Shortstop Mania in the NL East

There are many great shortstops in baseball, buy very few come to mind when you try to think of “the best” in baseball.

Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, and Hanley Ramirez are considered by many as the top three shortstops in baseball, and they have a lot in common between them.

 

1. They play in the NL East.

2. They are really fast and steal a lot of bases.

3. Each one of them would be the No. 1 shortstop in any other division in baseball.

4. Without them, their respective team does not stand a chance to make the playoffs.

 

Most baseball fans think that Ramirez is the best out of the three, so we don’t even need to put him in the race.

No. 2 is close because Rollins and Reyes are both great. Rollins is better on defense, while Reyes is better on offense. But it is close, and a betting Phillies fans will not agree with me.

But I think they will agree with me that these are the three best shortstops in baseball.

There are a few players that many people are thinking of and asking why do I think they are not in the top three.

Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter is great, but as the years go by, he is getting worse. His fielding percentage is lower than the other three, and he does not cover much ground.

He has less at-bats than the other three since he is the No. 2 hitter in the Yankees’ lineup, while the others are lead-off hitters.

Michael Young also comes to mind when you think of great shortstops, but there are two reasons I think he is not in the top three: 1). He is on the best hitting team, yet has the fewest RBI, and 2). He is slower than the top three, and thus has less steals and triples than the others.

Some people are thinking about  J.J. Hardy  of the Brewers right now, but I do not think he is even close to top three. He does not have as good of an average as the top three, and he also lacks the same speed and durability as Reyes, Rollins and Ramirez.

Jose, Jimmy, and Ramirez should be very proud of themselves.

They are not only the top three shortstops in baseball, they are also in the race for the top all-around players in baseball.