They say that the secret to building a successful baseball team is to be strong up the middle. To win baseball games, you have to have a good catcher, a good second baseman, a good shortstop and a good center fielder.

If you go around asking enough baseball fans which is the most important position of the four, my guess is that a good percentage of them will side with the catcher. After all, they call the games, keep baserunners honest and generally hold teams together.

Me? I tend to favor the wisdom of the great Leo Durocher.

"Nobody ever won a pennant without a star shortstop," said Durocher once, according to Baseball-Almanac.com.

He would have known. Durocher had the pleasure of managing 10-time All-Star Pee Wee Reese when he started his managing career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and he won a pair of pennants with the New York Giants when he had Al Dark as his shortstop. He would later have the pleasure of managing the great Ernie Banks.

Don't feel like taking his word for it? Take a look at recent history.

2007

In the National League, the Colorado Rockies won the first National League pennant in the organization's history with Troy Tulowitzki at short. In his first full season, he hit .291 with 24 homers and 99 RBI, and he finished third among major league shortstops with a 15.2 UZR.

In the American League, the Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant with Julio Lugo as their shortstop. He struggled for much of the season, but he hit .280 after the All-Star break and then went on to hit .385 in the World Series. He had a rough year in the field, but he had far more defensive runs saved than Derek Jeter, who had won a Gold Glove the year before.

2008

The Philadelphia Phillies won the National League pennant with Jimmy Rollins as their shortstop. He had won the NL MVP the year before, and he hit .277 with 47 stolen bases in 2008. He also won a Gold Glove, and he was instrumental in helping the Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the Division Series.

The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant with Jason Bartlett as their shortstop. He didn't hit for much power, but he hit .286 and stole 20 bases while posting a solid 2.0 UZR in the field. He hit a big home run in the ALCS against the Red Sox.

2009

The Phillies won the NL pennant again with Rollins at short. His batting average declined again, but he managed to hit 21 home runs and steal 31 bases, and he came through with a huge walk-off hit in the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The New York Yankees won the AL pennant with none other than Derek Jeter at short. All he did that year was hit .334 with 18 home runs and 30 stolen bases, and he even managed to post a 6.4 UZR. The Yankees' eventual World Series victory gave him his fifth championship ring.

2010

The San Francisco Giants won the NL pennant with a platoon of players at short, one of whom was Edgar Renteria. He hit .412 in the World Series with a pair of home runs and was named the World Series MVP.

The Texas Rangers won the AL pennant with Elvis Andrus at short. He didn't hit much and he actually regressed as a fielder from the year before, but he redeemed himself by hitting .333 in both the Division Series and the ALCS that year.

2011

The St. Louis Cardinals traded for Rafael Furcal at the trade deadline, and he was considerably more productive for them than he was for the Dodgers. 

The Rangers won the AL pennant again. This time, Andrus hit .279 with five home runs and 37 stolen bases, and he posted a 7.0 UZR in the field. He hit .276 in the Rangers' loss in the World Series.

So as far as recent history is concerned, Durocher's words ring true. In the last five seasons, shortstops have played key roles in helping their teams get to the World Series.

So what exactly makes shortstops so darned important?

Well, they're important players because shortstop is a position that comes with a ton of responsibilities. To handle them, well above-average athleticism and a good baseball IQ are imperative prerequisites, which is exactly why it just seems like shortstops are capable of doing more than other players. Shortstops are baseball's ninjas.

In the field, a team's shortstop needs to be its rangiest defender. They need to go flag down balls up the middle and balls in the hole. Range is something that's not exclusive to shortstops among infielders, but shortstops have to handle tough plays that other infielders don't have to deal with. Just take a second and imagine a second baseman or a third baseman trying to duplicate one of Jeter's classic jump throws from short left field.

Just think back to when you were in little league. The best player always played shortstop because he was actually capable of doing things shortstops need to do.

Shortstops didn't always have to handle a bat as well. They used to be smaller, faster players who specialized in hitting line drives and ground balls, taking an extra base when they could.

That's no longer the case. Thanks to players like Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken, Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra—and, more recently, Jimmy Rollins, Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki—the ideal situation for teams is to find a big shortstop who can hit for a little power.

So somewhere along the line, shortstops evolved from being mere great fielders to being great hitters too. Just another reason to have the best kid on the team play short.

The perfect shortstop, if there is such a thing, is a player with a ton of range, soft hands and a strong arm that he can use in the field. With a bat in his hands, the perfect shortstop is a player with a patient approach at the plate who makes good contact and can hit for power. Once on the basepaths, the perfect shortstop will show off his speed.

In other words, the perfect shortstop is a player who can do it all. Some players who play other positions (i.e. Matt Kemp) can do it all too, but no single position produces more do-it-all players than the shortstop position.

Whether or not the perfect shortstop exists is debatable. What's not debatable is that teams will forever be on the lookout for one, and prospects who look like great shortstops in the making tend to stand out. It's not an accident that five of the top 32 prospects in baseball today are shortstops, at least according to Kevin Goldstein of BaseballProspectus.com.

The young ones find their way into the spotlight for two reasons. One, because star shortstops are the most exciting players in baseball. And two, because the best shortstops do indeed tend to help their teams win baseball games.

It's just another thing that they can do, in addition to everything else.