Shortstop is a position that has a lot of players with the potential to excel and make fantasy owners look brilliant, but very few certainties. 

Even among some of the top options, you have to wonder what you are going to get.  Let’s take a look at how things currently look on our Top 15 rankings:

  1. Hanley Ramirez – Florida Marlins
  2. Troy Tulowitzki – Colorado Rockies
  3. Jose Reyes – New York Mets
  4. Elvis Andrus – Texas Rangers
  5. Jimmy Rollins – Philadelphia Phillies
  6. Derek Jeter – New York Yankees
  7. Alexei Ramirez – Chicago White Sox
  8. Starlin Castro – Chicago Cubs
  9. Stephen Drew – Arizona Cardinals
  10. Rafael Furcal – Los Angeles Dodgers
  11. Jhonny Peralta – Detroit Tigers
  12. Ian Desmond – Washington Nationals
  13. Juan Uribe – San Francisco Giants
  14. Alcides Escobar – Milwaukee Brewers
  15. Yunel Escobar – Toronto Blue Jays

Thoughts:

  • Shortstop has quickly developed into as shallow a position as there is in baseball.  Yes, there are decent players at the bottom of the rankings, but there is only so much quality and then a ton of question marks.
  • Headlining the questions is Jimmy Rollins.  If he stays healthy, he is a stud option, but at this point it is far from a lock that he does so.  While the average has struggled the past two seasons, so has his BABIP (.251, .246).  He’s not likely to produce like 2007, but he’ll score runs and is worth the gamble.
  • Speaking of staying healthy, Rafael Furcal anyone?  He has had over 400 AB just once in the past three seasons, so if you are going to draft him, I’d make sure I have an Ian Desmond or Juan Uribe on my bench.  In other words, make sure you have someone you can plug into your lineup for a few weeks, just in case.
  • It will be easy to argue Andrus’ spot in these rankings, but I stand by my opinion of him.  This is a debate that we’ll have in the near future.
  • If you can stomach a poor April, Alexei Ramirez has proven that he has the ability to be among the better shortstops in the league.  Just don’t panic when he’s hitting .200 on May 1.
  • We can all tell that Derek Jeter is slowing down, but he’s still hitting atop a loaded Yankees lineup.  That means all he has to do is hit .270 and he’ll be near 100 runs scored.  If he is able to rebound at all, he could easily top 110 and maybe even approach 120.  There’s a lot to be said about that.
  • Yesterday I posted my projection for Jose Reyes, which you can view by clicking here.

What are your thoughts on these rankings?  Who’s too high?  Who’s too low?

Make sure to check out our early 2011 rankings:

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