Where does the Cubs' Dansby Swanson rank among shortstops in the NL Central?

2. Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs

Similar to Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson has become one of the most underrated players in baseball because so much of his value is derived from defense and baserunning. Swanson's 2024 season was frustrating to watch as a fan. He struggled mightily before the All-Star break and struck out at a 28 percent clip against righties (with only a .653 OPS). He still produced a 97th percentile rating in fielding run value and 94th in baserunning value and still chipped in 45 extra-base hits. Also similarly to his double-play partner Hoerner, Swanson was playing at less than 100 percent with a banged-up knee and a core injury at different parts of the year.

When he's at his best, Swanson provides above-average slugging and on-base skills alongside elite defense and baserunning. Getting his power production from the right side alongside Seiya Suzuki will be incredibly important in balancing out a lefty-heavy order. If Dansby can push toward a .775+ OPS season, it probably means the Cubs make the playoffs.

3. Masyn Wynn, St. Louis Cardinals

Masyn Wynn's a pretty interesting player archetype: he maintained a low strikeout rate (especially for a rookie) of 17 percent but doesn't walk much, has some slug (52 XBH) but doesn't make a ton of great contact and provides good fielding (elite arm strength) and baserunning. Baseball Reference had him at an eye-popping 4.9 bWAR in his rookie season, although Fangraphs had him a little lower and StatCast shows some oddities in his advanced metrics.

Regardless of how deep you read into his rookie season stat line, the 22-year-old Cardinal is going to be a really good player for a long time. Wynn is already extremely close to a Swanson level of production and will have a similarly high floor in value because of great defense. He's made a ton of strides offensively in the last two years to add slug and could still have substantial upside at the plate.