Top 15 Shortstops for 2010: Take Three
Shortstop clearly isn’t the shallow position that it used to be. There are players with 40 SB potential available in the late rounds of your draft, so when you miss out on the top names it’s not as crippling as it once was. Let’s take a look at how my rankings currently look, based on my projections:
- Hanley Ramirez - Florida Marlins
- Troy Tulowitzki - Colorado Rockies
- Jose Reyes - New York Mets
- Jimmy Rollins - Philadelphia Phillies
- Derek Jeter - New York Yankees
- Alexei Ramirez - Chicago White Sox
- Elvis Andrus - Texas Rangers
- Everth Cabrera - San Diego Padres
- Jhonny Peralta - Cleveland Indians
- Stephen Drew - Arizona Diamondbacks
- Jason Bartlett - Tampa Bay Rays
- Yunel Escobar - Atlanta Braves
- Erick Aybar - Los Angeles Angels
- Rafael Furcal - Los Angeles Dodgers
- J.J. Hardy - Minnesota Twins
Thoughts:
- Hanley Ramirez is by far the best shortstop (and one of the best hitters) in the game, but after that the list is peppered with some question marks.
- Can Troy Tulowitzki repeat his 2009 success? It certainly looks like his 2008 struggles were due to injuries, not inability, but what truly bumps him above the others is the speed he showed last season. While he had never shown much stolen base potential in the past, he also hadn’t run very often either. Last season he attempted 31 stolen bases, leading to his 20 steals. While he may not run as often in 2010, the potential to go 30/15 makes him a tremendous option in any format.
- I’ve already compared Reyes and Rollins, deciding that Reyes was the better option for 2010. You can read that comparison by clicking here.
- Everth Cabrera made a big jump on this list as I finished off my projections. Hitting atop the Padres lineup is not an ideal spot, but he should be given ample opportunities to steal bases and score some runs (someone needs to score on that team, right?). I’ve already discussed him in detail, which you can read by clicking here.
- This is probably the last time you will be able to use Jhonny Peralta as a shortstop, having shifted to third base in ‘09, and it’s something that could prove worth the sleeper selection. After hitting 20+ home runs in three out of four seasons, does anyone truly believe the 11 that he hit last season? He should be significantly better, meaning you’d likely get your monies worth. I wouldn’t draft him as the ninth shortstop off the board (right now his ADP is around 215, which would be the 17th shortstop taken), so that shows the value I think he’ll produce. For more on him, check out my detailed look at him as a sleeper by clicking here.
- Why do people still believe in Furcal as a starting fantasy shortstop? I certainly don’t see it and wouldn’t pay the price to get him, as I discussed over the weekend (click here to view).
- I know, Elvis Andrus is going to be hitting ninth, so that should decrease his value, right? The Rangers aren’t the normal lineup, however. While he may not have the opportunity to score as many runs as he would hitting in the number two hole, he still should hold plenty of value. You can view more of my thoughts on him by clicking here.
- Erick Aybar is an option that doesn’t get much attention, but could potentially have value. Granted, he has little power, but he should be given the opportunity to steal some bases and score some runs. Is he a great option? No, but I’d rather take the gamble on him as opposed to someone like Rafael Furcal thanks to the upside.
What are your thoughts on the rankings? Who’s too high? Too low? Who was the biggest omission?
Make sure to place your order for the Rotoprofessor 2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, selling for just $5, by clicking here.
Make sure to check out our other early rankings:
- Catchers
- First Basemen
- Second Basemen
- Third Basemen
- Shortstops
- Outfielders
- Designated Hitters
- Starting Pitchers
- Closers
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I really like your rankings.
I’d flip reyes & rollins, just for injury concerns. Of course a healthy reyes is ahead of him, but until i see it i’m staying away from Him.
I’m very high on Andrus. He has 10hr/50sb potential even batting from the 9 hole in texas. Just think of him as another leadoff hitter. And with that potential he’s like Jacoby Ellsbury at SS. Very similar and for the round you can grab him, sometime after the 11th…. I’m keying on him.
Def like Andrus at his adp but i dont see anything close to a 300 batting average out of him like Ellsbury gets ya. Also, with Andrus slated to bat 9th my expectations for runs/rbis go down a bit. I think he struggles besides the SB’s but at his current adp he’s still easily worth that pick. I’d probably take E. Cabrera over Andrus b/c he is leading off and i can see those runs/sb’s you’d get from Andrus at an even better price.
I think Bartlett is low personally. I do not think hes gonna be as good as last year and i dont pay for career years but he’ll still be solid in a pretty weak SS field here.
Also Zobrist is still SS eligible in yahoo leagues and he’d fit right in the top 5 and is someone i want on my teams.
All in all im getting my SS early this year so i dont have to worry about sorting through this mess after the top 5 are gone.
ya blaze he’s like a .270-.280 hitter (andrus) and he’ll probably have lower rbi’s/runs at that position in the line up… but 50 sb’s and a possibility of 10 hrs from a ss is solid.
plus he could move up in the line up if he earns it… there’s nothing saying he can’t prove himself better than the 9 hole.
All,
Not sure where I should post this but I would like advice on who I should keep in my 16 team 6×6 (OBP not BA) league. You are allowed to keep up to 5 players and I have a lot more than 5 options. Here are the players in consideration and their salaries for next season:
Definites:
-Jacoby Ellsbury - $11
The rest:
-Jayson Werth - $20
-Ryan Howard- $42
-Jair Jurrjens - $10
-Johnathan Bronxton - $18
-Randy Wolf - $4
-Aaron Cook - $2
-Jose Lopez - $6
-Frank Francisco - $10
-Bobby Abreu -$20
I think Werth is almost definite and I’m inclined to keep Jurrjens since Quality Starts is a category and I think he led the league in it and is quality across the board in all other categories. Howard is awesome but is it too much? Wolf was well worth the $4 last season, do I keep him? Bronxton is the best, do I just lock him up? Or do I keep Francisco who is quality for $8 cheaper? Please advise. The others, Abreu Lopez and Cook are well worth their price but to me they are on the outside of the top 5. Please advise. Thanks.
You’ve got quite a few bold rankings here. Andrus, Everth, and Peralta ahead of Drew, Bartlett, and Yunel. Not saying it’s bad. Just very bold. I like Andrus best of that trio.
Andrew- drew has been tremendously disappointing, still young and could still break out, and yunel is just BLEH… you know what you’re getting, i think the ranks are the way they are based on talent and upside.
Ty took my thoughts about Yunel out of my mouth. He’s alright, but what exactly does he do excessively well? He’s not going to hit for much power. He’s not going to steal many bases. He’s not going to hurt, but he’s just not going to help.
Bartlett is in line for a big regression in my mind. In 2008 he hit .286 with 1 HR and 20 SB. Yea, he’ll hit a few more HR then that, but how is that very exciting?
Drew has been disappointing, but he does still have potential. I’ll talk about my projection for him in the next few days.
Last year, Yunel led the league in BA w/RISP, and will bat behind McLouth, Prado, Chipper, Glaus and McCann this year. It’s not a deal breaker but I like for his numbers to continue to improve slightly in his 4th year.
He happens to be a big, strong SS who can hit .300 and has potential to keep progressing in the power department. Maybe this year, he continues to hit about 27 doubles or so but instead of 14 HR’s, he hits 18-20?
He doesn’t profile as your usual speedy SS and probably doesn’t have too much higher of a ceiling. If he can avoid injury and play in a few more games, i could still see an incremental improvement in his numbers, in a line up that was really good down the stretch last year:
95 R, .295 BA, 174 H, 19 HR, 90 RBI, 6 SB
As a Braves fan, i know he’s got a lot to prove this year. I really wouldn’t be surprised at all if he grows up a little bit, and posts his career year. I say give him one more shot.
Question - Do you think there is any truth to the “Pedroia to play some SS” rumors from a few months back? I know they signed Scutaro to play there, but my league only requires 5 games played before that player recieves position eligibility. Do you see Pedroia getting 5 games in at short any time soon?
Drew was disappointing last year, though he fought off injury in April and May which was the cause of his slow start - he was pretty good after that. But we know he can bust out, because he already has - his 2008 was fantastic - 44 doubles, 11 triples, 21 HR - the third shortstop in MLB HISTORY to hit 40/10/20 in a season. I was thinking of featuring him in my “Undervalued” series, but if Eric is going to do a write up on him, maybe I’ll wait. I wish he’d walk a little more, but other than that I think he’s solid.
I apologize, but someone’s comment inadvertently got removed from the thread, so I wanted to put a little summary.
The basis was really the absence Miguel Tejeda & Alcides Escobar, when players like J.J. Hardy & Erick Aybar made the top 15.
Neither missed by much, coming in at 16 & 17 on the expanded rankings in the draft guide.
In Tejeda, you have to look at what you expect, not just what was done in ‘09. There is no way I see him repeating last season’s average and with little power now, I don’t see him as a valuable option.
AS for Escobar, I’ve talked about him in the past. I’m not as high on him as others due to his potential to hit 8th in the lineup and the Brewers not being a big running team in the past. I’d support taking him as a flyer, but I certainly wouldn’t take him as a starter.