Fantasy Baseball: Ray's Shortstop Rankings for 2010

by Ray Guilfoyle on Mar 16, 2010 3:00 PM EDT in Baseball

Continuing in our Top 20 rankings, I discuss the Top 20 shortstops for 2010 fantasy drafts. Hanley Ramirez is the top shortstop in baseball, but the gap between him and guys like Troy Tulowitzki and Jimmy Rollins is narrowing, in my opinion. I have written here previously that Hanley's HR and SB trends are going in the wrong direction, and he could be a fantasy bust in 2010. Now the possibility of that happening is very small, but every year one of the first round picks has a down year-see David Wright and Jose Reyes.

Here are the Top 20 shortstops for 2010:

Name	AB	HR	R	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
Hanley Ramirez	576	24	101	106	61	101	27	0.342
Troy Tulowitzki	543	32	101	92	73	112	20	0.297
Jimmy Rollins	672	21	100	77	44	70	31	0.250
Derek Jeter	634	18	107	66	72	90	30	0.334
Jose Reyes	147	2	18	15	18	19	11	0.279
Yunel Escobar	528	14	89	76	57	62	5	0.299
Stephen Drew	533	12	71	65	49	87	5	0.261
Alexei Ramirez	542	15	71	68	49	66	14	0.277
Jason Bartlett	500	14	90	66	54	89	30	0.320
Asdrubal Cabrera	523	6	81	68	44	89	17	0.308
Miguel Tejada	635	14	83	86	19	48	5	0.313
Elvis Andrus	480	6	72	40	40	77	33	0.267
Marco Scutaro	574	12	100	60	90	75	14	0.282
Rafael Furcal	613	9	92	47	61	89	12	0.269
J.J. Hardy	414	11	53	47	43	85	0	0.229
Alcides Escobar	125	1	20	11	4	18	4	0.304
Everth Cabrera	377	2	59	31	46	88	25	0.255
Orlando Cabrera	656	9	83	77	36	71	13	0.284
Ryan Theriot	602	7	81	54	51	93	21	0.284
Erick Aybar	504	5	70	58	30	54	14	0.312

There are six guys on this list who can steal 30 bases or more, and maybe 7 guys who could hit 20+ HRs in 2010. I see Jimmy Rollins improving in the BA category in 2010, while maintaining his 20 HR/30 SB pace. I don't see Jason Bartlett hitting for the same power in 2010, nor will he steal 30 bases, but he could steal 20.

Derek Jeter stole 30 bases in 2009. Where did that come from at his age? I can see his BA and SB totals dropping a bit in 2010, but he could hit the 20 HR level. One of these years, Yunel Escobar is going to break out, and I can see him going 20-100 in the next few seasons.

Stephen Drew should have a bounce back season as I think he could return to the 15-20 HR level with a .280 BA in 2010. Another guy I see bouncing back is the Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy. Hardy suffered through a horrendous year in 2009, but I can see him returning to his 20 HR output. His BA, BABIP and HR/FB rates were close to career lows in 2009. I see him regressing to his mean and putting up a season similar to his 2008 season where he went 24-74-.283.

A sleeper not listed is Nationals shortstop prospect Ian Desmond. Desmond is battling veteran Christian Guzman this spring. Even if he doesn't win the job out of spring training, Desmond should be the Nats shortstop by the end of the season, so he is one to watch.

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