Shortstop

Tier 1:             Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki

Tier 2:             Ian Desmond, Jose Reyes, Jean Segura, Ben Zobrist

Tier 3:             Elvis Andrus, Starlin Castro, Everth Cabrera, Andrelton Simmons, JJ Hardy, Jed Lowrie

Tier 4:             Asdrubal Cabrera, Alexei Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Jhonny Peralta, Xander Bogaerts, Jonathan Villar, Brad Miller, Derek Jeter, Erick Aybar

Tier 5:             Zack Cosart, Alcides Escobar, Yunel Escobar, Rafael Furcal

* Note: Players in bold are those whom I expect to outperform their ADPs.

The top shortstop tier reverts back to the days of yore – well actually, just a few years back – when Hanley and Tulo sat atop the rankings as a duo. Those who took a chance on Hanley Ramirez last season were rewarded handsomely, and he looks to be back to his old self. Both he and Tulo have injury concerns, but when healthy their production cannot be matched by the rest of the SS field.

Tier 2 offers good options as well, with Segura as the newcomer to the club. Was Segura’s second half fade last season a regression to the mean or was he just fatigued? We will find out, but his game fits quite nicely for fantasy purposes.

Tier 3 provides intriguing options as well, albeit with a lower ceiling than the ties above. The most enigmatic would be Starlin Castro, who was a bust last season. How he performs this season will be quite telling as to his long term prospects, as he has no excuse not to return to his 2012 levels. While Andrelton Simmons is known for his glove first and foremost, his 17 HRs last season were no fluke. Will he exceed that total? Not necessarily, but he has room to further develop his offensive skills, and he should provide good value in the mid to later rounds of the draft.

A few younger guys in tier 4 to keep an eye out for are Jonathan Villar and Brad Miller.  Villar is a speed demon, and watch him run loose on the league. Brad Miller’s offensive tools come more in the conventional sense, and while he won’t post spectacular numbers, he should post useable numbers for those in deep leagues. Xander Bogaerts has the bigger name and a higher ceiling than Villar and Miller, but I suspect his ADP will be much higher, so Villar and Miller could well provide better ROI this season. 

Neema Hodjat is the fantasy sports writer for RealGM.  He can be reached via email at nhodjat@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @NeemaHodjat.