Sox still believe Ramierz will be a defensive star

Where have all the great American League shortstops gone?

Many such as Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Fernandez, Nomar Garciaparra and current White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen are retired.

Others such as Alex Rodriguez, Michael Young and Miguel Tejada are playing out their careers at third base.

And the best fielder of the bunch - 11-time Gold Glove winner Omar Vizquel - is now a 42-year-old utility man with the White Sox.

The great Derek Jeter is still going strong, but his peers now include marginal talents like Yuniesky Betancourt, Adam Everett, Cesar Izturis and Cliff Pennington.

Maybe that helps explain why the White Sox are feeling pretty good about their guy, Alexei Ramirez.

"He's a great player," said Guillen, the team's flashy shortstop from 1985-97. "He's still learning. It's not the same playing shortstop in Cuba and playing shortstop in the big leagues. I think he's doing a good job and I'm very happy about it. This kid's going to be better and better through the years."

How good was Ramirez in 2009? If you throw out April, Ramirez wasn't too bad.

After getting off to an 0-for-14 start, hitting .214 in April and dragging his offensive struggles to the field, Ramirez perked up and batted .281 or better in each of the final five months.

Overall, he batted .277 and had 15 home runs, 68 RBI, 14 stolen bases and 49 walks, up from 18 in 2008.

Among AL shortstops, Ramirez was second to Jeter (18) in homers and second to former teammate Orlando Cabrera (77) in RBI.

What about the defense? It was spotty, and only Cabrera (25) and rookie Elvis Andrus (22) committed more errors than Ramirez (20).

Guillen still believes the rail-thin Ramirez is one of the top three defensive shortstops in the league.

Will the revamped infield help Ramirez's defense? The White Sox are sure of it.

Last year, Gordon Beckham was a novice at third base and Ramirez often tried covering the whole left side of the infield.

This year, Beckham is playing second base after giving way to Mark Teahen, a natural third baseman with better range at the position.

That should help Ramirez stay more at home and not be caught out of position like he was so many times in 2009.

How much will Ramirez miss fellow Cuban Jose Contreras? A lot, but the Sox think the absence of Cabrera last season was a bigger factor.

Much has been made of Cabrera's one stormy season on the South Side in 2008, but the veteran infielder did find time to mentor Ramirez and help him adjust to major-league baseball.

Who fills that role now? Vizquel. One of the best defensive shortstops in baseball history, the wily veteran started working with Ramirez as soon as he arrived at training camp.

Can Vizquel still play shortstop? His last Gold Glove was in 2006, when Vizquel started for the San Francisco Giants.

He's no longer an everyday player and his hitting skills have declined, but Vizquel still knows how to play defense.

In 62 games with the Texas Rangers last year, Vizquel fielded 207 total chances at shortstop, second base and third and didn't make an error.

Anybody else? Assuming he makes the 25-man roster, Jayson Nix can play shortstop.

But as he showed last year, Nix is much better at second base, where he committed 6 errors in 224 chances. At short, Nix made 6 errors in 64 chances.

AL's bestWhere we rank the top shortstops:1. Derek Jeter, Yankees2. Marco Scutaro, Red Sox3. ALEXEI RAMIREZ, WHITE SOX