Welcome to "MLB Corner," our periodical look at the current season, complete with knee-jerk reactions, and usually a list or two.
With two plus months of action and countable stats in the books, it’s about time for an All-Star selection preview. Yes, the big “names” will make the team as they always do regardless of whether or not they deserve the nod, (cough Derek Jeter cough).
Inevitably there will be snubs, but with PED testing as stringent as ever this year is a good barometer of real star power for batters. Baseball still has the rule that every team must be represented at the summer classic, this year to be held in Minnesota at their shiny new stadium. Also noteworthy is that in 2010 MLB enacted a rule that the DH would be used every year regardless of the home stadium’s league.
The winner of the game gets home field advantage for the World Series in a continued effort by the sport to not just have the game be a walk through but a contested outcome. I’m not taking into account current voting that can be done at www.MLB.com. That being said here is a positional rundown of my deserving All-Stars with the starters at each position listed first.
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| Catcher | |
|
Salvador Perez KC .280 avg 7 HR Kurt Suzuki Min .300 avg 1.4 WAR |
Jonathan Lucroy Mil. .335 avg 3.1 WAR Yadier Molina STL .295 avg 46% caught stealing rate |
| First Baseman | |
|
Miguel Cabrera Det. .325 avg 12 long balls Jose Abreu CWS .265 avg 19 bombs Brandon Moss Oak. .270 avg 17 home runs Edwin Encarnacion Tor. .260 avg 20 HR |
Paul Goldschmidt Arz. .305 avg 15 HR 2.2 WAR Freddie Freeman Atl. .285 avg 11 home runs Anthony Rizzo CHC .275 avg 14 homers 1.7 WAR Justin Morneu Col. .300 avg 11 home runs |
| Second Baseman | |
|
Robinson Cano Sea. 84 hits .330 avg Brian Dozier Min. 15 homers 15 stolen bases Jose Altuve Hou. .320 avg 24 steals Ian Kinsler Det. .287 avg 2.2 WAR |
Dee Gordon LAD .288 avg 36 stolen bases Chase Utley Phi. .300 avg 1.9 WAR Neil Walker Pit. .280 avg 11 home runs Daniel Murphy NYM .305 avg 10 stolen bases |
| Third Baseman | |
|
3B Josh Donaldson Oak. 17 homers 4.6 WAR Xander Bogaerts Bos. .280 avg 6 homers Adrian Beltre Tex. .310 avg 2.7 WAR |
3B Nolan Arenado Col. .305 avg 1.9 WAR Todd Frazier Cin. .275 avg 15 homers 2.4 WAR |
| Short stop | |
|
Alexei Ramirez CWS .310 avg 2.8 WAR Erick Aybar LAA .290 avg 2.7 WAR |
Troy Tulowitzki Col. .350 avg 18 HR 4.9 WAR Brandon Crawford SF .250 avg 1.6 WAR Hanley Ramirez LAD .345 OBP .461 SLG % |
| Outfield | |
|
Jose Bautista Tor. .315 avg 15 HR 3.5 WAR Nelson Cruz Bal. .305 avg 21 bombs Mike Trout LAA .305 avg 4.2 WAR Adam Jones Bal. .300 avg 10 homers Michael Brantley Cle. .323 avg 11 home runs Alex Rios Tex. .325 avg 12 stolen bases Melky Cabrera Tor. .290 avg 10 home runs |
Andrew McCutchen Pit. .325 avg 3.0 WAR Yasiel Puig LAD .325 avg 1.014 OPS Giancarlo Stanton Mia. .300 avg 19 homers Carlos Gomez Mil. .310 avg 12 HR 11 steals Michael Morse SF. .290 avg 13 long balls Justin Upton Atl. .280 avg 14 homers Angel Pagan SF .310 avg 2.3 WAR Jayson Werth Wash. .295 avg 6 HR Charlie Blackmon Col. .300 avg 12 HR 12 steals |
| Designated Hitter | |
|
Victor Martinez Det. .335 avg 17 HR 2.3 WAR David Ortiz Bos. 15 homers and great ambassador to the game. |
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| Pitcher | |
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Masahiro Tanaka NYY 10 wins 103 K's .94 WHIP Mark Buehrle Tor. 10 wins 2.28 era Jason Vargas KC 1.21 WHIP 3.25 era Yu Darvish Tex. 101 K's 2.11 era 3.8 WAR Scott Kazmir Oak. 8 wins .98 WHIP 2.05 era Felix Hernandez Sea. 8 wins 112 K's .99 WHIP Sonny Gray Oak. 1.18 WHIP 2.93 era Greg Holland KC 20 saves .98 WHIP 1.35 era Glen Perkins Min. 17 saves .99 WHIP David Price TB 1.11 WHIP 121 K's |
Adam Wainwright STL. 9 wins .93 WHIP Jeff Samardzija CHC 1.18 WHIP 2.77 ers Julio Teheran Atl. .93 WHIP 2.31 era Tim Hudson SF 7 wins 1.81 era .97 WHIP Madison Bumgarner SF 104 K's 2.87 era Zack Greinke LAD 8 wins 1.15 WHIP 2.65 era Sergio Romo SF 20 saves .95 WHIP Huston Street SD 18 saves .77 WHIP Francisco Rodriguez Mil. 21 saves .87 WHIP |
Some positions have more players due to the DH and other roster factors but these are the top players of the season to this point in my opinion. In some cases pitchers will not be used as a request by their team so as not to incur injury. Some notable omissions from National League are: Ryan Braun OF Milwaukee, Seth Smith OF San Diego, Johnny Cueto P Cincinnati, Stephen Strasburg P Washington, and Kyle Lohse P Milwaukee.
From the American League: Alex Gordon OF KC (3.4 WAR), Yangervis Solarte 3B NYY, Albert Pujols 1B LAA, Dallas Kuechel P Houston, Phil Hughes P Minnesota, Max Scherzer P Detroit, Garrett Richards P LAA, and Chris Sale P CWS.
To keep fans interested MLB offers the write in vote for the final roster spot so that could go to just about anyone; long reliever, extra catcher, or whoever has the most hometown support; so my guess is Joe Mauer gets the nod from the AL and Kyle Lohse from Milwaukee goes from the NL.
NOT ALL STAR MATERIAL
The biggest non all-star award of the first half goes to Orioles 3B Manny Machado. He missed most of the first two months of the season with a knee injury suffered at the end of last season. He has come back to playing every day and incited some tense moments in a series with the league leading Oakland A’s. Throwing his bat from home plate towards Josh Donaldson two days after he got into Donaldson’s face after a firm tag earned him a 5 game suspension from Joe Torre and MLB. In the game where Machado took offense to the tag Donaldson was hit by a pitch, which in baseball’s unwritten code means the issue is over, payback has been made. Machado had north of 50 doubles last season as a 19 year old rookie. There seems to be some Puig-ish things going on here, maybe Machado doesn’t understand baseball’s unwritten rules or as Puig is often criticized for not knowing how to play the game the “right way”.
SAD NEWS
Hate to end on a down note but former Cy Young award winner (1990) Bob Welch passed away last week at the age of 57. He was a member of the Dodgers and Oakland’s World Series teams in 1981 & 1989 respectively. Rest in peace. Also, MLB lost a true treasure when it was learned that former Padres OF Tony Gwynn lost his courageous battle with cancer on Monday.
