By Josh:
Yesterday Kelly put in his thoughts for the National League All-Star voting and so I wanted to take my turn with the American League. Like Kelly I don’t plan to start voting for a few more weeks. Unlike a lot of fans I don’t just pick guys because they wear a specific uniform but instead because I want to watch the best of the best play.
With that being said I will warn you that any tie breakers for who I choose will be chosen by uniform. I’m still a fan after all.
1st Base: Eric Hosmer – This pick was actually harder than I thought it should be. No one is really running away with this. Chris Davis leads 1st basemen in homeruns with 9, Hosmer has 6. Hosmer leads in batting average hitting .336, with the next closest player is Hanley Ramirez at .319 and honestly I’m not voting for Ramirez.
2nd Base: Robinson Cano – I will admit this was a tie between Cano and Jose Altuve and since I’m a Mariner fan I had to go with Cano. I love watching both so either one would make me happy to see in the All-Star game.
3rd Base: Manny Machado – I wanted to pick Todd Frazier but he is batting .228 and I can’t vote for that. Machado is batting .333 with 11 homeruns. He is having a great season already and is another member of the young core of amazing players in the game of baseball.
Shortstop: Carlos Correa – Look at the stats for all AL shortstops and you will see a name keep popping up in the top 5 every time. Hits 4th, runs 3rd, homeruns 3rd, RBIs 4th, and BA 5th. Carlos Correa may be young but he is a legit star in this game.
Outfield (x3): Mark Trumbo – Wait did I just type that name. That can’t be right. He leads all outfielders in homeruns and is batting .307. Wow I didn’t see that coming this year but he is all-star worthy.
Jackie Bradley Jr – Hitting .331 and leading all outfielders with 30 RBIs is pretty impressive. He is a solid talent and really is one of the younger players that you don’t hear as much about. That will change this season if he keeps this up.
Mike Trout – There may be other players that might have an edge stat wise over Trout but his numbers are still great. Plus if any player I’ve picked is going to keep playing strong up through the all-star game it is Trout. Plus it would just be weird not seeing him starting for the AL in the all-star game.
Catcher: Salvador Perez – This is the one position where I try to take into account defense as much as offensive stats. Perez is a great catcher and really should be the AL starter. He does lead AL catchers in RBIs so it isn’t like he is just a random name.
Pitcher: Chris Sale – I know we can’t vote for pitchers but 8-0, 1.67 ERA and an AL leading 59.1 innings pitched makes him my pick beyond a doubt. I really want to see Sale and Kershaw as the starters to have the two nastiest lefties in the game face off. It would be fun.