The St. Louis Cardinals will be without SS Rafael Furcal this season as he will undergo Tommy John Surgery. Pete Kozma should be the everday replacement.
Same Face, New Place - Infielders
* - New Team
** - Sleeper
1.) Starlin Castro - Chicago Cubs
2.) Jose Reyes *- Toronto Blue Jays
- Marlins owner Loria decided he did not want to compete in 2013 and decided he would help stack the cards in Toronto?s favor. In the past, "super teams" have not gelled immediately and at times there can be friction. Nevertheless, I see something different in the Jays. For varying reasons, this superstar-studded lineup is filled with players with something to prove. Melky was using PEDs. The former Marlins "failed" in Miami. Joey Bats had a significant wrist injury. Reyes will be part of a lineup that does not have many holes. He may not have the power that the young Castro possesses, but he provides a high volume of SBs with limited risk in the BA category. When you draft Jose Reyes you know what you will be getting, steals, runs, an above average BA, and 8-12 HRs. - @Schuch10
4.) Troy Tulowitzki - Colorado Rockies
- Here is what we know. SS has always been a shallow position, which allowed Tulo to be a first round pick. From 2009-2011, he averaged 30 HRs, 13 SBs, and hit .304. Before his 2012 groin injury, he was on pace for a slight drop in HRs, RBIs, and SBs, but an increase in Rs. He missed the final 4 months of 2012 in a tantalizing way, but reports seem to indicate he is close to, if not, 100%. Draft him knowing the injury history, balanced with his past production. - @Schuch10
- Desmond is getting drafted around here because everyone is asking the same question: Can he repeat? I counter with: so what if he doesn’t? Shortstop is super thin this year. Even if Desmond has some regression, it’s not like you’ll say “Ugh, I missed out on JJ Hardy because I took this guy.” Take Desmond and hope he’s an All-Star again because he’s a true difference-maker at the position if so. And if not, oh well; the rest of your league has mediocre shortstops too. - @RDevinHughes
7.) J.J. Hardy - Baltimore Orioles
8.) Derek Jeter - New York Yankees
9.) Asdrubal Cabrera - Cleveland Indians
- Fantasy Baseball Vision likes Cabrera. Read the full analysis here.
- Swisher will hit clean-up behind Cabrera. That puts Santana in the5 hole. If Cabrera can stick in the 3 slot as a SS that bumps his value way up in my eyes. A SS with a chance at 90RBI & 90R season, that puts him in top 5 rankings. - @BrettBarton_FBV
- Check out Baseball Professor's full Player Profile on Alcides Escobar
- While Escobar’s stats have shown annual improvement at a perennially shallow position, it’s probably a good idea to pump the brakes a tad. Last year his strikeout rate jumped to 15.4% after sitting at 12.7% and 12.2% in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and he’s one of the worst on-base guys in baseball due to some terrible sub-5.0% walk rates. If there is a positive to be gleaned from Escobar’s 2012 performance, it’s his line drive rate, which peaked at 23.0% last year, a new career high. - @BaseballProf
12.) Jhonny Peralta - Detroit Tigers
13.) Erick Aybar - Los Angeles Angels
14.) Zack Cozart - Cincinnati Reds
15.) Yunel Escobar *- Tampa Bay Rays
16.) Everth Cabrera - San Diego Padres
- In such a weak category, getting a guy who can be a category monster for you wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Cabrera led the NL with 44 steals in just 398 at-bats last year. Make sure he’s going to get playing time, but if he does, his SB domination will be much more helpful than your opponent’s Yunel Escobar hitting a bland .250 with limited contributions in all categories. - @RDevinHughes
- No one should have an easier time scoring 100 runs than Simmons....IF and ONLY IF he gets to hit leadoff for the Braves. If he is indeed hitting in front of both B.J. and Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and eventually Brian McCann than there is no reason why he can't score nearly every time he reaches base. He managed to hit .289 last season over 49 games (189 ABs) hitting 8 doubles 2 triples and 3 home runs. It's worth noteing that he hit .301 at Turner field while hitting all 3 of his home runs there as well. I like his potential out of the leadoff spot but if he is batting 8th, I would ignore him for a while. - @WeTlkFntsySprts
19.) Ruben Tejada - New York Mets
20.) Dee Gordon - Los Angeles Dodgers
- I can't see Don Mattingly playing Hanley Ramirez at shortstop when they have a leadoff hitter and speedster in Gordon who deserves the gig. Gordon at SS is a way better option than Luiz Cruz at 3B. With Gordon at SS, he could hit leadoff in front of Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez. That is 90+ runs waiting to happen. Mark Ellis should be batting 7th / 8th not leading off. Before being injured last year Gordon hit a terrible .228 in 303 ABs, but in 2011 he hit over .300 in 224 ABs. Regardless of where he hits in the lineup he is a threat for 45+ stolen bases in a full seasons worth of action. - @WeTlkFntsySprts
22.) Pete Kozma **- St. Louis Cardinals
23.) Cliff Pennington - Arizona Diamondbacks
24.) Brandon Crawford - San Francisco Giants25.) Jed Lowrie *- Oakland Athletics
- Watch for this guy in drafts. Look how far down he is right now...Adeiny Hechvarria? Mike Aviles? Yes, there are injury concerns, but when healthy he could provide pop at a position that does not have much of it. Was t5th among shortstops in HR despite only playing 97 games. The A’s did not give just up five players for a guy they expect to suck. This far down a draft, you could get a guy who could post top-10 SS production. He’s certainly more likely to do so than Adeiny Hechvarria, anyway. - @RDevinHughes
27.) Mike Aviles *- Cleveland Indians
28.) Pedro Florimon Jr - Minnesota Twins
29.) Clint Barmes -Pittsburgh Pirates
30.) Hiroyuki Nakajima - Oakland Athletics
31.) Brendan Ryan - Seattle MarinersDon't forget these guys!
Jurickson Profar - See 2B rankings!
Didi Gregorius - The Arizona Diamondbacks traded a potential Ace in Trevor Bauer to get Gregorius back from the Cincinatti Reds. If GM Kevin Towers thought that highly of him then, he won't care about making sure Cliff Pennington of all people gets enough ABs.
Stats from last season:
- 12 shortstops hit at least 30 doubles
- Jose Reyes led with 37
- Jose Reyes and Starlin Castro led with 12 triples
- Elvis Andrus (9), Alcides Escobar and Daniel Descalso (7) were the only others with more than 5
- 6 other shortstops hit 5 triples
- Ian Desmond (25), Jimmy Rollins (23) and J.J. Hardy (22) were the only shortstops with 20+ home runs
- Asdrubal Cabrera, Jed Lowrie (16), Zack Cozart and Derek Jeter (15) were the only others with at least 15 homers
- 6 others hit at least 10
- Jimmy Rollins (102) was the only shorstop with 100+ runs scored
- Derek Jeter (99) was the only shortstop to score between 90-99 runs
- Just 4 others scored 80+ times
- No shortstop had 80 RBI
- Starlin Castro led with 78
- Marco Scutaro, Ian Desmond and Alexei Ramirez were the only other with at least 70 RBI
- 6 others drove in at least 60 runs
- 10 shortstops struck out at least 100 times
- Ian Desmond and Zack Cozart led with 113
- Everth Cabrera was the only other with at least 110
- 8 others struck out at least 90 times
- Just Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins walked at least 60 times
- Everth Cabrera (44) and Jose Reyes (40) were the only shortstops to steal 40+ bases
- Alcides Escobar (35) Dee Gordon (32) and Jimmy Rollins(30) were the only guys to swipe at least 30 bags
- 5 others stole 20-25 bases
- Only Derek Jeter, Marco Scutaro (2b this season) and Willie Bloomquist hit .300 or better
- 7 other hit at least .275
- 12 shortstops owned an OBP of .325 or better
- Derek Jeter (.362) was the only guys better than .350
- Elvis Andrus, Marco Scutaro, Jose Reyes and Jamey Carroll were in the .340s
- Ian Desmond (.511) was the only shortstop to SLG .440 or better
- Jed Lowrie, Jose Reyes and Starlin Castro were the only others in the .430s
- Just Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins SLG .425 or better
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