Posted on 07/03/2014 2:20:36 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
Voting for the starting position players for the MLB All-Star game ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern). The final rosters will have 34 players on a side, with all teams being represented.
Factors I weigh in making my choices (in descending order): 1) How the guy is doing this year. 2) How he did last year. 3) How he did the last two or three years. 4) The guy's whole career.
Here then are my choices, starters listed first, followed by backups:
NATIONAL LEAGUE
C: Lucroy, Molina, Posey
1B: Goldschmidt, Freeman, Rizzo, Morneau
2B: Utley, Murphy
SS: Tulowitzki, Ramirez
3B: Frazier, Carpenter
OF: Stanton, Upton
OF: McCutcheon, Gomez
OF: Puig, Smith, Pence
SP: Wainwright, Simon
SP: Cueto, Lohse
SP: Teheran, Bumgarner
SP: Greinke, Hudson
SP: Kershaw, Hammel
RP: Rodriguez, Street
RP: Kimbrel, Soriano
AMERICAN LEAGUE
C: Perez, Suzuki
1B: Cabrera, Abreu
2B: Cano, Altuve, Kinsler
SS: Ramirez, Escobar
3B: Beltre, Donaldson
OF: Trout, Brantley
OF: Jones, Crisp
OF: Bautista, Cespedes
DH: Encarnacion, Martinez, Cruz
SP: Tanaka, Kazmir
SP: Hernandez, Keuchel
SP: Darvish, Richards
SP: Buehrle, Lester
SP: Porcello, Price
RP: Rodney, Perkins
RP: Holland, Uehara
Altuve is getting short shrift (no pun intended) because he is attached to a bottom tier team. He is an amazing ball player.
I miss those days. Hot dogs were only about 75 cents and they would sell you beer without checking for your ID. I think it was $1.25.
Altuve may be the only ballplayer shorter than me. I agree he is having a great year.
McGehee deserves the nod as the backup at 3B. He’s leading the position in BA, hits, doubles, rbi’s, BA w/ RSP, and fielding percentage. He’s done a great job of making pitchers pay for pitching around Stanton.
Kinsler is also having an All-Star type year. Strong position for the AL.
Todd Frazier is a great story.
3B is a relatively weak position for the NL this year. In looking for a backup behind Frazier, there is really no one having a definite All-Star year. But I give the nod to Carpenter because he’s doing just as well as any of the other possibilities, and he had a very strong season last year.
All-Star games. The silliest invention known to man........
Waste of time and energy.
He's young..but pretty poised and polished. Knows what he's doing....He's got a good support system with Weave and Young around....
And yet you took the time and energy to comment on how it is a waste of time and energy. ;^)
Not sure it qualifies as an “invention”...but it’s totally messed up that the common Sheeple get to decide who get’s to play. Heck....in a way reminds me of our elections.
Yadi!
Lots of worthy players out there.
McGehee is leading MLB in RISP at .398 - I’d just like to see him get a nod for putting together a solid season. As for the outfield, anyone who doesn’t vote for Stanton hasn’t seen him play.
Yadi is the gold standard at catcher. I get to see him play all the time, being here in St. Louis. However, Yadi’s offensive numbers are a little down this year, and Lucroy is having an incredible year. So I’ve got Lucroy as my starter and Yadi as a backup. But it wouldn’t be a disgrace if it ends up the other way around, as it probably will.
Stanton's tape-measure moonshots are impressive, of course. But the most impressive HR I've seen this year was a line-drive laser to right he hit a week or two ago that looked like it would be a single but kept carrying and went over the fence. Jaw-dropping. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Last year I was at a game and watched him hit a ball that was head high - between the SS and second base - that hit the wall on one hop. It seemed to defy physics.
I used to see Willie McCovey and Willie Stargell hit jaw-dropping bullets like that.
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