the "next 10" series, part 4: Middle of the Diamond

Jumping from the defensive minded Catcher spot, we'll move across the diamond to the equally important defensive spots at SS and 2b, however, with no PC rating to worry about, we'll look for a little offense in these spots as we get near the completion of this "next 10" squad. NorbertoSantos leads us off at SS. Admittadly, he's a little more "Jeter" at SS than Omar Vizquel, but he's definently Barry Larkin at the plate. Even though NY has him playing primarly 3rd base, we'll slide him to SS and watch his bat shine. Santos made his first All star appearance in his rookie campaign of season 10, ending with 27 long balls, 93 rbi, and 97 rbi for the powerful Moose Knuckles lineup. Despite having a sophomore slump in season 10, he's still going to score voer 100 runs, hit mid 20+ homers, and drive in 70+ runs. Still showing slight signs of improvement at 23, Santos should continue on to a very solid .290/.375/.465 type career. Very solid numbers for any SS. If Santos is going to provide the offense at SS, we'll back him up w/ a premier young defensive SS in the league. When it comes to defense, HipolitoIglesias doesn't dissapoint. On top of that, he's carrying a .700+ OPS bat to compliment all that defense. He's certainly not going to crush any team offense numbers hitting around 12-15 homers a season while playing superb defense. Forming Santos' double play partner will be EugeneGarcia. Season 4's #4 overall pick, Garcia is favored to win his 1st gold glove this season, his first full season playing 2b. And if you think this is strictly a defense first, Garcia's .800+ ops bat has lead to three consecutive all star appearances, begining with his first full season in the bigs during season 9. A nice combination of a little bit of pop, and a good amount of speed (172 steals in 217 attempts) Garcia gives the added benefit of playing near gold glove level defense if needed in CF. Next in the series, we'll take a look at 3b, 1b and DH to round out the last 3 spots on the team.