Around The Diamond: Top Five Shortstops of 2010
Posted by homerunheyer on June 21st, 2010
Only one of the big three shortstops remain, Derek Jeter. Nomar Garciapara retired this year and Alex Rodriguez moved over to third base when he came to the Yankees. Now when people ask who the premier shortstops are? They struggle to get two or three names out. I somehow came up with the top five shortstops of 2010, it was a struggle, but here they are.
5. Alex Gonzalez, Toronto Blue Jays: Gonzalez is putting up solid power numbers for Toronto this year, hitting 13 home runs and driving in 38 RBI’s. Since Gonzalez is only hitting .269, he barely made it into the top five on the list. If Gonzalez raises his average up another 20 points, he may be able to get to number one on this list. The Blue Jays always seem to start off strong ever year. They are currently in fourth place, but they are six games over .500. If they were in any other division they would either be in second or third place. Unfortunately most of the Blue Jays team is like Gonzalez, low average, high power production. The Jays are leading the league in home runs, but since they all have low averages a lot of the home runs are solo shots.
Gonzalez throughout his career was never known to hit for power or average. Gonzalez only had one good year actually in 2004 when he hit 23 home runs and 79 RBI’s which isn’t even that great. This year he is set to break all his career records if he keeps up at this pace.
4. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees: The aging captain still remains as one of the elite shortstops in the league at the age of 36. Jeter is actually having somewhat of a down year so far in 2010. Since the shortstop position is so weak these days even a struggling Jeter makes it into the number four spot. Jeter is hitting .283 with eight home runs and 39 RBI’s. Jeter is on pace to have more RBI’s than his last two seasons and his home runs are pretty much on pace, but the stunning stat is his average. Jeter has hit over .300 every year since 2005 and only three years of his career he has hit under .300. The thing is with a guy like Jeter is, most of the time when he struggles he makes up for it later on in the season and still goes on to have a great season. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jeter moves up into the one or two spot by the end of the season.
3. Juan Uribe, San Francisco Giants: The surprising Giants are in second place in their division, only a game and a half behind the Padres. Uribe is contributing in a huge way this season for the Giants. I don’t think anyone expected Uribe to put up these kind of numbers, he’s batting .279 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI’s. Uribe probably hasn’t qualified as a top five shortstop at any point in his career. At the age of 31 here he is finally making it to number three on the list. The big question is will Uribe keep these stats going all year? If he does he is on pace to have the best numbers of his career and can help the Giants possibly make it into the playoffs for the first time since the departure of Barry Bonds. Uribe is second on the team in home runs, one shy of Aubrey Huff, and is leading the team in RBI’s. If Uribe comes back down to earth the Giants will fall back down with him. In my opinion I do not see Uribe lasting on the top five list all season long.
2. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins: Ramirez has established himself as one of the next generation of elite shortstops. Pound for pound Ramirez is the complete package player. He hits for power, he hits for average, and he steals bases. The only problem is that he plays for the Marlins. With the Mets getting hot and the Braves establishing themselves as the team to beat in the NL East again, the Marlins are falling quickly out of contention for yet another year.
Ramirez is starting off slowly this year, but like Jeter, Ramirez’s slow start is still better than most of the shortstops in the league, except for number one. Ramirez is hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI’s. Ramirez who is a career .311 hitter has shown signs of frustration and may want out of Florida. Ramirez is known to play worse when he doesn’t get his way and I think he is frustrated because he is such a good player, and he doesn’t get as much recognition as he should. If Ramirez played for New York or Boston he would be making a ton more money and everyone would know who he is. Just like i said with Dan Uggla, they are wasting their talent for a most likely last place team by the time the season is over. If the Marlins decide they cannot compete this year they should do the right thing and trade Ramirez to a winning team.
1. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies: After having a down year two years ago Tulowitzki rebounded to have his best season ever last year. Tulowitzki is doing more of the same this year landing the number one spot this year so far. Tulowitzki is the only everyday shortstop in all of baseball this year that is currently hitting over .300. Tulowitzki is hitting .306 with nine home runs and 34 RBI’s. Tulowitzki’s power numbers are somewhat down so far this year, but he makes up for it by having the best average among shortstops. The Rockies are in fourth place right now but are only four games out of first place. If Tulowitzki finds his power stroke like last year, he can lead the team into the playoffs. (mlb.com)
By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network
