You played youth baseball or softball as a kid, right? The best player was almost always the shortstop. Oh, they’d also pitch, bat third or fourth and look like they were 2-3 years older than everyone else on the roster. But the shortstop was the star, the starting point.
Welcome to fantasy baseball, 2025. The shortstops are the stars again.
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Not the only stars, mind you — guys like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge and Paul Skenes have a say about that. But three of the top six players in Yahoo ADP are shortstops (make it 4-of-8 if you want to count Mookie Betts), and 11 of the top 90 will cover this position. And you shouldn’t have any problems finding fun shortstops to select outside pick 100, or even pick 200.
This is the fun zone. So, let’s have some fun.
The Big Tickets
Bobby Witt Jr., Royals (Yahoo ADP: 2.2)
He’s in play as a possible No. 1 overall pick. Young star development isn’t always linear but we sleep better when it is — Witt’s grown in pretty much every skill area through his three seasons. This is probably the best lineup he’s had around him. Witt wants to play in every game. Age-25 season coming up. I won’t end March without a share of him, somewhere, even if I’m overpaying. This game is supposed to be fun, right? Does anyone remember laughter?
Elly De La Cruz, Reds (Yahoo ADP: 5.1)
He still doesn’t completely know what he’s doing and yet, look at last year: .259-105-25-76-67. Elly wants to run as much as possible. Cincinnati’s park is an offensive giveaway. He outkicked his expected hard-hit metrics last year but at least there was mild improvement in the walks and strikeouts. If he’s around last year’s stat haul, you make a par. But we know uber-talented 23-year-olds can get better, too.
Gunnar Henderson, Orioles (Yahoo ADP: 6.5)
Already a perfect player. Okay, he’s not as fast as Witt and Elly, because no one is, but he still cobbled together 21 steals. I don’t understand Baltimore’s passive offseason, but the lineup was already great. The Orioles are mercifully re-adjusting the left-field dimensions, which always felt like a misguided overcorrection. Henderson is only slightly worse against left-handed pitching; if he continues to improve there, he could be the first overall pick in 2026.
Mookie Betts, Dodgers (Yahoo ADP: 7.5)
This will be the first time in forever I don’t draft Betts proactively, and I’m melancholy to type that. It’s an age-32 season. He picks his spots…