Let’s Scout the Top Shortstop Prospects’ Defense: Kevin McGonigle, Jesús Made, Carson Williams

I’m not telling our readers anything they don’t already know, but defense is a very important part of baseball, especially at the up-the-middle positions. You probably watch enough baseball to list the best and worst couple of defenders at each position with a fair amount of accuracy; I bet you’d nail most of them off the top of your head (aside from Trea Turner, I think the 2025 FRV list is damn good), and that you have a proper appreciation for the importance of defense at the premium positions, even if it comes with some amount of sacrifice on offense.

In the prospect realm, though, things are trickier. Prospect hit data from TrackMan and Hawkeye has become common in public-facing analysis and discourse, but defense remains something of a black box. There aren’t many publicly available minor league defensive stats, and so much of evaluating defense is still best done visually, at least in my opinion. I wrote a version of today’s piece a few years ago, wherein I performed the same sort of video deep dive that I use to evaluate top shortstop prospects’ defense, and ripped and edited together key plays from that deep dive to share with you.

This year, I’m turning that exercise into a series. I’m going to batch together a few players at a time until I’ve gone through all of the 50 FV shortstops, as well as a few key prospects with lesser grades. That will include all of the players linked here, plus a few more.

I’ve ignored all the lounge chair routine grounders and only included plays where I think the shortstop is forced to do something athletically instructive, or where he messes up. Readers will be exposed to something they otherwise wouldn’t be — namely, many defensive trials from the best shortstop prospects in short succession — which hopefully helps to illustrate the differences between these players, and might aid some readers in sharpening their scouting eye. Below, I’ve got a supercut of each player, followed by commentary. Play the video as you read.

Carson Williams, Tampa Bay Rays

Let’s start with Carson Williams, since he was just promoted to the majors and is a known entity at the position, having projected as a Gold Glove-caliber defender for the last couple of years. Some of Williams’ throws in this supercut are sloppy, and I wish he’d more consistently get his weight back to his front side, especially on some of these throws from deep in the hole. But overall, this is still an exceptional defensive player who’s going to make an all-league impact at one of the most important positions on the field.

Williams’ range is amazing. In some of this footage where you can see Williams at the moment of contact, you get a great look at how quick and explosive his first step is. Even in some of the plays at the very edge of his range that he doesn’t quite make, his foot speed and athleticism are still evident. This is clearest when Williams has to go a great distance from his right to his left, and make plays on the other side of second base. His ability to quickly flip his hips (watch how the angle of Williams’ pelvis shifts from pointing toward first base as he chases the baseball to pointing toward third base as he prepares to throw) and make a strong throw is very special. Readers should also note the difference in the way Tre’ Morgan bends and moves at first base in these clips compared to the way Bob Seymour tends to play with a higher center of gravity. I continue to have Williams graded as a 70 defender with a 70 arm based on this eval.

Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers

In my pre-trade deadline Top 100 update, I shifted Kevin McGonigle’s defensive projection to second base. As you can see in the clips, he’s had some issues with accuracy on longer throws. More importantly, though, it often takes K-Mac an extra step or two to turn the baseball around and send it toward first base. His exchange is choppy and occurs in two obvious steps rather than a single smooth one. This can often make a difference on bang-bang plays at first, especially when fielding slow rollers in on the grass.

McGonigle also lacks the prototypical size of a big league shortstop. There are definitely exceptions to this and one shouldn’t dismiss a player out of hand simply because they’re small and stocky, but when a guy fails to check the size and athleticism boxes and also has flaws in the skill-related aspects of the evaluation, it’s tough to project him to play shortstop (or center field or catcher) at the big league level. Look at the list of current big league shortstops. It’s a lot of big, strapping athletes built like wide receivers, and the exceptions are superlative athletes of some other stripe. That isn’t McGonigle. It doesn’t mean he isn’t a great prospect — he’s still arguably the best prospect in baseball because of the proficiency and stability of his hit tool — but he’s much more likely to replace Gleyber Torres (who’s on an expiring deal) at second base next year than he is to be the Tigers’ shortstop. Could he play short in a pinch? Yes, and if you forced me to grade McGonigle as a shortstop, I’d put a 40 on him. But I think he’ll be a 50 second baseman.

Jesús Made, Milwaukee Brewers

Finally today, let’s enjoy the magmatic athletic marvel that is Jesús Made. This fella has crude, unpolished talent and special long-term ceiling as a defender. Look at how much ground each of Made’s strides covers compared to McGonigle’s, and how mobile Made is in every direction. The plays to his right where he’s throwing back across his body are nutty. Note the difference in the exchange pace here, too, as Made frequently positions himself to be ready to throw as he’s still approaching the baseball. That said, his throwing accuracy needs polish. On several routine plays, his tactile feel for releasing the baseball is poor; he’ll pronate over the top of one and short hop it to the first baseman, while airmailing the next one. This is absolutely something to monitor, but it isn’t a physical shortcoming and is likely to be cleaned up with reps.

Made is rough enough around the edges that it’d be a mess (with the occasional Web Gem) if you dropped him onto a big league infield right now. At a certain point, it’s going to be more important for him to clean up these details if he’s going to continue being promoted at the pace he has been so far, but he’s still only 18 (he turns 19 next May), and at this juncture, I care much more about his physical ability and talent than his technical polish. I think he has big long-term ceiling as a defender because of his athleticism, range, acrobatic actions, and arm strength, but the cement here is far from dry. I’ve given him a present 40 grade as a defender and a future 60.