2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings & Projections – Top 20 Shortstops

Wait a second…it’s almost March? Alrighty time to kick these rankings into high gear.  By the end of this week the Top 10 and Top 100 lists will both be out. How sweet is that? Today we cover the shortstops, which are by far the ugliest group of people outside of the 2007 Red Sox. If you don’t grab a shortstop early you might as well wait until later. That’s me, telling you, what to do. Don’t make me get my crossbow!

A quick note on these rankings and projections that will be featured over the next few weeks and will culminate with the Top 10, Top 20, Top 100,  and Top 300 rankings…these are how I think they should be valued. You may disagree at times and fall in love with me at times (but hey let’s just stay friends for now…I’d just break your heart….unless you have a huge bankroll for drinks.) Any-who I break things out into tiers when I can. When you see guys in the same tier it means it doesn’t really matter who is ranked ahead of whom…I just prefer the guy on top (well that came out wrong.) All the rankings will also be featured on their own page (look above…higher…higher…there), which can be found here.

After we wrap up the rankings I’m going to hold a live chat on fantasybalk.com to answer any questions you may have and try and help you with any last minute keeper question, draft questions, relationship advice, etc. that you might be facing. I’ll be announcing the date and time shortly. Feel free to start sending in your questions now to fantasybalk@gmail.com

Ok so the 2012 Top 20 Shortstops for Fantasy Baseball:

1.     Troy Tulowitzki – Troy does like to Tulowned his owners at least once a season with a DL stint. When he is healthy there is no denying he is a top fantasy producer. I’ve seen some people defend taking Tulo first overall because of how weak the shortstop position is. That’s just crazy talk. Just focus on getting the best players. If Tulo is there and he is the best player left on the board take him. But spoiler alert: he isn’t the best player available when every player is available. This is tier #1 and it goes through Reyes. I call it “The Cock of the Walk.” 2012 Projections: 95/30/105/.300/10

2.     Hanley Ramirez – I swapped Reyes and Hanley back and forth about ten times over the past few months. What I kept going back to was the simple fact that last year Hanley was drafted in the top 3 in almost every draft. Previous years he was drafted number 1. The fact that he is now going at the end of the first round/early second round is great value. If he is healthy (which he appears he is) I’ll be very happy grabbing him in the second round if he is there. 2012 Projections: 90/22/95/.300/25

3.     Jose Reyes – So what’s the best part about Reyes joining the Marlins? No not getting to stare at Mike Stanton in the shower. The correct answer, of course, is that he is getting far far away from the New York Mets team doctors. I’m convinced the doctors for the Mets just spin a large wheel to determine how to treat a player’s injury. What’s that a broken ankle? Well the wheel is saying we need to remove your appendix. Hold still. Reyes stays healthy, and he is a game changer. Oh, and don’t forget not too long ago the dude hit 16 homers. A few years before that he hit 19. He’ll only have to play in Citi Field a few times in 2012, as opposed to half the season. If he can hit closer to 15+ homers this year he’ll be a Top 10 fantasy baseball player for 2012.  2012 Projections: 105/10/55/.310/40

4.     Elvis Andrus – If Elvis could just provide a little more pop and average he would actually be worth where he is typically drafted. The truth is that he is almost always over-drafted, and that he why I typically don’t have him on any of my teams. This is the second tier. It goes through Asdrubal. If you are overly concerned with having a “good” shortstop I guess now is your chance. I’m not overly concerned so I call it: “Last chance, Good Luck.” 2012 Projections: 100/5/55/.280/35

5.     Starlin Castro – Imagine if Starlin played for the Marlins? Get it? No? You from Canada, eh? Starlin is quite simply who we think he is. Very good average, some speed, will score runs but don’t expect a lot of pop. Much like a lot of the guys in the post, you plug him in your lineup and then don’t look at him until the end of the season and you’ll be pretty happy. Nit-pick and you won’t be. 2012 Projections: 100/11/70/.300/20

6.     Jimmy Rollins – Jimmy Rollins is like your crazy Uncle. When you were a kid, you thought he was funny how he would get drunk, and jump into the pool with all of his clothes on, and hit on women at the bars. Now that you are older you realize he is 65 years old and still jumping into the pool with his clothes on, and you are pretty sure the woman who he is making out with at the bar has herpes. Rollins’ best days are behind him. He can still contribute to your team, but Yahoo! has him ranked near BJ Upton, Aramis Ramirez, Jason Heyward, Brett Gardner, etc. All of those guys I would much rather own. Sorry Jimmy, you just aren’t that amazing to me anymore. But keep picking up my tab.  2012 Projections: 90/15/60/.265/25

7.     Asdrubal Cabrera – Much like Rollins, Asdrubal is surrounded by guys (according to Yahoo! at least) that I would much rather have on my team. Plus Asdrubal just came off of a career year, and I always shy away from drafting guys coming off of a career year. I typed up a 2012 Fantasy Noob post for Cabrera but my dog ate it. And I don’t even own a dog! 2012 Projections: 80/16/75/.270/15

8.     Derek Jeter – Hey friends (and enemies!) it’s now time for Tier #3. I call this tier: “Yawn”. Please note it’s the sound a yawn makes…not actually the word. All of these guys, I guess, could be pretty solid for you, but it’ll be a slow climb to get there. 2012 Projections: 90/10/60/.290/15

9.     Alexei Ramirez – Does this whole position suck or what? Alexei won’t “kill you” in any one category, but he also won’t “kill it” in any one category either.  2012 Projections: 80/16/70/.275/10

10.   JJ Hardy – I have a feeling that the slightly “uneducated” fantasy baseball players will look at Hardy’s numbers from last year and overdraft him. “Wowzers! 30 Homers! I’m all in!” Hardy just had a career year, and the dude rarely stays healthy. Also his ISO was much higher than even before, and his BB% was way down. He will regress this year. Even though I love cheap power, I’m probably looking elsewhere. 2012 Projections: 65/22/70/.265/1

11.   Jhonny Peralta – A lot of what I just said about Hardy can be transferred over. Let someone else overdraft him. It’ll happen. He isn’t a .300 hitter 2012 Projections: 65/15/75/.265/0

12.   Erick Aybar – And now it’s time for another tier. If I don’t land a top guy in my draft(s) I’ll probably just land one of these guys for the speed help. So let’s just call it “Some speed help, up in your FACE.” It goes through Escobar. 2012 Projections: 75/8/55/.280/25

13.   Emilio Bonifacio – I already covered him here 2012 projections: 80/2/45/.270/40

14.   Dee Gordon – On the final day of last year I turned to my left and said “I’m going to own Dee Gordon in as many leagues as possible next year.” Then I noticed I was alone in my apartment and talking to a bench. It was a dark time in my life. Any-who I was apparently not alone in this because he is now being over-drafted in every mock I have done (including the one I did at The Fake Baseball.) If he is available where I want him I’ll gladly take him but the guy could easily bat .210 in the first month of the season and get sent down.  2012 Projections: 75/1/45/.265/45

15.   Ian Desmond – Both Desmond and Cozart have some upside with their power/speed potential, but both could hit .230 this year and chug. In deeper leagues you could do worse (trust me.)  2012 Projections: 65/10/60/.260/20

16.   Zach Cozart – Just covered him above. Scroll up. Quickly! First 20 to do so win a prize. (The prize is that there is no prize.) 2012 Projections: 60/14/60/.255/15

17.   Alcides Escobar – I’ve given up on Alcides. The dude is crazy fast and should be able to hit .300 but just hasn’t put it all together. I have owned him in at least one league in each of the past three seasons and he hasn’t done what I expected. Alcides, it is you not me. 2012 Projections: 60/4/45/.260/30

18.   Yunel Escobar – Now it’s the final tier. Finally, we can get out of this terrible group and move to the outfielders. There could be some upside here in this final tier w/ Drew and Lowrie, but most likely these guys will be a disappointment. Tier “You’ll be picking up and dropping shortstops all year long.” 2012 Projections: 65/10/50/.280/5

19.   Stephen Drew – As mentioned if he is healthy, he could bounce back. I just don’t think he’ll bounce back and be all kinds of awesome. 2012 Projections: 75/11/60/.265/6

20.   Jed Lowrie – If Lowrie can stay healthy he might actually have a shot at 15-20 homers. But that if is about the size of John Goodman.  2012 Projections: 60/12/55/.265/2