Tiers are an alternate form of rankings that's less concerned with parsing individual players and more concerned with where the biggest drop-offs are. Players whose value is essentially the same are bundled together to help you prioritize which position to draft next. If the goal in a draft is to maximize the return of each pick, then a simple way to do so is to target a position that's nearing a drop-off and wait on a position that isn't. By crossing off names as you go, your path to victory should become clear.

Below are the shortstop tiers for 2024, which show how the position has begun to weaken a little, its depth mostly concentrated in the middle. There are rebound and breakout candidates to fall back on, but it's a dangerous strategy given how abruptly the talent drops off.

The First-Rounders: Bobby Witt, Trea Turner
The Also-Elite: Francisco Lindor, Gunnar Henderson, Corey Seager
The Near-Elite: Bo Bichette, Elly De La Cruz, C.J. Abrams, Nico Hoerner, Oneil Cruz, Matt McLain, Ha-Seong Kim, Xander Bogaerts
The Next-Best Things: Jackson Holliday, Dansby Swanson, Tommy Edman, J.P. Crawford†
The Fallback Options: Carlos Correa, Willy Adames, Anthony Volpe, Thairo Estrada, Trevor Story, Vaughn Grissom
The Last Resorts: Jordan Lawlar, Ezequiel Tovar, Jeremy Pena, Tim Anderson, Javier Baez
The Leftovers: Zachary Neto, Masyn Winn, Luis Rengifo, Ezequiel Duran, Orlando Arcia, Geraldo Perdomo, Jon Berti, Amed Rosario, Brice Turang

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† one tier lower in categories leagues