Below is my fantasy baseball preview for the shortstop position. This is a mere supplement to the fantasy guide, which will have in-depth player capsules for each player ranked. The fantasy guide will be released on March 1. If you’re looking for player projections for the 2014 season, please go to the fantasy guides page.

Shortstop is filled with a lot of stolen bases, which means if you don’t get steals at this position you better acquire it at other positions. If you do get stolen bases at other positions you could get tremendous values with power-first players. In general this may be a position where it’s better to wait to get your shortstop because the players at the top all have major questions entering into 2014.

Tier 1

• Troy Tulowitzki
• Everth Cabrera
• Ian Desmond

Before Everth Cabrera was suspended he was the number three shortstop on ESPNs Player Rater. As of mid-February he’s going as the seventh shortstop, which I obviously think is too low. I do not believe he’s injury prone and if he plays a full season he could provide 50-plus stolen bases. Ian Demond looks like a slam dunk for 20/20, but there is risk with the batting average. For the past two seasons most of his batting average was fueled by swinging on 0-0 counts. Last year pitchers started making adjustments in those counts and he was a less effective pitcher.

Tier 2

• Starlin Castro
• Jose Reyes
• Hanley Ramirez
• Elvis Andrus

The biggest question with Jose Reyes is how many stolen bases will he steal? If he steals 35-plus bags he’s my number one shortstop. If he plays a full year he’s very likely to steal 30-plus, but I have questions he can stay on the field even though last year’s injury was fluky. I may be on an island here, but I believe Starlin Castro bounces back to the all-star level player he was before the 2013 season. Before the season the Cubs changed his approach at the plate. Specifically, they wanted him to walk more and get deeper into counts, but obviously that didn’t work. I expect him to go back to his old approach. I understand why some would consider Hanley Ramirez as a top ten overall pick, but it doesn’t make any sense to me. His 2013 numbers are clearly going to regress and the past two seasons he hasn’t played well. Elvis Andrus’ value comes from his potential stolen base totals and the fact he’ll have high run totals batting second in the lineup.

Tier 3

• Ben Zobrist
• Jed Lowrie
• Jean Segura
• J. J. Hardy
• Andrelton Simmons
• Xander Bogaerts
• Alexei Ramirez

I’m extremely down on Jean Segura because he fell off the face of the Earth the second half of the season. It’s possible he faded at the end of the year due to poor conditioning or learning the rigors of playing in the majors, but he’s being taken ahead of Jose Reyes and Ian Desmond, which tells me fantasy owners are drafting last year’s stats. Jed Lowrie’s batting average is likely to regress, but not as much as you think. He’s a fly ball/line drive hitter and makes a lot of solid contact, which will allow him to have a lot of doubles. Also, he’ll likely bat either second or third for the majority of the year. Ben Zobrist’s baseball card statistics were down but his contact rates were better last year. Barring a miracle resurgent year I see his home runs and stolen bases decreasing even more. If you get speed at other positions you’ll get a great opportunity to draft Hardy’s 20-plus power on the cheap. Contrary to Andrelton Simmons’ scouting reports he hit for power and didn’t steal very many bases. He’ll likely hit fewer home runs than last year, but I think he’ll steal 10-plus bases. Alexei Ramirez’s stolen bases depend if he’ll make enough contact to get on-base to steal bases again. In 2014 the batting average regresses and the stolen base totals decrease. Xander Bogaerts has the potential to hit 30-plus home runs when he reaches his offensive ceiling. That makes him extremely intriguing especially if you missed out on Hardy and are looking for power.

Tier 4

• Brad Miller
• Jonathan Villar
• Erick Aybar
• Asdrubal Cabrera
• Jordy Mercer
• Jhonny Peralta

Jonathan Villar could steal 40-plus bases, but his batting average could be in the .230s. His scouting report suggests he could also hit 6-plus home runs, which makes him more attractive than other speed-first players. Even though he’s still a work in progress Brad Miller flashed brilliance and performed well during the last two months of the season (.431 slugging). It’s possible Asdrubal Cabrera is done as an everyday player after this season, but he’ll still bat fifth or sixth, which means he’ll have RBI opportunities. Jhonny Peralta is a better player than Cabrera, but since Peralta will most likely bat seventh or eighth in the National League means he has less upside for runs and RBIs. No one is talking about Jordy Mercer as a solid fantasy option, but he performed last year, looks to have the everyday job and has 15/15 upside.

Tier 5

• Alcides Escobar
• Jimmy Rollins
• Yunel Escobar
• Zack Cozart
• Stephen Drew
• Derek Jeter
• Brandon Crawford

How many games does Derek Jeter play? Over-under on 85 games? I’m taking the under, which means not draftable in leagues besides AL-only.  Alcides Escobar has the raw speed to steal 30-plus stolen bases, but his biggest problem is getting to first base. Since he doesn’t walk his bat, which is below average, needs to improve if he’s going to get on-base enough to be fantasy relevant.