If Tupac Shakur played baseball: shortstop, rated 86

Tupac Shakur as a baseball player: scouting report

Tupac Shakur plays shortstop, and his training explains it. As a teenager he studied at the Baltimore School for the Arts, taking classes in acting, poetry, jazz and ballet, and ballet is a secret weapon for a middle infielder: balance on the move, quick feet and the body control to throw from any angle. Speed is the top mark on his card, so his range covers both sides of second base.

His fielding sits right beside the speed, which makes him one of the steadiest gloves at the toughest position on the diamond. At the plate his contact is strong and his eye is good, so he can hit near the top of the order, put the ball in play and run. He also built a real screen career in Juice, Poetic Justice and the basketball film Above the Rim, and a performer's sense of timing helps on the double play pivot, when the runner is arriving and the throw has to come out a beat early. The Library of Congress added Dear Mama to the National Recording Registry, a mark of how carefully his best work was crafted.

Power is the honest weakness, so bat him leadoff, or ninth as a second leadoff man, and let others drive him in. His arm is average, enough for most throws from short, and if you would rather protect it, second base costs very little. Center field is a fallback where his speed still plays. Pair him with a slugging first baseman and a pitcher who keeps the ball on the ground, and take him in the early rounds.

Plays like A slick fielding shortstop with a poet's rhythm

Put Tupac Shakur in your lineup

12 rolls, nine hitters and a rotation, 162 games. Can you win 117? Free, no account.