45.5 Checking the Locks: Shortstop

[crobillard]

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the fifth of eleven parts. I will be taking a look into the shortstop position in this post.

Sure fire locks: Pepe Espinosa
Near lock: Joey Nethersole
Trying to get in the door: Winston Abernathy

This is the easiest position for me to call outside of third base. Espinosa is fantastic. One of the league's best shortstops, Espinosa is able to combine excellent defense with a good bat. However, sometimes he just can't piece it all together and other times he's injured. He's not an easy player to enjoy having on your roster, but when he's hitting on all cylinders you love having him next to your future hall of fame third baseman. Espinosa missed roughly a month last season due to injuries, but he was solid when he was in the field amassing a 2.2 WAR with a .250/.292/.404 batting line with 29 doubles, three triples and 13 homeruns. Add a +5.5 ZR to that at the game's most difficult position and you know why I sing his praises. He's only 24 years old, so the product of the Bobby Lynch trade means a lot to Edmontonians.

I've touched on Nethersole previously, but I'll do it again here because when Espinosa is out, Nethersole steps right in and doesn't miss a beat in the field. Clearly, the team has made it a priority that fantastic fielding at shortstop is essential. Nethersole is the epitome of that. He doesn't hit well although he did bat .239 last season which is pretty good for him believe it or not. His value is clear though. +6.7 ZR in ONLY 45 games at shortstop. The guy absolutely flies around the left side of the field and refuses to let anything pass him. Balls hit straight up the middle are gobbled up by him. I know I put Espinosa in this series as the obligatory shortstop, but if Nethersole wins the starting job, it's pretty obvious that Espinosa is moving to second because Nethersole is the David Katzenbogen of shortstop. Possibly one of the best ever to field at the position if he can continue the show he's putting on. It's almost worth starting Nethersole every once in awhile at short just to see if he can keep it up. He's insane and when you combine Espinosa and Nethersole in the middle of the infield, it's no wonder why the Edmonton defense was so great in Plays made Above Average last season.

Another player that fits this same mold is Abernathy. However, his shortstop play isn't as good due to limited range. Perhaps his age, an ancient 29 years old, is playing a factor. He's 10 rated in everything aside from range where he's a 6. At second or third he's excellent, but at short he's a 7. This team loves it's versatile guys though and someone who is an iron man? Gimme. He can't really hit with only 6/5/2/5/7 ratings, but Edmonton has never really cared about that.