Though rankings are always nice, I prefer drafting my fantasy teams using a tier system. The idea is to have as many upper tier players at as many positions as possible. It works the best in fantasy baseball as balance is often a key to success. Here are my tiers for shortstops for the 2010 season.

TIER 1 – Hanley Ramirez (FLA)

TIER 2 – Jimmy Rollins (PHI), Jose Reyes (NYM), Derek Jeter (NYY)

TIER 3 – Troy Tulowitzki (COL), Yunel Escobar (ATL), Alexei Ramirez (CWS), Stephen Drew (ARZ), Asdrubal Cabrera (CLE)

TIER 4 – Rafael Furcal (LA), Elvis Andrus (TEX), Erick Aybar (ANA), Miguel Tejada (BAL), Jason Bartlett (TB)

TIER 5 – Orlando Cabrera (CIN), Ryan Theriot (CHC), Edgar Renteria (SF), J.J. Hardy (MIN), Alcides Escobar (MIL)

TIER 6 – Christian Guzman (WAS), Marco Scutaro (BOS), Brendan Ryan (STL), Yunieksy Betancourt (KC), Everth Cabrera (SD), Cliff Pennington (OAK), Alex Gonzalez (TOR), Julio Lugo (STL), Khalil Greene (TEX), Ian Desmond (WAS), Adam Everett (DET)

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