If you thought the second base position was slim pickings then you haven’t seen anything yet. At shortstop there may be about seven players that you should sincerely go out and target… you can get away with guys like Derek Jeter (SS, NYY) and Jimmy Rollins (SS, PHI) but it wouldn’t be ideal.

Top 5 Shortstops to draft in 2012: 

Troy Tulowitzki (SS, COL) is not just the best shortstop in the league but arguably can be one of the best players in all of baseball. I wouldn’t necessarily draft him first overall, but I can see where a case can be made that he deserves the spot. In the last two seasons Tulo has been an All Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner at shortstop and has been in the top 10 of MVP voting in each of the last three seasons. Tulo has averaged nearly 30 home runs, and 100 RBI over the last 3 seasons and has compiled a .293 career batting average. To go along with his amazing offensive prowess is his respectable – not great, but decent – speed numbers. Troy, has had double-digit stolen bases in 2 of the last three seasons and missed that mark by 1 last year.

When Jose Reyes (SS, MIA) is healthy he might possibly be one of the most deadly players in Major League Baseball. Jose has at least 30 stolen bases in the six seasons where he played at least 125 games, and in the other three seasons with a combined 158 games played, he has more than 40 stolen bases. But that’s not the most impressive part of the Dominican born All-Star, as he also has great ability to put a charge in the ball, and hit for average which is not something often seen from a speedster of Jose’ caliber. Jose has 4 seasons of double-digit home runs, and a career average of .292, including a .337 season in 2011. And for those of you in more of a sabrmetrics league that takes into account slugging percentage his 99 career triples will certainly help in that department.

Unlike Reyes, this next speedster shortstop doesn’t hit for much power, but his speed allows him to steal bases at a premium and score runs with the best. Elvis Andrus (SS, TEX) is only 23, and in three seasons in the majors has 102 career stolen bases. A concern for now is his high caught stealing rate, however he seems to be getting better as he gets older. Along with his rising stolen base numbers is his rising batting average. Andrus, increased his average by .014 points in 2011 to .279, and with that came more doubles and a rising slugging percentage. Andrus is still very young, and getting better with every game played.

For years, Hanley Ramirez (SS, MIA) was known as the premier player at the shortstop position then came 2011. Hanley’s season was cut short due to injury and for most fantasy owners it couldn’t have come later. Before going down with the injury Hanley hit .243 with 10 homers, and only 45 runs batted in, numbers that were significantly lower than his career averages. What keeps Hanley in the eyes of almost every fantasy owner was his bounce back July before going down for the season. Ramirez hit .293 with a .391 OBP 5 of his 10 homers and 21 of his 45 RBIs all came in this month. What will eventually give him some added value will be his position eligibility, with Reyes now in Miami as Hanley’s teammate a new position is in the horizon. Ramirez is only 28, he will be around for a while and if he can get back to his All-Star status he will definitely be one of the top players to grab in 2012.

Much like Andrus, this next young shortstop has pretty decent speed. Starlin Castro (SS, CHI) completed his second season in the majors with 22 stolen bases, 10 home runs, 66 runs batted in, and an average of .307 all of which were greater than in 2010. Castro is only 22 this year and with those kinds of numbers he is only going to get better. The old regime is out in the north side of Chicago so this is now Castro’s team for years to come.

Notable SS you can get away with:

JJ Hardy (SS, BAL) showed that the power we saw earlier in his career is back with 30 dingers in 2011; so if you need a power bat at the position and the others are off the board jump at Hardy. He isn’t going to get you any stolen bases, and his average and on base percentages are sub-par to say the least, but he will hit for power drive in a decent amount of runs, and score some as well.

Before Alex Rodriguez (3B, NYY) hit the scene in the mid 90s, it was very rare to see power hitters at the shortstop position. But the fly ball era (aka steroid era) came and with it so did the big bats as shortstop. But with as many shortstops that can hit for great power come at least 3 others who don’t have any. Speed is at an exceptional rate from this position and can really grow your fantasy teams numbers if drafted properly. 

Written by Justin Mandaro, exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com

As always you can ask me any draft, line up, or trade questions on twitter any time of the day. 

(September 2, 2011 – Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images North America)