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There is no competition at shortstop in Royals camp this year. Alcides Escobar will be the starter and this only being his second big league season, he could be the starter for a while. It should be a lot of fun this year watching the young star play shortstop. The first thing I heard about him when the Greinke trade went down was that the Royals now have the best fielding shortstop in the American League. I think by the time I heard that I had already forgotten about Yuniesky Betancourt.

He is a what I would consider a bit of a “throwback” shortstop. This means defense comes before offense. Starting with the great Cal Ripken, shortstop became an offensive position which it really had never been. Escobar will not hit a lot, he batted just .235 last year with 4 homers and 41 runs batted in. The Royals know this going in so the offensive expectations should remain low for him. Any offense a team can get out of the shortstop and catching positions is a bonus.

Then the Royals have the prospect in camp that isn’t ready yet but we get to see our first glimpse of. In the case of shortstop it is Christian Colon. What I have seen and heard I have liked, except the fact that he looks like a Yankees fan judging by his twitter account.  He is more of an offensive shortstop than Escobar. He clearly is not ready for the majors so he is no threat to Escobar yet. In 2012 he might be, and hopefully he will be a big threat in 2013 but only time will tell.