Fantasy Baseball Top 15 Shortstops for 2011: An Extremely Early Look

For those of you who are already looking towards next year, let’s continue our way around the diamond as we look at 2011 rankings (keep in mind that by year’s end these could significantly change):

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

Thoughts

• The difference between Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki? Mainly just the speed at this point. We all knew Tulowitzki’s speed outburst last season was a bit unrealistic. Now, the wrist injury throws a new wrinkle into this as well. In fact, if he doesn’t show power upon returning, could he fall below Jose Reyes?
• Derek Jeter just continues to produce, but at 35 years old, how long can we really expect him to match these types of numbers? It’s not a knock against him that Elvis Andrus is ranked above him here, but Andrus has developed into a stud option at the position. He has tremendous speed (leading all SS in stolen bases) and scores a ton of runs now that he’s hitting atop the order.
• When healthy, we all know how good Jimmy Rollins is. It’s certainly enough to keep him ranked in the top five.
• It’s not a surprise that Starlin Castro is struggling early on in his career, considering he’s just 20 years old. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him settle in by year’s end, however, and be in line for a big-time 2011 campaign. At this point he’s been more attractive than Alcides Escobar, who I wouldn’t want to draft as my starter.
• You have to like what you’ve seen from Juan Uribe thus far this season, and there’s no reason to think the numbers can’t continue. There’s just nothing that jumps out in his underlying numbers (36.7 percent FB, 15.4 percent HR/FB, .305 BABIP). At this point, given the lack of depth at the position, he could be seen as a starting option for next season.
• There are a lot of players who are in the mix for the tail end of these rankings. I would expect things to significantly change, with Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Bartlett, Marco Scutaro, Erick Aybar, and others all potentially jumping into things before 2010 comes to a close.

What are your thoughts on these rankings? Who is being overvalued? Who is being undervalued?

Make sure to check out our other extremely early 2011 rankings:

• Catchers
• First Basemen
• Second Basemen

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