Back in 2008, his first big league season, Alexei Ramirez slugged 21 home runs, drove in 77 and added 13 steals, establishing himself as a top fantasy shortstop.

But those long balls represented something of an aberration for Ramirez who, despite averaging 16 homers over the next three seasons, has seen his power collapse in the past two years, putting just six over the fence in 2013.

As the homers have faded, so has his fantasy stock, to the point where the 32-year-old is currently being drafted 14th among shortstops on Mock Draft Central. But as Ramirez’s profile as a hitter has evolved, he’s found other ways to help fantasy owners, leading me to wonder if he’s being a tad undervalued right now.

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Unlike at second base, you could find your speed among the shortstop crop. There are also a host of guys who offer intriguing blends of power and speed, as well as a nice mix of youngsters with upside and established veterans.

The shortstop edition of Pod’s Picks may help you find value or learn who to avoid at their current going rates. The bullish section will only include players from my top 20, while the bearish group will only include those whose RotoGraphs consensus is in the top 20.

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Here’s a super easy post, I’ll admit it. All I did was take the difference between my rankings and the consensus rankings (which you can find on the right-hand nav bar) and sort. But I’ll do a little writeup for each group of hitters so you can know why I like them. The numbers listed for each player are steamer projections, which aren’t exactly what I used, but can give you an idea of how useful the player will be in your league. Good luck drafting.

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Currently, Jed Lowrie is going as the 16th shortstop or 17th second baseman in Yahoo! leagues. This is the third hitter on a playoff team who played a full season last year with a high average and solid power production, and as I previously alluded to, is eligible at two of the notoriously weakest hitting positions in the game.
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You’ve been told position scarcity doesn’t exist because you can get a shortstop late in the draft, he’ll be there for you, he’ll exist. Position scarcity never meant an abject lack of players at a position to me, though. It just meant, to me, that finding useful players at that position gets really hard late in the draft. Just because there was once a Ben Zobrist or a Jean Segura available late in the draft, just because Yunel Escobar exists at the plate for a full season and has some value in a deep league, doesn’t mean the position doesn’t suck pretty hard core once you get about 18 deep.

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While Matt Harvey’s Tommy John surgery has Mets fans looking ahead to 2015 for the next signs of competitive postseason baseball, fantasy owners needn’t wait so long, at least so far as New York’s infield is concerned. With a near-elite option holding down the hot corner and a couple of intriguing upside artists elsewhere, the Mets offer help at some typically hard-to-fill fantasy positions – at prices that may be bargains come draft day.

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At first base in Atlanta, you’ve got a line drive, batting average on balls in play god with maybe a lower power ceiling than some of the others at his position. At third base in Atlanta, you’ve got a line drive, batting average on balls in play demi-god with maybe a lower power ceiling than some of the others at his position. At catcher, you have two grip-it-and-rip-it guys with power and little else. There isn’t too much science to those parts of the Braves’ infield depth chart.

In between the three positions, you’ve got some strange batted-ball distributions that make for more interesting conversations.

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Think about the Giants’ infield, and inevitably you wonder if the large mound at third can rebound from a disastrous year at the plate. Of course, there’s a breakout candidate at first base, and two deep leaguers up the middle, but you can’t help thinking about Pablo Sandoval first.

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The last two weeks, I have discussed two precocious prospects–Mets shortstop Amed Rosario and Rays righthander German Marquez–who were born in 1995. The idea of professional baseball players born in the middle of the 1990s probably still takes some getting used to for many casual observers, but indeed, we may be less than three years from seeing the first pro baseball player born in the 2000s.

Players like Rosario and Marquez hold a lot of intrigue, but they also are buried in short-season leagues, far from the majors, and thus also below the general prospect mainstream. This week, however, I’m going to examine a player born in 1995 who already has broken through into the mainstream consciousness: Royals shortstop prospect Raul Mondesi.

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Writer’s Note: J.J. Hardy ranks ninth among shortstops in Zach Sanders’ rankings.

J.J. Hardy experienced a rebound of sorts in 2013, hitting .263/.306/.433 with 25 home runs, 76 RBI, and a .322 wOBA. That’s pretty much right in line with his career line of .260/.312/.428; in fact, that’s also a .322 wOBA. His 162-game averages (via Baseball Reference) are 23 home runs and 76 RBI. Read the rest of this entry »