Marcus Semien | 500 | 0.245 | 8 | 55 | 60 | 6 |
| Didi Gregorius | 510 | 0.249 | 7 | 48 | 60 | 4 |
One-Star Value Pick: Wilmer Flores
If you got speed at other positions in the draft and you need power than look no further than Wilmer Flores. There are major question marks whether he can stay at the shortstop position, but there are little to no questions about his ability to hit a baseball. I’m projecting 16 home runs but I wouldn’t be surprised if he hits 20-plus if given a full year of playing time.
