baseball fans know, the AL has been far superior to the NL these past few years. However, these hard-working, blue collar players could change that in this years midsummer classic in Anaheim.For the NL:
1st Base - Joey Votto, CIN; Gaby Sanchez, FLA.
> Votto is third among NL 1st Basemen in batting as well as home runs, and leads all of them in runs scored for an overachieving Cincinnati Reds team. He's been one of the best first basemen in the NL this season and his team is doing well in the standings, he deserves a nod this year.
> Don't let the first name (Gaby) fool you, Sanchez is a man on the field and one of the many talented youngsters on a struggling Marlins ball club. Many thought Mike Stanton would be the biggest rookie for the South Florida franchise; however Sanchez has been there since day 1 and is putting up some gaudy numbers (8 HR .307 AVG .377 OBP)
2nd Base - Kelly Johnson, ARI; Brandon Phillips, CIN.
> Johnson has been a force all year for the Diamondbacks who are a team in transition. He has surprised everyone with his 13 home runs thus far in the season, just 3 long balls away from tying a career high (16) which he set in '07 as a member of
the Braves.> Phillips is another member of the red-hot Reds and, much like the man playing to his left (Votto) Phillips has been a jack of all trades for his team, even batting lead-off from time to time.
3rd Base - David Freese, STL; Casey McGehee, MIL.
> Freese has successfully replaced long time Cardinals 3rd Basemen Scott Rolen and is doing it with the bat as well as the glove. The 27-year-old rookie is batting .300 and has only committed 9 errors in the hot corner thus far for the Central-leading Red Birds.
>McGehee is 2nd in RBI among NL 3rd Basemen with 50 and has launched 12 home runs for the Brew-crew. While his batting average is down this year, his power numbers should be enough to earn him son consideration for the Midsummer Classic.
Shortstop - Juan Uribe, SF; Stephen Drew, ARI.
> Uribe was voted top position player for the Giants by the fans on ESPN's SportsNation, and rightfully so. The hard-swinging middle-infielder has belted 11 homers while driving in 44 runs. The only other shortstop in the NL with those numbers, perennial all-star, Hanley Ramirez.
> Tulowitzki has returned to the form that made him a finalist in the '07 Rookie of the Year voting. Still, the highest batting shortstop in the majors has yet to make an All-Star game in his brilliant, young career. Could this be his first?
Catcher - Miguel Olivo, COL; Nick Hundley, SD.> Olivo's heroic May 12 performance against the Phillies raised his batting average from .228 to .274 and he hasn't looked back. His average now sits at .296 and he's on pace to hit, a career high, 27 home runs; however, he's also caught an amazing 54.3% of baserunners this season. Offensively or defensively, there isn't a better catcher in the NL right now.
> Nick Hundley's offensive numbers--.267 BA 5 HR--aren't eye popping; but, he has the fourth highest catcher's ERA and has commanded the Major Leagues' strongest pitching staff. He deserves at least a hard look.
Outfield (top 5 players) - Corey Hart, MIL; Chris Young, ARI; Josh Willingham, WSH; Colby Rasmus, STL; Carlos Gonzalez, COL.
> Hart's numbers speak for themselves, and it couldn't hurt to have the tallest outfielder in the majors on your All-Star roster. Especially
when he's hit 18 long balls.>Young has seemed to finally figure it out at the big league level after an up and down season last year, Young has put together a strong first half for the Diamondbacks hitting .272 with 12 home runs. His speed and athleticism alone should be enough to earn him some consideration.
> Willingham has been a monster for the Nationals and is a fan favorite in their ballpark. His power numbers have always been there and this year he's also been an on-base machine posting a .406 OPB, tops among all major league outfielders.
> Rasmus is second in home runs (14) at his position and has a .372 on-base percentage at just 23-years-old. The sky is the limit for this kid, but an All-Star nod shouldn't be out of the question this year either.
> Gonzalez is definitely one of my favorite new players in baseball, let alone the NL. His numbers are just too good to miss-- .304 BA 10 HR 42 RBI--and he's doing all of this in his first full season as a starter. If he doesn't make it to the all-star game, it will be a crime.
DH - Adam Dunn, WSH; Troy Glaus, ATL.
> If the NL had a DH, Adam Dunn would be the prototype, and he looks a lot like comedian Will Ferrell; but this man is no joke. He averages 40 dingers and 100+ RBI a season, and Dunn has been a big part of putting the Nationals on the map in the NL.> Prior to this season, Glaus, a career 3rd Baseman, had only played 6 career games at 1st. This year he hasn't played any other position and is back to producing big time power numbers with his 25 extra base hits and 55 RBI to go along with 39 runs and a .376 OBP for the NL East leading Braves.
Pitchers (5 starters, 3 closers) - Jaime Garcia, STL; Yovani Gallardo, MIL; Mike Pelfrey, NYM; Livan Hernandez, WSH; Mat Latos, SD...Matt Capps, WSH; Billy Wagner, NYM; Carlos Marmol, CHC.
> Garcia, as a rookie, has only 2 outings of less than 6 innings and in each of those outings he's allowed a combined 1 run. He's only had one game where he allowed 3 runs and he won that game for the Cardinals. He's
been the 2nd most dominant pitcher in the NL so far, behind Jimenez. Overall Garcia, 23, is 7-3 with a 1.79 ERA.> Gallardo is a strikeout machine for the Brewers posting 115 Ks in his 103 innings pitches so far this season. He's also got a sub 3.00 ERA and is 7-3 for the Brew-Crew. He deserves the all-star nod this year.
> Pelfrey is on pace to be a 20-game winner for the Mets this year as he and R.A. Dickey have really solidified the Mets starting pitching. Pelfrey, 9-2 with a 2.69 ERA, is a huge reason why they Mets are only a half game out of first in the NL East.
> Hernandez has found a way to make his low-80s fastball work to his advantage this year for the Nationals. He's 6-4 with a 2.82 ERA and has really only made 2 bad starts all season.
> You can't have an All-Star pitching staff without including a member of the best staff in baseball. 22-year-old Mat Latos is 8-2 for the surging Padres and has been the most impressive starter on a staff whose ERA is an MLB best 3.07 on the year.
> Capps has come on strong this year for the Nationals. He leads the NL in saves with 22 and is coming off a year in which he had an ERA over 5.00. Now Capps is one of the premier closers in the NL this year.
> Billy Wagner has clearly benefited from his year in Boston where he was put into the fire and
involved in a heated playoff race with the Sox. This year, the aging lefty has blown only two saves while striking out 13.19 batters per 9 innings, 3rd among NL closers.> Marmol has some of the best stuff in the major leagues. This year, his first as a closer, he has taken his pitching to a whole new level earning nearly twice as many Ks (61) as innings pitched (33).
Obviously, many of the players on this roster won't make the all-star team; there's just not that much room and there are a lot of good players in this league. However, the point bringing these players to light is that if the fans looked hard enough at the performance, and not the player. Some people would be shocked at how differently the All-Star games would look. Here's the stat line of the top hitting NL East second baseman: .331 AVG, .371 OBP, 7 HR, 21 2B, 103 H. Who is it?
A lot of you might have thought Chase Utley, or maybe even Christian Guzman, but you'd be wrong. That gaudy stat line belongs to none other than Atlanta Braves second baseman Martin Prado
What about this stat line from an AL third baseman: .342 AVG, 11 HR, 51 RBI, 21 2B. Is it A-Rod, Evan Longoria, or Michael Young? None of the above, this ridiculous stat-line belongs to none other than Sox corner infielder, Adrian Beltre who trails all three of the aforementioned players in the All-Star balloting.
So again, I say that it's not the play that gets voted to the MLB All-Star game every July, but rather the player most fans find readily recognizable. The sooner that changes, the better America's past-time becomes.
by Aaron Hilton
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