The Zeplen Dean Rankings: Shortstop

Now on to our preliminary shortstop rankings. I did a something a little different in how the players are ranked and sorted.

The average Zeplen Dean score on the shortstops I have in the database so far is 46.56 and the standard deviation is 11.6. I split up the tiered groupings based on being above average, below average and within the standard deviations.

Tier 1 (2 Standard Deviations Above Average) >69.76

1-Troy Tulowitzki
2-Hanley Ramirez

As expected, Tulowitzki had the highest score but the gap between him and Ramirez was smaller than expected. Tulowitzki has a higher career BABIP than normal while Ramirez has a much lower BABIP, after factoring these out their expected batting averages are pretty close. While Ramirez has a sizable lead in stolen bases, Tulowitzki has enough of an edge in the last three categories (Runs, Home Runs & RBIs) to keep his expected spot.

Tier 2 (1 Standard Deviation Above Average) >58.16

Nobody, the next best score is 57.72

Tier 3 (Within Standard Deviation but Above Average)

3-Jose Reyes
4-Dee Gordon
5-Alexei Ramirez
6-Asdrubal Cabrera
7-Starlin Castro

I was a bit surprised that Dee Gordon was ranked #4. When adjusting for BABIP his projected average wasn't an albatross (.275) and the projection has him stealing 72 bases which boosted his value.

Tier 4 (Within Standard Deviation but Below Average)

8-Jean Segura
9-Jimmy Rollins
10-Jhonny Peralta
11-Elvis Andrus
12-Ian Desmond
13-Alcides Escobar
14-Jed Lowrie
15-Brandon Crawford
16-Jordy Mercer

This is somewhat misleading as everyone from Segura down to Ian Desmond was within .46 points of each other and .54 of being in Tier 3 The order of these shortstops is likely to shuffle a lot as the season goes on. Having Tulowitzki and  Ramirez ahead of the pack pushed more shortstops below average than above.

Tier 5 (One Standard Deviation Below Average)

17-Everth Cabrera
18-JJ Hardy
19-Xander Bogarets
20-Andrelton Simmons

The race to the bottom so far is pretty close (.17) point difference. I was surprised Simmons had the lowest rating but does make more sense as his value rests primarily with the glove. If this was based on actual real life value, he would likely have a better ranking.