MLB Draft: Was it really the year of the shortstop?

Don’t call the 2015 MLB draft the “Draft of the Shortstop.”

Not yet anyway.

Perhaps a better name for it right now would be the “draft of shortstops with tons of potential” or “the draft of high-end shortstop prospects” or “the draft where shortstops were picked really high.”

Yes, shortstops were very prevalent on the first day of the draft: four players listed as shortstops went within the top 10 picks, including the first three. Since 2005, only the 2012 draft had four shortstops called within the first 20 picks. Eight shortstops were drafted in the first round, if you include compensation and competitive balance picks.

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Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson was widely regarded as the best overall prospect in the draft class, so there is little surprise he went first overall to the Diamondbacks. Alex Bregman out of LSU went second to the Astros, and even though there is some speculation he’ll have to move away from the position, he definitely has the hit tool, considering he’s hitting .312 with nine home runs and a .406 on base percentage for a team bound for Omaha. The Rockies got a high school shortstop with huge upsidel;ljlkjlk in Brendan Rodgers with the third pick, meaning the Rox may have their heir to the position once Troy Tulowitzki ages out or is traded.

Further down the line, the Phillies got a great high school prospect in Cornelius Randolph at the 10th pick, the Pirates got a two-time Cape Cod league batting champ in Kevin Newman at No. 19 and the Yankees got the best defensive SS in the class with the 30th pick of Kyle Holder.

However, calling this draft “the draft of the shortstop” is premature because there have been some very deep and talented shortstop classes in the past, even in the previous five drafts. Consider:

In the first five rounds of this year’s draft, 17 shortstops were drafted. Every draft from 2010-13 had over 20 picked, including 27 in 2010. (More on that later.)

In 2012, Carlos Correa, Addison Russell, Gavin Cecchini and Corey Seager were all taken in the first round. Correa and Russell are already in the majors and Seager is pasting minor league pitching.

The 2011 draft was crazy loaded. It tied 2015 with eight shortstops picked in the first round, including Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Joe Panik, Trevor Story and Jace Peterson. Brad Miller, Roman Quinn and Nick Ahmed were all taken in the second round.

The first round of the 2010 draft gave us

Manny Machado

and

Christian Colon

and the second round gave us

Andrelton Simmons

. Where this draft got interesting was the third round: Twelve shortstops were picked, which is by far the most picks in any one round over the last 11 drafts. Notable picks are

J.T. Realmuto

Sam Tuivailala

Josh Rutledge

and

Ryan Brett

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Obviously there is some room for debate because shortstops often have to move to other positions—Tuivailala is pitching, Realmuto is now a backstop and several of the players mentioned above are now second- or third-basemen—and Latin players are taking over at short at the expense of college players.

The 2015 draft class has a ton of upside and several of the top end players drafted have the skill set to stay at short. Just don’t call it the “DOS” yet. There are several draft classes that still can claim that name.

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