Another fantasy season, another season with little-to-no depth at the middle infield positions. While Hanley Ramirez, Derek Jeter, and Troy Tulowitzki look like solid choices, there are plenty of questionable choices. Jose Reyes is coming off an injury, Jimmy Rollins had a down year, and many people are questioning Ben Zobrist’s breakout. Depending on what you believe, some shortstop lists are going to be quite different. Without further ado…time for the shortstops.

Fantasy Baseball Shortstops 2010
Chris Cwik	Matt Montgomery
1. Hanley Ramirez	1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Troy Tulowitzki	2. Troy Tulowitzki
3. Ben Zobrist	3. Jose Reyes
4. Jose Reyes	4. Derek Jeter
5. Derek Jeter	5. Jimmy Rollins
6. Jimmy Rollins	6. Ben Zobrist
7. Elvis Andrus	7. Jason Bartlett
8. Alexei Ramirez	8. Alexei Ramirez
9. Stephen Drew*	9. Yunel Escobar*
10. Yunel Escobar*	10. Stephen Drew
11. Jason Bartlett	11. Elvis Andrus*
12. Miguel Tejada	12. Miguel Tejada
13. JJ Hardy*	13. Rafael Furcal
14. Marco Scutaro	14. JJ Hardy*
15. Rafael Furcal	15. Asdrubal Cabrera*
16. Juan Uribe	16. Marco Scutaro
17. Asdrubal Cabrera	17. Alcides Escobar*
18. Ryan Theriot	18. Erick Aybar
19. Orlando Cabrera	19. Orlando Cabrera
20. Alcides Escobar	20. Brandon Wood*
* Denotes Sleepers

Monty’s Thoughts on Individual Players

• Jose Reyes- For the three seasons prior to last, Reyes was a top-5 pick in nearly every fantasy baseball draft. Reyes is going to be 27 this baseball season and coming off surgery on his right leg. A few weeks ago, Reyes said his rehab is going well, the pain is gone and he should be 100% by spring training. Reyes is a fantasy monster in runs scored and stolen bases. His BA is solid, but he does have some weaknesses in RBI and HR. Reyes gives you first round value for a second round pick.

• Elvis Andrus- First of all, Andrus got robbed of the ROY award. He is turning 22 this season and shows all signs of growing as a major leaguer, and fantasy player. He put up a decent BA and good SB numbers. His minor league numbers suggest he can hit around .300 and steal 40+ bases and you combine that with hitting in the Rangers lineup, he could be a solid sleeper this season. I’d take him as your second SS and track his progress; he may wind up in your starting lineup by the end of the year

• JJ Hardy-Hardy took a ton of heat last season in Milwaukee for his poor offensive output, including getting sent down to AAA at one point. I expect him to come back to his career averages and be a solid #2 SS, with potential to be a mid-low end #1 SS, for your team. He has some pop, around 20+ HR a year, and he will give you a decent average. The Twins finished 4th last season in runs scored, mostly due to a ridiculous RISP batting average, but that lineup should slightly improve his runs and RBI totals.. He will start every day in Minnesota and he is turning the ripe fantasy baseball age of 27 this season.

Chris’ Thoughts On Individual Players

• Ben Zobrist- I guess I will address it here, I think Zobrist’s breakout was for real. Some analysts believed that Zobrist altered his approach to hitting a few seasons ago, which would account for his improvement later in his career. In the last two seasons, his walk rate has jumped and his extra base hit percentage stayed stable. His second half performance was about even with his first half performance, meaning that pitchers couldn’t find a hole in his swing. I’m buying Zobrist in 2010.

• Stephen Drew- Everything about Drew’s 2009, except his HRs, point to a rebound in 2010. His BABIP was a little below his career averages, which means his average should rebound to somewhere near .275. He also cut his strikeouts and upped his walk rate last season. The problem here is that Drew hit too many balls on the ground last season and too many infield pop-ups. While his ground balls percentage probably won’t change too much, he is still a good bet to hit 20+ HRs.

• Rafael Furcal- What has made Furcal valuable in the past has been his ability to steal bases consistently. Unfortunately, those steals dropped off horribly last season. Without the stolen bases, is Furcal that much different than Orlando Cabrera? I say no. If Furcal was hiding an injury last season that kept him from stealing bases, he could see a small resurgence in 2010. If not, he’s not much different than Cabrera.

What do you make of the SS rankings? Let us know about it in the comments.