2012 Positional Review – Shortstop
October 23rd, 2012 | by Ray Flowers |
Now that the 2012 season is over, it’s time to review how my predictions went for each position in fantasy baseball. To that end, I will review my top-10 at each position and give a brief rundown on how each of the ten performed. I’ll also list which player was a “Hit” (someone who lived up to expectations) as well as a “Miss” (the player who simply failed to impress).
Note: All of these rankings are taken from the 2012 BASEBALLGUYS DRAFT GUIDE
For more on the Draft Guide you can click on the link.
For an update on what you missed in the Draft Guide, click on the link.
2012 SHORTSTOP Top-10
1 Troy Tulowitzki
2 Jose Reyes
3 Hanley Ramirez
4 Elvis Andrus
5 Starlin Castro
6 Jimmy Rollins
7 Derek Jeter
8 Alexei Ramirez
9 Asdrubal Cabrera
10 Yunel Escobar
Tulowitzki appeared in 47 games, his first season of less than 101 in six years. Over the previous five seasons he average 134 games a campaign, meaning he has averaged missing a month a season before 2012. The production is amazing, but the risk simply too high to overlook.
Reyes came on in the second half and as a result his first season in Miami was right where it should have been as he posted a fantasy line of .287-11-57-86-40. Note the last time he stole 50 bases was 2008.
Ramirez hit 24 homers with 92 RBIs, 79 runs scored and 21 runs. Given that he also qualified at third base he was a strong play in 2012. Still, what happened to the perennial .300 hitter? Over his last 942 at-bats he has hit .252 with a poor .326 OBP (he batted .319 from 2007-10).
Andrus scored 85 runs for the third straight year while reaching career bests in doubles (31), triples (nine), RBIs (62), batting average (.286), OBP (.349) and SLG (.378). The only downer was a four year low of 21 steals, this after 3-straight seasons of at least 32 thefts.
Castro is just 22 years old, and he’s has been an impressive performer in his young career hitting .297. He’s also stolen 22 and 25 bases the past two years while scoring an average of 85 runs the past two campaigns. He also saw his homers (14) and RBIs (78) reach career bests in his third season. The guy’s attitude still makes me all kind of nervous though.
Rollins went 20/20 this year… from June 1st to the end of the season. That might be the most amazing number you will read in any of the position reviews. On the season he had 23 homers, 30 steals, 102 runs scored and 68 RBIs in yet another “Rollins-like” effort.
Jeter was just about used up according to most. At least I didn’t think that. Jeter went out and had 216 hits, the most in baseball, as he scored 99 times, hit 15 homers and knocked in 58 runners. He stole only nine bases, his first season of single digits ever, but he was once again an elite at the position.
Ramirez is as steady as pretty much any player in the game. He’s not elite at anything unfortunately, but always productive. He stole a career best 20 bases while driving in 73 runners, the second best mark of his career. However, he also hit only .265 with nine homers and 59 runs scored. At least he didn’t kill you.
From Cabrera’s Player Profile before the season. “Cabrera will steal double-digit bags, and his batting average will surpass the big league average… but in my opinion it would be foolish to bank on Cabrera matching his homer, RBI or SLG marks in 2012.” Cabrera hit .270, just three points off 2011, and he fell one bag short of my prediction with nine thefts. However, his HR total fell from 25 to 16, his RBI total from 92 to 68 and his SLG mark from .460 to .423.
Escobar hit .288-10-60-71 in 2008. In 2009 he went .299-14-76-89. In 2010 he dipped to .256-4-35-60. In 2011 he rebounded and hit .290-11-48-77. What did he do in 2012? Totally unexpected he reverted to his 2010 form with an awful season (.253-9-51-58).
Hit: Derek Jeter
Miss: Yunel Escobar, Ian Desmond (#16)
I knew Diamond could be something, but I had no idea he would be an absolute monster as one of the elites at the position (.292-25-73-72-21).
By Ray Flowers
Tags: Alexei Ramirez, Asdrubal Cabrera, Derek Jeter, Elvis Andrus, Hanley Ramirez, Ian Desmond, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, Shortstop, Starlin Castro, Troy Tulowitzki, Yunel Escobar
By Joe M on Oct 23, 2012
I don’t think there’s one SS right now worth an early round pick unless you’re willing to take a risk. No one here is a lock for anything. Biggest problem is the injury risk with the most talented ones. I still like Hanley in the LAD lineup but I dont think I’d risk any of these guys in the first few rounds. I’ll grab my big hitting corners and of’s while people jump on some of these names to fill their MI spots.
BTW. Congrats on your Giants.
By Ray Flowers on Oct 23, 2012
Joe M – Thanks on the Giants. Amazing… twice in three years after just once in my first 29 years on Earth.
You’re not going to have an elite SS if you don’t take one in the first few rounds, but you can certainly win a fantasy league with Jimmy Rollins as your SS, so if you want to avoid the risk that’s understandable.
By JoeM on Oct 24, 2012
Barry Z circa 2002 as of late and add that great poke the other way was sweeet. Blanco great catch off fielder, really tough play coming in so hard from a lefty. Also beats the hell out of me how Sandoval hit that tailing chin high fastball, the other 2 reminded me of Vlad G hitting homers from pitches at his ankles, the guy is a bull.
I’m a Yankee fan, so we would appreciate getting some recognition for getting knocked out in 4 and making sure Detroit is rusty for the WS
Jk, San Fran played a hell of a game and wondering if the giants win it all how will today’s game affect sandovals adp next season and people in a 12 team league might actually draft Zito
By Ray Flowers on Oct 25, 2012
JoeM – Was a great start to the Series no doubt. You aren’t the first to compare Pablo to Vlad given their approaches.
I wrote about Sandoval here – http://baseballguys.com/2012/10/22/2012-positional-review-third-base/
I’m sure this will boost his ADP, as it will with Zito and Scutaro, but three good weeks doesn’t change my thoughts on a players overall value.