I covered my 2011 overall shortstop rankings here, and covered a couple guys you might consider once Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki are off the board here, here and here. Jeremy covered the shortstop breakout candidates here.
Now here are my AL/NL-Only shortstop rankings for 2011, starting with the NL:
NL-Only
Hanley Ramirez, FLA
Troy Tulowitzki, COL
Jose Reyes, NYM
Stephen Drew, ARI
Ian Desmond, WAS
Jimmy Rollins, PHI
Rafael Furcal, LAD
Starlin Castro, CHC
Miguel Tejada, SF
Juan Uribe, LAD
Yuniesky Betancourt, MIL
Alex Gonzalez, ATL
AL-Only and commentary after the jump:
AL-Only
Alexei Ramirez, CHW
Derek Jeter,NYY
Elvis Andrus, TEX
J.J. Hardy, BAL
Marco Scutaro, BOS
Erick Aybar, LAA
Yunel Escobar, TOR
Alcides Escobar, KC
Reid Brignac, TB
Jhonny Peralta, DET
Alexi Casilla, MIN
Jed Lowrie, BOS
Wow. The SS position is thin in AL-only leagues. I think I would wait till the later rounds of an AL-Only league draft to grab a SS. There are only ta few guys on the AL list that will hit for double digit power-Jeter, Hardy and Peralta. But there is plenty of SB guys between Ramirez, Aybar, Escobar, Jeter and Andrus.
Meanwhile the NL has two of the top 10-12 hitters in all of baseball manning the SS spot in Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki. Both will put up high double digit HRs and SBs, with Hanley a slam dunk for 20-20. I thought about ranking Jimmy Rollins ahead of Ian Desmond, but think Rollins is on the downside of his career now. Desmond could put up a 15-15 season in 2011, but with a low BA.
I ranked Furcal ahead of Castro with the assumption he will be healthy for the majority of the year. His back injury has slowed him down on the basepaths, but think he could steal 25 this year with Davey Lopes coaching first base for the Dodgers.
Miguel Tejada is still a productive hitter at the age of 37, as he hit .269-.312-.381 with 15 HRs and 71 RBIs in 2010. Tejada is eligible at 3B as well as SS in 2011, which adds to his value a bit.
It appears the NL has more power hitting SS with Hanley, Tulo, Tejada, Alex Gonzalez and Juan Uribe offering mid-teen to 30 HR power. One guy I am curious about is Cubs SS Starlin Castro. Can he raise his game a level by adding double-digit power and double digit SB totals this year?