Ranking The NL East: Shortstops

Jul 10, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond (20) reacts after being hit by a pitch in the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Nationals 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

With Spring Training for the Washington Nationals less than a month away, we at District On Deck wanted to take a look inside the NL East. As of right now, it seems as though most prognosticators are going to pick Matt Williams’ squad to win the National League East for the second consecutive season.

That being said, we want to take a look at this division position-by-position to see who has the edge at certain positions. For this slideshow, we are going to look at the shortstops in the NL East.

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When you look at the candidates for this countdown in Adeiny Hechavarria, Wilmer Flores, Freddy Galvis, Andrelton Simmons, and of course Ian Desmond, the average age of these shortstops is a little over 25 years old. Desmond is the oldest shortstop out of this group and he doesn’t turn 30 years old until September.

Shortstop is a position that has seen some turnover from a year ago, with the main guy, Jimmy Rollins, being traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the Winter Meeetings. Other teams like the New York Mets are trying to find alternatives for that position, as evident by the trade rumors for Desmond from a few weeks ago.

Here are my top five shortstops in the NL East:

Next: Number Five