The Dynasty Guru Annual Ranking Season is upon us!  Up next, the shortsops!  The rankings presented here are the composite rankings of all the writers at The Dynasty Guru, and after healthy debate and only a little name-calling, we are ready to share them with you. The comments below each tier are the work of the writer cited at the end of the section.  Don’t forget to check out Chris and Drew’s analysis of each position on the Join the Ranks podcast.

11 – 20

This tier of shortstops contain two highly distinct groups of players, the major league studs and the next wave coming from the minor league ranks. The major league studs are Mookie Betts, Jeremy Peña, Bo Bichette, Willy Adames, and Jacob Wilson. Each player offers something a little bit different for your fantasy teams.

Betts is the old guard of this tier, but one of the best despite getting up there in baseball age (turning 34-years-old in 2026). He had a down year in 2025, slashing .258/.326/.406 and managed to belt 20 home runs. He doesn’t strike out (10.3%), but his swing speed is down to the 10th percentile at 69 MPH. He is still a reliable asset, but maybe he holds more value for contending fantasy teams with his best years possibly behind him.

Peña was a breakout star for the Houston Astros in 2025. He hit .304/.363/.477 while adding 17 home runs and 20 stolen bases. His expected batting average was .270, so there might be some regression for him in 2026. However, his 97th percentile sprint speed shows a player that could still turn up the base stealing some more.

Bichette has moved on to the New York Mets and he bounced back in a big way in 2025 to the tune of a .311/.357/.483 slash line. He was on his way to leading baseball in hits before a late season injury. That is what you will get from him on your fantasy team, hits, hits, hits, and more hits. His power numbers overall weren’t that good with only 18 home runs, but he still put together an .840 OPS. His defensive position is in question and his swing speed declined down to 69.1 MPH, so don’t expect a power surge out of nowhere in 2026. If you play in head-to-head leagues his opposite field singles approach will play well above his roto value.

If you are looking for major league power in this tier, Adames is your man. He belted 30 home runs again in 2025, despite playing in San Francisco. His batting average and OBP leave a lot to be desired, but shortstop power down in this range may be hard to come by.

Wilson is a wild card of the major league bats for this tier. He has a Bo Bichette type of profile, but his power may be even more lacking if it wasn’t for the minor league ballpark in Sacramento. He had an OPS about .150 points higher in home games during the 2025 season. He has one of the slowest swing speeds and average exit velocities in the major leagues, so getting much power outside of Sacramento may be wishful thinking, but he will get hits and a lot of them.

JJ Wetherholt was a fantastic hitter in the minor leagues in 2025 and he should make his debut this coming year. He is above average pretty much across-the-board. If you are looking for the next breakout major league shortstop, he is your man. He hit .306/.421/.510, with 17 home runs and 22 stolen bases. He is looking like a true 20/20 threat when he makes his big league debut.

Jesús Made burst onto the full season minor league scene last year and hits the ball exceptionally hard. He went from Single-A Wilson to Double-A Biloxi as an 18-year-old and excelled with a 128 wRC+ on the year. The biggest knock so far for Made has been his in game power, only six home runs in 2025. If he gets the ball in the air more he could end 2026 as the number one prospect in baseball.

Leo De Vries pretty much matched Made, going from High-A Lansing to Double-A Midland as an 18-year-old. He showed a little more in-game power, but overall looked very similar to Made across-the-board. His batting averages have been lacking some and he doesn’t add as much on the bases, but completely understandable for someone so young at an advanced level. He will likely battle Made for the number one prospect status this coming year.

Sebastian Walcott is right behind the others in the race for the minor league’s best shortstop. He has more power already, smashing 13 home runs at Double-A as a 19-year-old. He also is a true threat on the bases, swiping 32 bags this past year. He had some issues with his batting average at .255, but his plate discipline was excellent, as he walked 12.7% of the time. With his size (6-foot-4, 190 pounds), his power projection may become more realistic than some of the other shortstop prospects in this tier.

Luis Peña rounds out this tier and he could have the best bat-to-ball skills of the prospects around here. He ended up struggling once he got to High-A Wisconsin, but he hit .308 with only a 13.3% strikeout rate in Single-A Wilson. That was otherworldly for an 18-year-old just coming stateside. Of all of the prospects in this tier, he could be the one that makes the most noise and movement up rankings in 2026.

(Daniel Labude)

21 – 30

In this third section of shortstops, you would think there wouldn’t be any high upside valuable players and the chance to find an impact player is gone. Well, there are in fact a couple that could be stars and they may very well be ranked too low for the type of value they will provide over the next few seasons.

Colson Montgomery comes in ranked at 21 and if his 2025 season is any indicator of the type of player he will be, he is being criminally undervalued. He played in just under half of the season, amassed 284 plate appearances, and worked a slash line of .239/.311/.528. It was his home run power which stood out at the shortstop position, 21 home runs and nine doubles. After a reset midseason in the minor leagues and a switch to the torpedo bat, he came up crushing the ball and didn’t stop. From July 4th (the day he debuted) to the end of the season, he was tied for 10th in all of baseball with 21 home runs. If you are looking for a potentially league leader in home runs, you aren’t going to find anyone better than him this far down the rankings.

The other undervalued shortstop in this section is Trevor Story. He just capped off his first full season since 2021 and he did not get cheated. He came close to a 30/30 year, ending with 25 home runs and 31 stolen bases. He had a good slash line of .263/.308/.433 and topped 90 RBI and 90 runs. He was an above average or better producer for stats across-the-board, but didn’t get the ranking that would suggest he could carry his play forward for a few more seasons. His plate discipline is probably why and might lead to a regression if not corrected. His strikeout rate was at 26.9% (12th percentile), he only walked at a 5% rate (10th percentile), and his chase rate was 35.3% (12th percentile). He’s worth a gamble being ranked 27, but could be frustrating dynasty players all year long if he can’t improve his plate discipline.

The steady players in this section are Dansby Swanson, Ezequiel Tovar and Geraldo Perdomo. Swanson has been a consistent power/speed producer, hitting 20 or more home runs in four of the last five seasons and stealing around 20 bases in three of those years. His RBI and runs totals have been all over the place in that same span, but haven’t consistently been a big positive for him. Unfortunately, his OBP has ticked down every year since 2022, with 2025 being the lowest of his career at .300. As long as his OBP doesn’t keep dropping he should be a solid bet to produce about the same for the next few seasons. Tovar missed part of the 2025 season, but was at his career averages in most of the statistical categories. He’s never going to be a good OBP player, having never topped .300 in any of his four seasons. He is a steady 15-25 home run producer, but playing in Colorado has limited his RBI and runs totals. Not much stands out in his statcast profile, except his career high 43.7% launch angle sweet spot rate in 2025 (99th percentile). He’s just a steady hitter with at-bats guaranteed, nothing flashy, but if you are looking for a shortstop down this far, he could be your guy. Perdomo is an enigma, he’s always been in the 90th percentile or better with regards to walk, strikeout, chase, contact, and squared up rates. The mystery comes with his power in 2025, he hit 20 home runs, but had never surpassed six in any prior year. His average launch angle and average exit velocity all remained around his career averages. The only real change in his profile was a jump up in his barrel and hard hit rates. I’d be worried he will regress, but without a clear indicator why his results drastically improved, there isn’t much to conclude that he will return to his normal profile.

There are three prospects here, all give you a little different of a profile. Bryce Rainer got his first taste of professional baseball, but had his season cut short due to injury. In the 35 games he did play, he showed tremendous talent with the bat, slashing .288/.383/.448. He added nine stolen bases, displaying an already developed knack for swiping bags at a high rate. His power might actually be what stands out the most to me. He hit five home runs, but had a very high 19.2% home run to fly ball rate. If he can maintain that ratio and keep developing, he looks like he could become one of the top power hitting prospects, not just at the shortstop position. Colt Emerson had a much more robust profile, ranking in the 90th percentile or better in doubles, triple and home runs. He showed that he is one of the top hitters in the minor leagues and has the ability to swipe a base here and there. Look for him to make the majors at the end of 2026 or toward the start of a 2027 season (if there is one). Aidan Miller is almost up there with the first two prospects, but his contact abilities haven’t shown through as much as Rainer and Emerson. Miller batted just .264 in 2025, but he possesses the most speed of the group, swiping 59 bases on the year. He still had some pop in his bat though, hitting 14 home runs (89th percentile) and 27 doubles (95th percentile). He will need to be a little more consistent with the bat to see the upside that the other two have.

Masyn Winn and Xavier Edwards round out this section. Winn is an avoid for me, although he does produce slightly less across-the-board than the rest of this section. He will slot in between 10 and 15 home runs, around 10 stolen bases, hit about .260, and be just above a .300 OBP. He doesn’t do anything well with the bat, he was below the 20th percentile in xWOBA, xSLG, barrel rate, hard hit rate, and launch angle sweet spot rate. There is just no upside with his profile, I would prefer Edwards between the two. Edwards is not going to provide any power numbers to help you at all, but he will be in the upper tier of stolen bases while settling in with a .350 OBP or better. Over his first three seasons, he batted .283 or better in all of them and stole around 30 bases in the two that were closest to full years. His 87.8% contact rate was good enough for the 98th percentile. His hard hit rate has actually increased year over year and could do so again in 2026, leading to a great bat, just no power numbers.

(Brian Labude)