Greatest ss of all time

Welcome to Bleacher Report's series of the 25 greatest players at each position in modern MLB history.

Shortstops don't get lots of MVP awards. They don't lead the league in many offensive categories. Most of them don't hit a lot of home runs. So why has this position remained such a key to winning games over the entire course of MLB history? Dynasties and decades have turned on this position. Franchises have risen and fallen because of this position.

Greatest ss of all time

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten! This week, the shortstops are on tap. Before we get to the players, below is some background on how we compiled the list. The Criteria. Outside of catcher, shortstop is probably the most important defensive position on the diamond. As such, we put a bit more emphasis on defense than we did at first and second base. Specifically, we added Total Zone to the criteria. Please note that even though defense was weighed more heavily, the player still needed to be a premier hitter. The core of the evaluation was based on several types of WAR, including ratings from Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs , which calculate it differently. We rely heavily on WAR as it is difficult to compare players of different eras to each other, given how the game has changed over the years. WAR measures players versus their contemporaries, thus putting players on as level a playing field as possible. As always, we tried to balance the rankings between longevity and dominance to get a good cross-section. Derek Jeter.

Joe Sewell Barry Larkin comes up one season shy of joining Trammell and Yount in the with-the-same-team club, but he checks in just ahead for his steady production on both sides of the ball. Welcome to another edition of Top Ten!

Do you want big names? Big numbers? Big personalities? To create our list, an ESPN expert panel voted on thousands of head-to-head matchups of players, based on both peak performance and career value. The top will roll out next week.

Major League Baseball as we know it, that is two leagues American and National, playing by the same rules with the champion from each squaring off against the other for baseball supremacy was born in These rankings only consider seasons and careers from and after. The stats for each player only includes stats from after To be eligible offensive players have to have 1, career plate appearances, starting pitchers have to have 75 career starts, and relief pitchers need to have career innings pitched. This list is embarrassing without inclusion of Barry Larkin? Easily a top 10 shortstop of all time, and not far from the top 5. Like Like. Nick, thanks for pointing out my omission. It was an accidental omission.

Greatest ss of all time

Shortstops don't get lots of MVP awards. They don't lead the league in many offensive categories. Most of them don't hit a lot of home runs. So why has this position remained such a key to winning games over the entire course of MLB history? Dynasties and decades have turned on this position. Franchises have risen and fallen because of this position. And this position has captured our imagination with that thing they do — a mix of athleticism and acrobatics unmatched in sports. If you were a Baltimore Orioles fan from the s through the s, you got to see some pretty amazing shortstop play.

Bhagyaraj first wife

Vaughan was also fast. He already has three homer seasons in his career, and we'd bet dollars to donuts that he's got more homer seasons in him and ends up with an MVP trophy on his mantle one day. On his way to. Omar Vizquel is definitely in the conversation for the greatest fielding shortstop of all time. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on his sixth try in His offensive game was built around his elite contact skills, and while he was never a true impact player offensively, he struck out just times in 4, career plate appearances. While Baseball Reference and FanGraphs don't calculate WAR the exact same way hence the slightly different numbers for each player , it's clear from the above table that the statistic does a good job of pointing out the very best shortstops. Louis on his way out to play shortstop. Chicago White Sox. That season, Larkin batted. Dick Groat. Mark Belanger. It was during his time in Texas that he later admitted to using PEDs , which has tarnished his legacy to the point that despite his gaudy career numbers, he received just His struggles at the plate held him back from being one of the all-time greats, with a.

Greatest Hitters in Baseball History.

One of the best eligible players not in the Hall of Fame, Trammell is a statistical match for Barry Larkin, but while Larkin cruised in, Trammell will have to await a Veterans Committee selection. His struggles at the plate held him back from being one of the all-time greats, with a. Joe Tinker 8. You couldn't build a better shortstop at 6-foot-4 and pounds, and just seven seasons into his career, he's already made two All-Star teams, won a Gold Glove Award and was also the American League Rookie of the Year in We may never see another shortstop like Alex Rodriguez. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Larkin spent the entirety of his year Hall of Fame career with his hometown team, leading the Reds to two postseason appearances and a World Series crown in One interesting aside. The core of the evaluation was based on several types of WAR, including ratings from Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs , which calculate it differently. Being a World Champion suited Jeter. The Criteria. The Philadelphia Phillies had a run of seven straight losing seasons before Jimmy Rollins took over as the team's starting shortstop in Ernie Banks is one of the greatest slugging shortstops ever to play. Once Aparicio got on the basepaths, teams were toast.