All Star Updates

The All-Star Game is coming up, and it’s time to look at the sport where the all-star game actually matters. But before we do that, I want to mention Carlos Gomez for the Brewers. Gomez is a sabermetrician favorite, because he leads the league with his 4.9 WAR. He isn’t even top ten in the voting for the NL. His offensive stats are not like Miguel Cabrera’s or Chris Davis’, but his defense accompanies why he’s such an amazing player. Unfortunately, Gomez left yesterday’s game with a sprained shoulder after crashing into the wall (he did make the catch). I will have more updates on his injury later.

First off, here are the updates for the voting:

National League:

Catchers:

1.      Yadier Molina- Cardinals

2.      Buster Posey- Giants

3.      John Buck- Mets

4.      Jonathan Lucroy- Brewers

5.      Miguel Montero- Diamondbacks

First Base:

1.      Joey Votto- Reds

2.      Paul Goldschmidt- Diamondbacks

3.      Allen Craig- Cardinals

4.      Brandon Belt- Giants

5.      Freddie Freeman- Braves

Second Base: 

1.      Brandon Phillips- Reds

2.      Marco Scutaro- Giants

3.      Matt Carpenter- Cardinals

4.      Chase Utley- Phillies

5.      Daniel Murphy- Mets

Shortstop:

1.      Troy Tulowitzki- Rockies (note, Troy is on the DL and won’t be back for the game)

2.      Brandon Crawford- Giants

3.      Jean Segura- Brewers

4.      Pete Kozma- Cardinals

5.      Andrelton Simmons- Braves

Third Base: 

1.      David Wright- Mets

2.      Pablo Sandoval- Giants

3.      David Freese- Cardinals

4.      Chris Johnson- Braves

5.      Aramis Ramirez- Brewers

Outfield (I’m naming top 10):

1.      Carlos Beltran- Cardinals

2.      Justin Upton- Braves (note, he’s been sooo cold lately)

3.      Bryce Harper- Nationals

4.      Carlos Gonzalez- Rockies

5.      Ryan Braun- Brewers (note, he’s hurt, but might be back for the game if he would like to play)

6.      Matt Holliday- Cardinals

7.      Andrew McCutchen- Pirates

8.      Hunter Pence- Giants

9.      Shin-Soo Choo- Reds

10.  Angel Pagan- Giants

American League:

Catcher:

1.      Joe Mauer- Twins

2.      Matt Wieters- Orioles

3.      A.J. Pierzynski- Rangers

4.      Carlos Santana- Indians

5.      Jarrod Saltalamacchia- Red Sox

First Base:

1.      Chris Davis- Orioles

2.      Prince Fielder- Tigers

3.      Mike Napoli- Red Sox

4.      Albert Pujols- Angels

5.      Mitch Moreland- Rangers

Second Base: 

1.      Robinson Cano- Yankees

2.      Dustin Pedroia- Red Sox

3.      Ian Kinsler- Rangers

4.      Omar Infante- Tigers

5.      Jose Altuve- Astros

Shorstop:

1.      J.J. Hardy- Orioles

2.      Jhonny Peralta- Tigers

3.      Elvis Andrus- Rangers

4.      Jed Lowrie- Athletics

5.      Derek Jeter- Yankees (note: Jeter has not played at all this season. What the hell, Yankee fans?)

Third Base: 

1.      Miguel Cabrera- Tigers (note: has the most votes with 4,337,223)

2.      Manny Machado- Orioles

3.      Adrian Beltre- Rangers

4.      Evan Longoria- Rays

5.      Josh Donaldson- Athletics

Outfield:

1.      Adam Jones- Orioles

2.      Mike Trout- Angels

3.      Nick Markakis- Orioles

4.      Jose Bautista- Blue Jays

5.      Torii Hunter- Tigers

6.      Nate McClouth- Orioles

7.      Nelson Cruz- Rangers

8.      Jacoby Ellsbury- Red Sox

9.      Alex Gordon- Royals

10.  Yoenis Cespedes- Athletics

DH:

1.      David Ortiz- Red Sox

2.      Lance Berkman- Rangers

3.      Edwin Encarnacion- Blue Jays

4.      Victor Martinez- Tigers

5.      Mark Trumbo- Angels

Now remember, every team gets at least 1 all-star, so voting is more of who they want to start the game with. Also, pitchers are not voted by the people, but rather chosen by members of Major League Baseball. The All Star Game is on July 16^th.

Lots of talk about who will pitch for each team. It’ll be much easier to determine who will get the nod for the AL compared to the NL, because the NL has much better pitching by far.

For the AL, if he’s back and ready to play, it’ll be Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox. He’s 9-0, has a 1.71 ERA, and has a Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 4.1. He is one of the main reasons why Boston is doing so well this year compared to last year. 

Now the AL pitcher that won’t get offered to start for the All-Star Game but should is Hisashi Iwakuma for the Mariners. If you’ve read my blog, you’ve seen me talk about this guy. He’s no joke; he’s 7-3 with a 2.26 ERA, a .89 WHIP, and a 3.8 WAR. If he continues to pitch this way, he deserves to win the Cy Young Award.

Now for the NL, there are so many players that could be the starters, such as Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright, or Stephen Strasburg. Each of those players have an ERA less than 2.50, but Kershaw is the only one that I would think would get the nod. If Wainwright or Strasburg do, I’d be pissed.

Matt Harvey should be the starter though. I’ve seen so much with Kershaw and think that he would be the next Cy Young winner, but it’s going to be quite the race with these two pitchers. Harvey is 7-1 with a 2.05 ERA, a .88 WHIP, and has struck out 121. He also leads the league with a 4.2 WAR.

Two pitchers that should get offered to start but won’t are Jeff Locke for the Pirates and Patrick Corbin for the D-Backs. Locke is 6-1 with a 2.01 ERA, while Corbin is 9-0 with a 2.19 ERA. Plus these guys are young, and are not even in their prime yet. If they don’t get selected this year, they will in the future.

Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com if I missed someone that you think should be in the all-star game.

-Evan Boyd

If you haven’t seen this amazing play by Victor Martinez yet, check this out.