Fantasy Baseball Today - Top 5 Shortstop Prospects for 2026 Redraft Leagues! (12/10 Fantasy Baseball podcast)
Episode Date: December 10, 2025Konnor Griffin was a monster in the minors this past season! Will he be up on Opening Day? Kevin McGonigle and JJ Wetherholt both look like very polished hitters. When might we see Colt Emerson with t...he Mariners and Aidan Miller with the Phillies? Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Impact shortstop prospects for 2026 redraft leagues.
Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome in to FBT Express on Wednesday, December 10th.
I am, for example, joined by Chris Towers.
Let's take a look at some impact shortstop prospects for redraft leagues this upcoming season,
number one with a bullet at the top of the list, arguably the top prospect at all baseball.
Connor Griffin of the Pirates, who is 19 years old.
He was named Baseball America's mind.
Under League player of the year, just had a ridiculous season, hit 333, 21 homers, 65 steals, a 941 OPS.
And just last month, we got an article from Jeff Passen saying, the pirates are strongly considering giving Griffin the opportunity to win their starting shortstop job this spring.
And Chris, if that happens, we could have a fantasy viable impact player right away.
I mean, the skill set and the tools are certainly there for him to be an absolute difference maker in fantasy,
especially if you're talking about in a roto context, because this is a guy as a 19-year-old,
he was 18 when last season started, but 19 for most of the season, got all the way to AA, hit 333 with 21 homers and 65 stolen bases.
Connor Griffin is 6 foot 4.
he was listed at 225 pounds as an 18 year old and he stole 65 bases just to give you an idea of the kind of athlete we're talking about here
Scott white on the full episode of the podcast has made the comp multiple times now to Mike Trout in the way that Connor Griffin just so clearly outclassed the competition at every level this season doing that as a 19 year old
I get that there's a lot of skepticism about whether the pirates would actually call him up on opening day.
You know, is this a team that's ready to compete?
Would they be willing to burn that extra year of service time?
All that stuff.
I think the pirates need to show that they're trying.
I think they need to show Paul schemes that they're trying.
And I think giving Connor Griffin a chance to win an opening day job.
And if he earns it, handing it to him, I think is what they need to do.
and what they will do.
So he's someone, I'm already ranking around 200th overall,
and if we get to spring training and he's playing every day
and he looks like he belongs,
this is going to be a top 150, maybe top 120 pick
by the time spring training rolls around.
The next player up, we have Kevin McGonigal of the Tigers,
who's 21 years old,
and just had a fine season in the minors hit 305, 19 homers, 10 steals,
a 991 OPS.
He did all of that in just 88 games,
did miss some time due to injure.
went out to the Arizona Fall League and won the AFL MVP.
Chris, we actually saw him out there.
We saw him hit an RBI triple, a two-run homer.
He looked dominant, and there is a real chance.
He is also competing for an opening day job.
Yeah, McGonagle is not absurdly tooled up like Connor Griffin.
This is a highly optimized baseball player.
He's 510, 187 pounds, but play is bigger than that because he's optimized to hit for power.
you know you're not going to get like the 115 mile an hour average exit velocities from him on the high end
but he's going to hit the ball hard consistently we saw 19 homers in only 88 games last season as a 20 year old
he'll hit he'll drive the ball to the pull side another guy who hit for more power as he went on 12 of those 19
home runs came in 46 games at double a i'm not sure how much stolen base upside there is for mcgonigal this
definitely feels like a McGonigle's better in points, Griffin's better in Roto kind of situation.
But if it all comes together, McGonigal should be a really, really strong five category contributor.
If it's 25 homers and 15 stolen bases at the peak, it should come with a really good batting
average and there should be a lot to be excited about here as an overall player. And yeah, I think
he might be the opening day shortstop for the Tigers. He might be the opening day third baseman
now that Claiboros is back, but I think at the very least we'll see him by May.
All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be back right after this.
Welcome back in the FBT Express. We're taking a look at Impact shortstop prospects for redraft leagues next season.
Next up we have JJ Weatherhold of the Cardinals, who's 23 years old, also just had a very productive season, hit 306, 17 homers, 233 steals, 931 OPS, good eye at the plate, makes a lot of contact, pretty good exit velocities as well.
We include him on this list because he's a shortstop for now.
In reality, he probably winds up playing second or third base,
but he very easily could have been up in September.
I think of the three names we've talked about,
Weatherholt might be the most likely to be up on opening day.
I think it's extremely unlikely that he's not up on opening day.
You just don't see many top prospects.
Play 47 games at AAA with a 156 WRC plus and then go back the next season.
I think it's just a question of where is it?
It's not going to be shortstop.
JJ Weatherholt might end up being a better player than Mason win.
He's very unlikely to be a better defender than Mason win.
That doesn't mean JJ Weatherholt can't be a good defensive shortstop.
It's just there aren't a lot better than Mason win right now.
So whether it's third base, whether it's second base, whether it's Holt.
I don't know what that was.
He'll be in the opening day lineup for the Cardinals somewhere, I think.
And it's maybe a toolsyer Kevin McGonigal, but a little less finely tuned.
He makes a lot of contact as a really good approach at the plate.
Hits the ball a little harder at the high ends, perhaps,
but doesn't necessarily pull the ball in the air in the same way to maximize that power.
So I think Weatherhold 2020 upside with a good batting average is well within the realm of possibility for him.
All right.
Next up we have Colt Emerson of the Mariners,
is just 20 years old, hit 285 this past season, 16 homers, 14 steals, 842 OPS across three levels.
He did get six games in at AAA.
We heard earlier this offseason the Mariners will give Emerson a shot to win a starting job
during spring training.
But given how young he is, the lack of experience at AAA, I'm not saying it's impossible
if he just goes out and crushes it this spring, then he probably will be up on opening day.
But maybe it's more like a May or June call up for Colt Emerson.
Well, yeah, you look at him and he got to AAA.
Kevin McGonigal never got to AAA last season.
But McGonigal actually played more games above A ball.
He got 46.
Emerson got 40 total.
So he only played 34 at AA, 6 at AAA.
He'll only be 20 on opening day.
So this is one where I do think, called Emerson, while he'll have a chance in spring training and we can talk about that when it comes,
I would guess we see him open next season at AAA, and it's more of a, hey, does he come up in mid to late April, early May?
I think his hitting will justify that, but there are plenty of tools here.
It's not quite as good of an approach at the plate as JJ Weatherholt.
There might be a little more raw power here, though, and there's some stolen base upside.
You know, he had 16 homers, 14 steals last season with a good batting average.
I think there's a clear step down here,
both in terms of fantasy upside
and in likelihood of being on the opening day roster
compared to JJ Weatherholt.
But overall, the profile doesn't look totally dissimilar
and someone who could end up being a top 12 shortstop in the long run.
Last name we'll talk about here is Aidan Miller of the Phillies
who's 21 years old.
He took a huge step forward in the speed department,
put up 59 steel.
So this is a player that could be a contributor
a plus contributor in a Roto League right away as soon as next season.
And I think if the Phillies trade Alec Bome this offseason,
that might make it even more likely that we see Miller sooner.
So yeah, I think we should be intrigued based on his skill set for next season.
Yeah, he has pretty good raw power, really good athlete as seen by the 59 stolen bases last season.
It's just the production has been very hit or miss for him as a minor league.
last season in 2024 he only hit two to two two sixty one uh o p s was in the low eight hundreds only 23
stolen bases this year took a big step forward in that stolen base department like you said 59 the
offensive profile still looks pretty similar he was you know 259 at double a eight games at
triple a he looked pretty good but it's only eight games so i don't know how much to take of it so i think you're
hoping for potential impact as a base stealer a little bit of pop, you know, maybe 10 to 15
homers.
I would think the batting average for Aiden Miller might be a problem though right away.
So not necessarily someone you can look at as a starting shortstop for fantasy or even third
basement if he gets the call, but someone who could be in that middle infield, corner infield
discussion as a rookie.
All right.
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