Fantasy baseball once held shortstop as its undisputed strongest position, with the top players better than anywhere else on the diamond. That distinction has come under threat, though, as the position has taken some hits heading into 2027. Now the rankings are getting harder to settle.
Long-time stars like Trea Turner, Mookie Betts, and Corey Seager look like they have aged out of being difference makers. Gunnar Henderson, once the position’s young superstar, doesn’t look like one anymore. Trevor Story may have completely collapsed. Geraldo Perdomo’s 2025 breakout looks like a fluke. Even Zach Neto has disappointed after a step forward in 2025.
The position isn’t weak, but it definitely took some hits. CJ Abrams took a step forward, and Kevin McGonigle emerged. That isn’t enough to offset what we’ve lost.
What The Numbers Show
At the start of the campaign, six shortstops occupied positions within the top 50 of the ADP rankings. Twelve more found themselves among the top 100, while two additional players sat inside the top 110. As the regular season draws to a close, five shortstops still hold places within the top 50 overall. Just nine will finish inside the top 100.
Among the names to consider, Ezequiel Duran stands out due to his wide-ranging eligibility, which adds significant worth to his profile. Otto Lopez is another player who likely saw more time at second base than at shortstop.
Henderson’s Decline
In Fantasy, Henderson was the No. 6 player in 2024. By the end of that season, he sat at just 23, which made it seem fair to cut him some slack. Yet his 2024 campaign showed early promise that didn’t last. Since then, he hasn’t performed like a first-round caliber player.
- 2024, first half: .956 OPS, 48-homer pace
- 2024, second half: .799 OPS, 23-homer pace
- 2025: .787 OPS, 17 homers
- 2026: .708 OPS, 23 homers and counting
One of those things is not like the other.
Henderson has been so bad this season that you have to wonder if he’s been playing through some kind of injury. His plate discipline hasn’t changed, but he has lost nearly three mph off his average exit velocity from 2025. His expected wOBA sits at .318, by far the worst of his career.
The proof that his play has been hampered by injuries appears rather solid. His pace of play has reached a low point for his career, and his takeaways fell from 30 to merely 10.
Even assuming there’s some regression coming, Henderson hasn’t played like a first-round hitter since that first half of 2024. At some point, we have to stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.
In 2025, he barely cracked the top 50. Getting back to that standard alone would demand a steep reduction in his cost from the last two campaigns. At his current value, a third-round pick may well be more than Henderson can justify.
Abrams’ Late Slide
Abrams probably can’t outrun an inevitable move to second base. He couldn’t quite outrun his usual second-half slump this season.
His average since early August sits at .190/.258/.303. The strikeout rate has climbed to 33.5%, and over his last 36 games, he has managed only two home runs heading into play Thursday.
If he picks up just one more steal over the next week and a half, he will finish with his first 30-30 season. However, the base of his game appears less steady than it did for much of the campaign.
His strikeout rate is a career-high 24%. His underlying numbers are still the best of his career, but there’s been slippage there as well. Abrams deserves credit for the career-best season, but the late slide, showing up yet again, casts doubt on how sustainable it all is.
He came off the board as the eighth shortstop on average before 2025. Drafting him now, though, carries a risk, since paying face value for this season at this point would be too high a price to pay.
Lindor’s Injury Year
The most straightforward account for why Lindor had an unremarkable season is that he got hurt early, before the season was even a month old, and never fully recovered.
Given that he’s played in more than 100 games and has just three steals, the fact that a calf injury kept him out for nearly two months makes his numbers feel especially striking. A BABIP of .243 is well below his career mark of .289, and that explains his .229 batting average.
The numbers suggest a familiar pattern: his current trajectory matches what would be expected from a standard Lindor campaign.
We want the young hitter to get healthy during the break and return to being the player we remember from before — the one who earns a second-round pick every year because we love watching him play.
Maybe. I hope so. But Lindor is going to turn 33 in a few months and has five seasons left on his contract. The Mets probably have to keep him healthy, so we can’t just assume he’ll go back to being a perennial 30-30 guy.
We’ll get the bat, but if it comes attached to around 15 steals, the usual prices we pay for Lindor become much harder to justify.
The Position’s Future
The position hasn’t collapsed. There’s plenty of high-end talent here. The next crop of prospects will only make it stronger.
Let’s not forget about Konnor Griffin, who will surely be drafted among the elite at the position in 2027. But right now we’re in a transitional phase.
The shortstop position remains packed with stars and depth, yet ranking its upper tier has grown increasingly difficult. Henderson’s decline now presents a Fantasy dilemma, while the players behind him continue to sort themselves out.
Source material: “The toughest players to rank at shortstop for 2027: Gunnar Henderson's decline creates a Fantasy dilemma,” CBS Sports.
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