The position suffered a blow when first round pick Troy Tulowitzki was shelved with an injury but Ian Desmond, Mike Aviles and Jed Lowrie all have returned a huge profit with their play in the first part of the 2012 season.
Here is a look at the top 18 shortstops for the first half of the 2012 fantasy baseball season.
1. Ian Desmond – his 17 home runs are one less than his previous two seasons combined and he has raised his batting average each month of the season so far.
2. Hanley Ramirez - edges out Castro by the slimmest of margins. It is a little troubling that his average resides in the .240 range just as it did last season.
3. Starlin Castro - high batting average with a few extra home runs thrown in instead of so many doubles like last season. His stolen base total could be at risk if he does not improve his success rate after going 16-for-26.
4. Elvis Andrus - solid season so far with a chance to score 100 runs, drive in 60, steal 30 and hit .300.
5. Asdrubal Cabrera - has maintained his power outburst from 2011 but after stealing 17 bases last season, he has just two at the All-Star break.
6. Mike Aviles- was hot in April with a .291 average, five home runs and 17 RBI but has not been quite as good since then. Should set a career high in four of the five standard categories.
7. Rafael Furcal - has enjoyed a rebirth in St. Louis and should reach 400+ at bats for the first time since 2009. Has hit .318 on the road this season compared to .230 at home.
8. Jimmy Rollins - numbers so far are almost spot on to his 2010 campaign. Should see a boost in runs scored the second half of the season with a healthy lineup around him.
9. Derek Jeter - was lights out in April, slugging .579 with a .389 batting average. Has hit almost 100 points higher on the road (.351) than at home (.259).
10. Jed Lowrie - has shown more power than expected with 14 home runs in 280 at bats, which is a good thing since he offers little speed and an average in the .250 range.
11. Jose Reyes - has struggled against left-handed pitching with a .224 average and just three RBI in 98 at bats. His current slugging percentage of .378 is the lowest since 2004 when he slugged .373 in 220 at bats.
12. Alexei Ramirez - one of the more consistent players from season-to-season, he has suffered a power outage this year with only two home runs in 320 at bats. The erosion of his plate discipline from last season has been one of the factors.
13. J.J. Hardy – power numbers are there, though not as much as his career year of 2011 of course, but his .224 batting average causes his value to sink.
14. Alcides Escobar - pro-rate his at bats and his numbers are going to look much like they did in 2011 except with possibly a little higher batting average. Value is going to be suppressed until he starts hitting higher in the order.
15. Dee Gordon - the 30 steals are nice, but he couldn’t get on base the first half of the season and now is out of action six weeks after thumb surgery.
16. Yunel Escobar - on pace with his 2011 season with a lower batting average after hitting .216 in April.
17. Troy Tulowitzki - out of action since May 31 with a strained groin. Before the injury, he was playing like a first round pick.
18. Zack Cozart - not a bad rookie campaign, aided by the fact he is batting first which has boosted his runs scored total, but has also limited his RBI opportunities.
