Scouting and evaluating the shortstop position, more than any other position, relies so heavily on live looks, film study, and the review of innate ability. The meticulous dissection of a player’s movement patterns, and discernable athleticism, comes into play well before reviewing the ability to impact the baseball. Sure, college shortstops with an impact bat will get drafted and moved around the field to get that stick in the lineup, but if you want to find a professional shortstop in the draft, it starts on the dirt.
Professional shortstops are a rare breed. Prioritizing defensive skills in player evaluation is a necessity due to the demands of the position, especially at the highest level. We want to see athletes. At the surface level, evaluators want to see arm strength. We want to see a guy capable of making the play moving to their right into the hole. On a less measurable level, things like body control, balance, fluidity, tempo and the feel for an internal clock, soft hands, as well as quick, active feet are some of the building blocks at the position. As you drill down, we want to see defenders that play low to the ground and work around and through the baseball to give themselves the best chance to make every play consistently. At the end of the day, the bat will need to play to reach pro ball, but it starts on the other side of the ball.
A lot of times these defensive traits are identified at a very young age in elite shortstops. Working your way through the best shortstops to ever play the game, you’ll notice the vast majority were drafted as high school seniors. There are a few notable exceptions. Troy Tulowitzki was a first round pick in 2005 out of Long Beach State. Andrelton Simmons was a steal in the second round in 2010 out of Western Oklahoma State College. Both were small school diamonds in the rough with long, projectable bodies.
Projection is enormous at this position. Amateur shortstops almost never bring the thump to the table when they’re drafted. Hell, Tulowitzki hit just 8 homers in his junior season for Long Beach State. Drafting a premier body that figures to add weight and strength while keeping twitch on the dirt is key. The hit tool will be critical in getting to that projectable game power as the player ages.
2022 brings some intriguing talents at the 6. There’s a balance of both present tools and physical projection.
Brooks Lee, Cal Poly
At 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, Lee is certainly a strong, barrel-chested shortstop. That size may eventually force him off the position as a pro, but Lee is quick and talented enough to stick at the position in the immediacy after he’s selected in July. He’s got the well-above-average arm and soft hands necessary to play the position, though it may be fringy range. Lee is very sound on balls to his left and coming in on slow-rollers, though the actions on plays to his right are a little more stiff and “jabby”. That said, Lee has quick hands and a good transfer. At this point, his size is the primary deterrent in projecting out a pro shortstop in his prime.
A transition to third base should suit Lee well. The bat is the calling card here. He receives high marks for his ability to cover the zone and elite feel for finding barrels. The subsequent exit velocity data on Lee is exceptional. He doesn’t strikeout, though Lee can get docked a bit for expanding the zone and chasing pitches from time to time. But again, the bat-to-ball is so impressive, punchouts haven’t been an issue whatsoever. Proponents of Lee’s profile see a plus hit tool with the potential for solid average game power at the highest level. Regardless of eventual position, that sort of hitter-upside generally doesn’t last long in the draft.
Zach Neto, Cambpell
Neto, simply put, does just about everything well. He’s got a really good feel for tempo on the dirt with soft hands and tons of twitch and body control. The throwing arm might only be average, but Neto can make throws from any angle. Neto rounds through groundballs well and has a quick release. He profiles at least an average defender at the next level. Off the field, he’s revered for his leadership and stalwart presence in the clubhouse.
Plenty of Neto’s draft stock comes by way of his offensive game. He really exudes confidence and athleticism at the plate. He's an aggressive hitter who gets into full extension with the barrel consistently and has a knack for catching the ball out in front, tapping into a lot of his raw power. Neto is a good hitter with a track record of success at school and on the Cape as well. It’s an unorthodox, rhythmic swing that relies on timing, though Neto has shown real feel for putting his body in a position to damage the baseball. Some of the quirks in his setup and swing have been compared to Javier Baez. Neto finds a ton of barrels, hardly ever strikes out, and produces strong exit velocities for his position. In fact, Neto ranked third in the entire country last year for qualified hitters in xwOBA, a gaudy .497. Like Lee, there’s a little bit of a willingness to chase outside the zone here, but with such an impressive track record with the bat, it's hard to ignore the production.
Carter Young, Vanderbilt
For our money, Young is one of the most impressive defensive shortstops in the class. He’s rangy both to his left and right, he’s got a plus arm and has all the athleticism necessary to make the plays on the run. He turns a beautiful double play and is a field general through-and-through. Young has the bounce and contortionist body control necessary to make the highlight reel play.
At the plate, there are a few more questions. Proponents will point to a mid-season shoulder injury that zapped his production, though detractors will point to rate stats that need to be addressed. After a gangbusters freshman campaign slashing .328/.373/.377, Young was off to a hot start in 2021 when the aforementioned shoulder injury slowed his on-field impact. He finished the year posting a .252/.341/.559 slash with 16 homers. In the power department, it was a massive jump forward. But the average will need to come up. After a 25 percent K-rate in 2020, his punchouts jumped to 29.3 percent last season. This too must drastically improve. Young can get a little pull-happy, so staying up the middle of the field might benefit his overall offensive game. From this chair, sacrificing some of that newfound thump for “hittability” would do his profile wonders.
A switch-hitter, Young has thump from both sides of the plate and especially the left side. He finds a ton of barrels and does a good job staying inside the zone, though he’s struggled mightily to hit the curveball, and to a lesser degree the changeup, during his time in Nashville. Young has immense upside should the bat polish up in 2022. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to project a .300 hitter with close to 20 homers this season. If that happens, especially coming from a plus defender at the shortstop position, it’d be hard to imagine him lasting past day one.
Ryan Ritter, Kentucky
Ritter is the perfect example of a guy who’s batted-ball data may not blow your socks off, but the entire package is as tantalizing as it gets for the position. Before we get to the bat, let’s talk leather. It is oh so good. Ritter may have the best footwork of any defender in the class. He works remarkably low to the ground and squares his body to just about anything hit his direction. Ritter seemingly always deploys a wide base and hardly lets anything in his proximity get by. His transfer and release are effortless, buttery smooth. It’s an above average arm, though it plays up due to precise accuracy on his throws. Ritter looks the part. He looks like a pro shortstop.
The bat is where Ritter gets questions by some evaluators. He struggled with chasing pitches out of the zone in 2021, though scouts have noted his diligence in adjusting in-game and from week-to-week. Ritter tumbled a bit over the final three weeks of last year, eventually capping his 2021 with a .275/.323/.365 slash with three homers.
Then came the Cape Code League.
Facing the best college arms in the country, Ritter cut his chase rate by 6 percent, whilst keeping his strikeout rate and contact rate in reasonably healthy territory for his age. Ritter hit the baseball with far more authority, posting a .330/.431/.429 line with six extra base hits in 121 plate appearances.
At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Ritter comfortably has room to add 15 pounds of strength and should be able to keep his bounce and fluidity on the dirt. That added strength should help get his throwing arm into the plus territory too. There’s potential impact in this bat as Ritter continues to age and his body continues to mature. As Perfect Game National Supervisor Brian Sakowski puts it, if he begins to lift the ball this spring and runs into something close to double digit homers, Ritter has first round written all over him.
Eric Brown, Coastal Carolina
If Ritter is the sultan of smooth, Brown is the baron of bounce. Brown is a strong athlete with twitch and wiggle. He doesn’t have the internal clock some above him do, but he makes up for it with an above average arm that can make all the necessary plays. Brown also has the “highlight reel” play in him with impressive vertical and lateral range. Brown is likely “only” an average glove, maybe solid average, though his tools on the dirt tick up a bit because of his athleticism and ability to hunt outs.
The bat is another strength for Brown. He’s got the bat speed and can really bang at the plate. He finished the 2021 season posting a .294/.413/.513 line with nine homers for the Chanticleers. He followed that up with an impressive Cape Cod League summer, slashing .282/.375/.436 with five more bombs. Brown also stole double-digit bases in both campaigns. He doesn’t strikeout, doesn’t chase outside the zone, takes his walks, and provides huge thump at the plate, especially for his position. If you wanted to nitpick, Brown does have an awfully unorthodox setup at the plate, though he gets into a good, repeatable firing position when the pitcher releases the ball. His timing isn’t a concern, at least not from this chair.
At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Brown doesn’t have the projection of some of the names above him, but he is already producing in ways those above him are not. Evaluators will want to see another loud season in 2022. It’s a necessity for Brown playing in the Sun Belt Conference. If he posts more gaudy numbers next spring, Brown could be a popular pick on day one.
Honorable Mentions
It’s a good, deep year for college shortstops in 2022. For the sake of time, a few names just missed this list. BYU shortstop Andrew Pinter is a popular name, especially inside the analytics community. Pintar has top-of-the-scale bat-to-ball skills and posts healthy exit velos. His 6-foot-2-inch frame still has projection, though evaluators want to see the athleticism and arm strength tick up in 2022. Oregon shortstop Josh Kasevich, perhaps the most popular name in the 2022 Draft amongst the data community, is a guy with elite bat-to-ball rates and accompanying outlandish exit velocities. Kasevich is extremely opposite-field heavy right now, and hasn’t shown a willingness to pull the ball with lift just yet. If he does next spring, his stock could soar. Kasevich has mostly fringe average-to-average grades on the dirt, so his future may be at second base or third base as a pro, though that might not matter if the bat is as some hope it is advertised. UCLA infielder Michael Curialle has his believers at shortstop, though he’s always seemingly stuck behind another player, most recently Matt McLain and potentially super-freshman Cody Schrier in 2022. Curialle has a bunch of 50 grades smattered about his reports, though he’ll need a big spring to jump into the first round. Other names to watch this spring with considerable upside include Central Florida’s Alex Freeland, UC-Santa Barbara’s Jordan Sprinkle, Florida’s Josh Rivera and Texas’s Trey Faltine. A super-sleeper may be Jim Jarvis over at Alabama.