With the regular season less than two months away, we have been looking at the projected starters at each position. After ranking the American League shortstops, it’s time to move on to their National League counterparts.
As a subjective list, many of the players can almost be considered interchangeable as to where they are ranked. Projected starters were taken from Fangraphs.
Javier Baez, Cubs
The runner-up for NL MVP in 2018, Baez gets a slight edge over Trevor Story due to Story’s numbers taking a sharp decline on the road. Moving to shortstop full-time last year, Baez looked marvelous in the field and continued to produce at the plate. He doesn’t draw many walks, but he has combined to hit .286 with 63 homers, 78 doubles, and 13 triples over the last two seasons.
Javier Báez on possibility of signing a long-term extension: “I got my mind more on (bringing) the team to the playoffs again. This is a team that should be in the playoffs every year with the talent that we have. If it happens, I’d be grateful to be a Cub for my entire career.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) January 18, 2020
Trevor Story, Rockies
Story made just eight errors at shortstop as he was a finalist for a Gold Glove, won a Silver Slugger, and finished 12th in NL MVP voting last year. He strikes out a ton, but still nearly hit .300 each of the last two seasons. He has 80 doubles and 72 homers over the last two years.
Trevor Story’s two-year, $27.5 million contract follows the arc of his service time and meshes well with contracts that will either come off the club’s books or decline in 2021 https://t.co/tISUhx1uuC pic.twitter.com/r30wP4SoLN
— Forbes SportsMoney (@ForbesSports) February 3, 2020