Top 15 Shortstop Prospects

All Positions: C / 1B / 2B / SS / 3B / CF / OF / P

Scanning over the names on our Top 10 Shortstop list entering the 2008 season, we don't see any guys who really took their stock to the next level. None of them put up performances that make them look like good bets to turn into above-average big league hitters. Had Elvis Andrus improved as a power hitter or Reid Brignac rediscovered his 2006 batting stroke, we would have been hard pressed to put any recent draft pick ahead of them.

Let's briefly go over prospect defense and shortstop draft history:

While we do tip the scales for defensive abilities when evaluating big leaguers, we're not as confident doing so with minor leaguers for two reasons: 1) It's hard to get a good read on how guys who still haven't fully matured into their adult bodies will hold up in terms of speed and agility -- Justin Upton quickly matured off of shortstop, as did Preston Wilson and Chipper Jones. 2) Methods for evaluating defense are still quite raw in the major leagues, let alone the minors. Not having seen many of the prospects below play defense, we'd prefer to put emphasis on offensive ability, the area of their game that we feel most comfortable evaluating.

According to thebaseballcube.com's draft data, 18 shortstops have been selected Top 10 overall since 1989. Not counting Tim Beckham (2008, No. 1 overall pick) and Gordon Beckham (2008, No. 8), eight of them still haven't spent a full season in the big leagues (that's 44.4%). And three of them have never played in the bigs.

While there's certainly a chance that neither Beckham will ever hold down a full-season job, we see their ceilings as justification for ranking them atop this list.