Fantasy Baseball: Jason's Shortstop Rankings

We will continue on with our wrtiers' rankings today, as we now move to the shortstop position.

1. Hanley Ramirez (Marlins)
2. Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies)
3. Jimmy Rollins (Phillies)
4. Ben Zobrist (Rays)
5. Derek Jeter (Yankees)
6. Jason Bartlett (Rays)
7. Jose Reyes (Mets)
8. Elvis Andrus (Rangers)
9. Marco Scutaro (Red Sox)
10. Alexei Ramirez (White Sox)
11. Ryan Theriot (Cubs)
12. Asdrubal Cabrera (Indians)
13. Stephen Drew (Diamondbacks)
14. Erick Aybar (Angels)
15. Alcides Escobar (Brewers)
16. Yunel Escobar (Braves)
17. Miguel Tejada (Orioles)
18. J.J. Hardy (Twins)
19. Everth Cabrera (Padres)
20. Rafael Furcal (Dodgers)

Shortstop is surprisingly deep to me this season, as there are useful players all the way past 14. Some specific player notes:

• I don't trust Jose Reyes. The upside is there, but the injuries concern me, and for where I would have to draft him, I doubt he will be on any of my teams.
• I think that Jimmy Rollins should have a bounceback season this year, and could vault into the top 10 if he does.
• Alcides Escobar is coming into the season with a lock on the Brewers' job, and I think he could be a nice source of batting average and stolen bases.
• Count me in as a believer in both Ben Zobrist and Marco Scutaro. I think Scutaro will be helped even more by the Red Sox lineup, and should score a lot of runs to go with double-digit steals and homeruns.
• J.J. Hardy also has some nice upside, as he could return to his power form when he hit 26 and 24 HR in back to back seasons.
• Don't be fooled by Rafael Furcal. He's become a much better real-life player than fantasy player at this point, and is probably getting by a lot more in fantasy circles based on his name.

There's really not a lot of prospects in the high minors, but the one to watch is probably going to be Starlin Castro of the Cubs. He has already been told he will start the season in AAA Iowa, but could very well end up in the Majors playing either 2B or SS if he performs in Iowa.