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Xander Bogaerts, among others making history at shortstop position

By Patrick Green

BOSTON, MA - MAY 25: Xander Bogaerts #2 of the Boston Red Sox steps on first base as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park on May 25, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MAY 25: Xander Bogaerts #2 of the Boston Red Sox steps on first base as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park on May 25, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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Xander Bogaerts
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 13: Juan Soto #22 of the Washington Nationals celebrates his fourth inning three-run home run against the New York Yankees with his teammates at Yankee Stadium on June 13, 2018, in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Xander Bogaerts isn’t the only new-style of shortstop.

Trea Turner, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager (RIP), and Xander Bogaerts all burst onto the scene in recent years. Each one has tremendous potential on both sides of the baseball, and the squad drew resemblance to the shortstop class of Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez of the early 2000s. It is unquestionable the expectation was that we would see an uptick in shortstop offense, with these five leading the way.

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With that said, it probably was not anticipated to be so pronounced, especially with Seager out and Turner muddled in league-average hitting.

Looking at the current landscape of MLB shortstops, it is evident that Manny Machado‘s switch from third base to short helped the position.

Simmons’ offensive surge over the past two years has aided as well as Segura and Escobar’s breakouts. There has not even been mention of Didi Gregorius, yet he is swinging a good stick this year too.

There are 27 qualified shortstops in baseball on the Fangraphs leaderboard. 15 of those 27 are league-average hitters or better (100+ wRC+). The conventional wisdom that shortstops cannot hit as well as another position is starting to erode.

So far this season, shortstops have outhit second basemen (91 wRC+) and center fielders (97 wRC+), which did not happen last year. There should not be a need to say that they have outhit catchers but, yeah, they are doing that too. Additionally, they are not far at all from outhitting outfielders as a whole (101 wRC+).

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It is hard to say whether this is an anomaly of a shortstop season or not. There are so many talented hitting shortstops in baseball that perhaps there is something real to this surge in offensive output. Regardless, this has been a historic and unique season for shortstops, and it will be captivating to monitor for the remainder of the year.

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