Fantasy Baseball 2012: Shortstop Tiers

Your fantasy baseball drafts are right around the corner.  Here's my attempt at separating 25 shortstops into six tiers.

Tiers are very subjective and one player could easily be considered just good enough or just bad enough to be in the next higher or lower tier.

Let me know what you think.  Also check out my fantasy baseball first basemen tiers and second basemen tiers.

Tier 1

Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez*, Jose Reyes

Ramirez and Reyes had short seasons in 2011, but I think they will both benefit from Reyes joining the Marlins.

*Not primary position, but eligible for shortstop

Tier 2

Elvis Andrus, Asdrubal Cabrera, Starlin Castro, Jimmy Rollins

Cabrera doesn't get enough credit for what he did in 2011—25 HR and 92 RBI, both career highs by far.

Tier 3

Alexei Ramirez, Jhonny Peralta, J.J. Hardy, Derek Jeter

Hardy and Tulo were the only shortstops with 30 HR last season.  Peralta had one of the best seasons of his career while helping the Tigers to the playoffs. He eclipsed 20-plus HR and 80-plus RBI in the same season for just the second time in nine seasons.

Tier 4

Erick Aybar, Emilio Bonifacio*, Stephen Drew, Dee Gordon, Yunel Escobar

Gordon was a late addition to L.A.'s lineup last season, but it didn't take long for him to prove that he belonged.  In just 56 games, he stole 24 bases.

*Not primary position, but eligible for shortstop

Tier 5

Ian Desmond, Alcides Escobar, Rafael Furcal, Marco Scutaro

There's not a lot to write home about from this group.  Scutaro's numbers should stay around the same as they were in Boston.

Tier 6

Jed Lowrie, Zack Cozart, Alexi Casilla, Cliff Pennington, Jason Bartlett

Cozart could be the sleeper from this group, other than that, pretty ho-hum.