Times Square drops the Ball to ring in the New Year, and here at Imaginary Brick Wall, our tradition is to drop the Shortstop Rankings! The full list will be dropped at exactly 12:00 AM, January 1st … no, just kidding, it will get dropped mostly normally throughout the week. The full Top 161 is up now. Top 9 free on the Brick Wall below. The full Top 130+ FYPD Ranks with a Strategy & Target Guide is coming next week. Catcher, 1B, 2B, and 3B Rankings are already completed on the Patreon. But first, it’s all about the SS. Here is the 2026 Positional Dynasty Baseball Rankings: Top 161 Shortstops (Patreon):
CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-A TOP 132 SNEAK PEEK OF THE 2026 TOP 1,000 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKINGS
–2026 DEEP POSITIONAL RANKS: Top 80 C–Top 91 1B–Top 97 2B–Top 101 3B–Top 161 SS
-TOP 130+ 2026 FYPD RANKS + STRATEGY & TARGET GUIDE (coming next week)
–END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 450 DYNASTY RANKS
–END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
–SPREADSHEETS
–OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, 2026 & Prime/Peak Projections, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more
Previous Dynasty Team Reports on Patreon (free ones listed in parenthesis)
Arizona Diamondbacks—Atlanta Braves—Baltimore Orioles—Boston Red Sox (free)—Chicago Cubs (free)—Cincinnati Reds (free)—Cleveland Guardians—Colorado Rockies—Detroit Tigers—Houston Astros—Kansas City Royals—Los Angeles Angels—Miami Marlins—Milwaukee Brewers—Minnesota Twins—New York Yankees (free)—Pittsburgh Pirates (free)—Sacramento Athletics—Seattle Mariners—St. Louis Cardinals (free)—Tampa Bay Rays—Texas Rangers—Toronto Blue Jays—Washington Nationals
1) Bobby Witt Jr. – KCR, SS, 26.10 – Witt hit only 23 homers in 157 games, and while I want to completely hand wave it away as just a down power season, I don’t think we can completely dismiss it. Kauffman Stadium is one of the very worst ballparks for homers, and I definitely think it is playing a big role in subduing Witt’s homer totals. But even looking at his expected homer totals in other ballparks, they all look like they hovered/averaged out to the mid 20’s area. His 12.5% Barrel% is good, but it’s not like off the charts good. His 34.9% Pull% is below average and pretty damn low for a power hitter. He hit 32 and 30 homers the two previous years, so I’m not saying at all that this is now his true talent level, but I feel like the hope was for Witt to explode into like a 30-40+ home run perennial type bat, and the numbers just aren’t saying that is who he is. The only other quibble is that the plate approach is still below average with a 7.1% BB% and 30.7% Chase%. The hope was that he would have improved on that by now too. I only bring up the negatives because they are more interesting to me. We all know Witt is an elite dynasty asset, and I have him ranked 3rd overall for a reason. He smokes the ball with a 93.3 MPH EV and a 48.5% Hard Hit%, both of which are career highs. He lifts it with a 15.2 degree launch, he makes tons of contact with a 18.2% K%, and he’s one of the fastest men in baseball with a 30.2 ft/sec sprint. I love him. He’s an untouchable if I own him. But I do think it’s worth mentioning the kinks in the armor. – 2026 Projection: 109/31/101/.306/.367/.518/36
2) Elly De La Cruz – CIN, SS, 24.3 – Elly’s evaluation is kinda all over the place. I try my best to present coherent thoughts/analysis/arguments when writing these blurbs, but Elly’s 2025 is making that as hard as possible. You can say one of the major positives of his season was the major improvement to his K% (25.9% vs. 31.3% in 2024), but his still risky whiff% wasn’t nearly as improved (31.7% vs. 33.4%), and his BA tanked in the 2nd half with a .221 BA and 28.9% K% in his final 52 games. So it’s hard to just say there is now no hit tool risk with him. His 22 homers and 37 steals are awesome, but both numbers were worse than what he did in 2024 (25/67). The 7.6 degree launch and 9.8% Air Pull% both regressed from 2024 too. He finished 23rd overall on the Razzball Player Rater, which is great, but again, his 2nd half slide really puts a damper on that (.854 OPS pre break vs. .666 post break). It’s really easy to start getting lost in the weeds here, so I feel the best thing to do is pull out as far as possible to not lose the forest through the trees. And the forest is telling us this is an insanely talented young kid who might not be perfectly refined quite yet, and might not be completely without risk, but is still on that path to put up some truly special seasons. He was just 23 years old last year. I’m not letting the poor 2nd half and things to nitpick throw me. This is an elite dynasty asset whose best years are ahead of him. – 2026 Projection: 107/27/89/.262/.338/.473/40
3) Gunnar Henderson – BAL, SS, 24.9 – Gunnar hit only 17 homers in 154 games. Monster power hitters really don’t have seasons like that. Like ever. Power can fluctuate year to year for sure, but dipping to only 17 is not normal. And it’s not like it was the result of some extended cold stretch. He never hit more than 4 in a month and he hit only 1 in September. The barely above average 8.5% Barrel% is also not saying this was some massively unlucky aberration. And we already know he’s not a big lift and pull guy with a 9.5 degree launch and 15.3% Air Pull%. I’m not saying this is now who he is at all, but I think it does say the 37 homers he hit in 2024 isn’t who he is either. He’s probably more of a 25+ guy who will hit 30+ when things go right, similar to Tatis and Julio. You can also blame the intercoastal strain that put him on the IL to start the season. It just felt like he started the year behind the 8 ball and could never catch up. His 12.3% HR/FB% was way off from his career norms (18.8%), so you have to assume some positive regression, and he crushes the ball with a 92.1 MPH EV, a 49.2% Hard Hit%, and a 75.4 MPH swing, so there is just no way a power bounce back isn’t coming. And the big silver lining to his down year was that he stole 30 bags. A power bounce back to 25+ will put him right in line with a Tatis and Julio like projected stat line. – 2026 Projection: 101/28/86/.278/.359/.481/25
4) Zach Neto – LAA, SS, 25.2 – I feel like nobody wants to admit that Neto is a near elite dynasty asset. Actually, I feel like nobody really wanted to bet on this kid like I have since before he was drafted. I ranked him 3rd overall in his FYPD class, far above consensus, and then I’ve kept being the high man on him since. And I guess I’ll keep being the high man on him after his power explosion in 2025. He came back from shoulder surgery, and the medical community has obviously perfected this surgery of late, because everyone seems to come back with a super charged shoulder. His EV jumped 2.5 MPH to 91.5 MPH, his Hard Hit jumped 7.8 points to 46.6%, and his Barrel% jumped 7.6 points to 14%. It led to a career high 26 homers in just 128 games. He also never lifted and pulled more with a 17.5 degree launch and 24% Air Pull%. This is an easy 30 homer bat. He also stole 26 bags, and while he got caught 9 times, he was improving as the season went along with 13 steals in 15 attempts in his final 62 games. He’s going to keep on running, making him a reasonable bet for a perennial 30/30 bat. The 26.9/6.0 K%/BB% isn’t great, but neither the 30.1% Chase% or 29.1% whiff% is in the true danger zone, and he’s displayed a good feel to hit throughout this entire career. I’m not too worried about the hit tool tanking him. I know you don’t want to admit it, but this is what a near elite dynasty asset looks like. – 2026 Projection: 91/30/86/.255/.323/.478/30
5) Konnor Griffin – PIT, SS/OF, 19.11 – I felt the Griffin explosion in my gut last off-season. The Baseball Gods were speaking to me, and I listened, predicting he would explode into elite prospect status in my Predicting the Top 50 2026 Dynasty Baseball Prospects Rankings last off-season, ranking him 4th overall and writing, “Griffin will have the explosion that everyone who passed on him in first year player drafts feared he would have. The hit tool concerns will be overblown as he maintains an under 25% K% at Single-A, and the power/speed combo will shine with 16 homers and 48 steals in 102 games. He’ll basically be the 2026 version of the 2025 version of Sebastian Walcott. Off the charts tools and a better than expected hit tool.” … and then he went out and surpassed even those expectations, slashing .333/.415/.527 with 21 homers, 65 steals, and a 21.7/8.9 K%/BB% in 122 games. He finished the season at Double-A where he actually put up his best wRC+ of any level with a 175 wRC+ in 21 games. Remember when everyone was making excuses for the 19 year old Walcott at Double-A all year for his mediocre slash? Well, Griffin came in and just busted that whole thing up, showing a 19 year old can most certainly dominate the level. Not only did I forsee the rise in the off-season, but I got blow back after ranking him 1st overall on the Prospect Rankings in early June before he even got the call to High-A. I then made a final plea in my August Dynasty Rankings before he got the call to Double-A, shooting him up to 29th overall and writing, “This is my final plea to you. DO NOT TRADE GRIFFIN UNDER ANY SCENARIO. I don’t even think Roman Anthony can touch his upside. Just don’t trade him, please.” And then after what he did at Double-A, there is no more room for debate. He’s lightning fast, he crushes the ball with a 91.2 MPH EV and 49% Hard Hit%, and the hit tool was better than expected. This is not only the #1 prospect in baseball, but he’s already a nearly elite dynasty asset for me. – 2026 Projection: 28/9/35/.247/.318/.433/17 Prime Projection: 118/32/111/.279/.351/.523/44
6) Francisco Lindor – NYM, SS, 32.4 – Trying to predict which players are going to defeat Father Time, or at least give them a great fight, is a nearly impossible task. We can prefer certain archetypes over others, like being wary of speed first types, but really, we can’t perfectly predict whose bodies will hold up and whose will start to decline. I say that because I’ve been sitting here thinking long and hard about how much I want to bet on Lindor deep into his 30’s, and I’m not sure there is something to really hold onto that makes me want to bet big on it. He’s not a big bat speed guy (below average 71 MPH swing), he’s not a burner (slightly below average 27.4 ft/sec sprint), and he’s not a Barrel machine with a 8.8% Barrel%. The contact rates, approach and hard hit are all good, but they aren’t in the elite area where there is a huge amount of leeway for decline. It seems to me he fits more into the potentially gentle decline category, rather than the guy who keeps on being truly elite deep into his 30’s. But as I started this blurb, it feels foolish to think I can actually predict how a player will decline. Too much goes into it. And of course, that is just looking ahead. Lindor is only going to be 32 years old next year and there is no reason he shouldn’t have his 4th straight basically 30/30 season in 2026. But I think at 32 we have to start thinking about what the decline will look like, and I’m not sure I want to bet on him still being elite in his mid 30’s. He should still be good though. – 2026 Projection: 110/31/90/.269/.342/.473/30
7) Kevin McGonigle – DET, SS/2B, 21.8 – You know I’m not shy to take a victory lap when I hit on a player that everyone else (or almost everyone else) was low on, so I also have to take my lashes when I miss on a player that everyone else but me was super high on. Truth of the matter is, when you rank with a mind of your own, which I pride myself on and preach to others (and preach to you as dynasty owners too), you are going to end up looking like a genius on your unique hits, and a moron on your unique misses, when in reality, you are probably not a genius or a moron. You are just trying to block out the noise and give a raw, unfiltered opinion. My favorite rankings, and the ones I find most valuable, are the ones that aren’t mostly the same as the consensus/general perception, and are also backed up by solid reasoning and analysis, whether you agree or disagree with the ranking. So with that as the backdrop, Kevin McGonigle is who I consider my biggest miss in 2025. I had him ranked 54th overall, which I mean, is a pretty good ranking in general, and I called him a souped up Steven Kwan, which is really still an accurate “comp,” but the vast majority of other spots had him in the Top 25 range at least, or higher. I’m generally lower on hit tool first guys for fantasy (I was also lower on Angel Genoa and Starlyn Caba, both of whom took steps back in 2025), but when a hit tool first guy hits his ceiling, it looks exactly like what McGonigle just did. He slashed .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers, 10 steals, and a 11.6/14.9 K%/BB% in 99 games at High-A and Double-A. He’s not a big guy at 5’10”, but he can lift and pull, and he hits it very hard with legit plus raw power potential. He’s less a souped up Steven Kwan, and more in the mold of Mookie Betts and Jose Ramirez, if you want to dream on his tippy top ceiling. He wasn’t good on the bases this year (10 for 17), and he’s not a true burner, but he was much better last year (22 for 24), so I would would expect a bounce back in 2026 there. You won’t hear me doubting him ever again. Konnor Griffin is my top dog, but McGonigle is my #2 prospect in baseball, and he might have a real shot to break camp with the team. – 2026 Projection: 63/15/54/.268/.337/.434/13 Prime Projection: 111/24/91/.290/.370/.485/20
8) CJ Abrams – WSH, SS, 25.6 – James Wood had the scariest 2nd half in baseball. MacKenzie Gore had the most disappointing 2nd half in baseball for pitchers. And then there is Abrams, who also followed up a great 1st half with a sad 2nd half. What the hell happened in Washington in July? Did someone put a curse on them or something? So much promise in the 1st half, only to watch it poof and disappear. Abrams was having the power breakout I foresaw with 12 homers and his Hard Hit numbers way up in his first 70 games, but it completely disappeared in the 2nd half. He finished the year in the same place he was in 2024 with a 39.2% Hard Hit% and 19 homers (20 homers with a 40.7% Hard Hit% in 2024). The good news is that a 20/30 guy with above average contact rates (19.7% K%), above average bat speed (72.4 MPH swing), and plenty of lift (13.3 degree launch) and pull (22.2% Air Pull%) is a really good fantasy player with a very high floor. And entering his 25 year old season, I still have to believe more raw power is coming, giving him some very real upside in his prime man muscle seasons. His ascent to elite dynasty asset might have just been delayed by one year. – 2026 Projection: 88/22/71/.262/.321/.448/33
9) Jesus Made – MIL, SS, 18.11 – Made was having a solid season at Single-A, especially when you took into account he was only 18 years old, but he wasn’t really blowing the doors off with a .267/.373/.388 triple-slash. For a moment there, I was like, maybe this isn’t quite the straight rocket ship we were promised … but then he got called up to High-A and he hit the after burners, slashing .343/.415/.500 with 2 homers, 5 steals, and a 17.9/10.6 K%/BB% in 27 games. I talk about this more in the Colt Emerson blurb, but there is no better sign than when a prospect gets called up to a higher level, and not only maintains their production, but actually takes it up a notch. That is the #1 sign of the rocket ship. Milwaukee obviously recognized this too, promoting him again to Double-A at the end of the season, and while he struggled in 5 regular season games (33.3% K% with a 86 wRC+), he made his mark in the playoffs, going the opposite way off the humongous billboard advertisement for Renova Roofing. “Mother Nature ruins everything. Renova Roofing can help.” They really got their money’s worth that night. How much do you think that goes for? Should I just put a huge Brick Wall up on that thing next year or something? hah … When it was all said and done, Made delivered on his unanimous off-season hype. The hit tool, approach, hard hit and speed (47 steals) were all there. He needs to lift and pull more to full tap into his raw power (only 6 homers in 115 games), but his profile can work without a ton of lift and pull, and it wasn’t in the danger zone or anything with a 43.7% GB% and 40.5% Pull%. There is zero doubt this is the elite prospect we were promised. – ETA: 2027 Prime Projection: 101/25/81/.278/.360/.481/28
CLICK HERE TO JOIN MY PATREON FOR THE REST OF THESE RANKS & TONS OF EXCLUSIVE CONTENT ALL OFF-SEASON, INCLUDING:
-A TOP 132 SNEAK PEEK OF THE 2026 TOP 1,000 DYNASTY BASEBALL RANKINGS
–2026 DEEP POSITIONAL RANKS: Top 80 C–Top 91 1B–Top 97 2B–Top 101 3B–Top 161 SS
-TOP 130+ 2026 FYPD RANKS + STRATEGY & TARGET GUIDE (coming next week)
–END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 450 DYNASTY RANKS
–END OF SEASON 2025 TOP 325 PROSPECTS RANKS
-HALP’S DYNASTY BASEBALL PODCAST: END OF SEASON MAILBAG!
–SPREADSHEETS
–OFF-SEASON CONTENT: Dynasty Team Reports (Top 10 Prospects/Interesting MLB guys/Strategy of the Day), Deep Positional Rankings, Predicting Future Prospect Lists, Position by Position Targets, 2026 & Prime/Peak Projections, Top 1,000+ Dynasty Rankings, Top 500+ Prospects Rankings, Top 100+ FYPD Ranks + much more
Previous Dynasty Team Reports on Patreon (free ones listed in parenthesis)
Arizona Diamondbacks—Atlanta Braves—Baltimore Orioles—Boston Red Sox (free)—Chicago Cubs (free)—Cincinnati Reds (free)—Cleveland Guardians—Colorado Rockies—Detroit Tigers—Houston Astros—Kansas City Royals—Los Angeles Angels—Miami Marlins—Milwaukee Brewers—Minnesota Twins—New York Yankees (free)—Pittsburgh Pirates (free)—Sacramento Athletics—Seattle Mariners—St. Louis Cardinals (free)—Tampa Bay Rays—Texas Rangers—Toronto Blue Jays—Washington Nationals
By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)
Blue Sky: Dynasty Halp (@ImaginaryBrickWall)