All-Star Snubs
I recently released the SITW 2012 All-Star Team, which hopefully, in some small way, makes players like Edwin Encarnacion and James MCDonald feel a little bit better. THe SITW All-Star Team is better than no All-Star Team, right? Anyway, here’s a list of the players who were snubbed this year in the All-Star selection and another list with the players who don’t deserve to be on the team below that. Also, here is an article from Bleacher Report: MLB All-Star Game: Fans Should Be Stripped of Right to Vote
All-Star Snubs
Hitters
- 3B – Edwin Encarnacion, TOR (.292/.375/.569 50R, 22HR, 55RBI)
- OF – Austin Jackson, DET (.322/.404/.524 47R, 8HR, 35RBI)
- 2B – Aaron Hill, ARI (.300/.359/.512 35R, 11HR, 38RBI)
- SS – Troy Tulowitzki, COL (.292/.360/486 33R, 8HR, 27RBI)
- C – A.J. Pierzynski – CHW (.285/.331/.512 36R, 14HR, 45RBI)
- C – Saltalamacchia – BOS (.250/.301/.529 31R, 15HR, 37RBI)
- 2B – Ben Zobrist – TBR (.253/.373/.457 45R, 10HR, 32RBI)
- SS – Kyle Seager – SEA (.246/.308/.432 34R, 10HR, 46RBI)
- OF – Dexter Fowler – COL (.288/.381/.541 43R, 10HR, 35RBI)
- OF/DH – Josh Willingham – MIN (.267/.380/.535 44R, 17HR, 56RBI)
- SS – Jed Lowrie – HOU (.253/.338/.471 35R, 14HR, 33RBI)
- 3B – Martin Prado – ATL (.320/.383/.463 45R, 5HR, 32RBI)
- OF – Matt Holliday – STL (.311/.394/.514 53R, 13HR, 51RBI)
The most egregious omission here has to be Edwin Encarnacion. He’s currently 5th in all of MLB in HR, tied with Ryan Braun, with 22. The 9 other players in the top ten in HR right now were all selected to the All-Star team. I really don’t get how he was left off. As my friend said of Encarnacion, “What more do you want him to do?”
Pitchers
AL Pitchers
- SP – Brandon Morrow (injured) – TOR (7-4, 3.01ERA, 1.004WHIP, 67K)
- SP – Jake Peavy – CHW (6-5, 2.96ERA, 0.994WHIP, 101K)
- SP – Andy Pettitte – NYY (11-3, 3.28ERA, 1.271WHIP, 101K)
- SP – Jarrod Parker – OAK (5-3, 2.46ERA, 1.22WHIP, 61K)
- SP – Jason Hammel – BAL (8-4, 3.43ERA, 1.204WHIP, 97K)
- SP – Brandon McCarthy (injured) – OAK (6-3, 2.54ERA, 1.205WHIP, 52K)
- SP – Colby Lewis (replaces Morrow) – TEX (6-6, 3.51ERA, 1.080WHIP, 90K)
NL Pitchers
- SP – James McDonald – PIT (8-3, 2.45ERA, 1.000WHIP, 90K)
- SP – Brandon Beachy (injured) – ATL (5-5, 2.00ERA, 0.963WHIP, 68K)
- SP – Zach Greinke – MIL (9-2, 3.08ERA, 1.176WHIP, 106K)
- SP – Ryan Dempster (injured) (3-3, 2.11ERA, 1.025WHIP, 66K)
- SP – Johan Santana – NYM (6-4, 2.76ERA, 1.092WHIP, 93K)
- SP – Madison Bumgarner (replaces Beachy) – SFG (10-4, 2.85ERA, 1.057WHIP, 92K)
- SP – Ryan Vogelsong (replaces Dempster) – SFG (7-3, 2.26ERA, 1.109WHIP, 72K)
- RP – Santiago Casilla – SFG (21SV, 2.61ERA, 1.258WHIP, 30K)
The two notable omissions that stand out among pitchers are Peavy and McDonald. Peavy is 7th in the major leagues in WHIP with 0.9941 and McDonald is 8th with 1.000 (and an ERA of 2.45!) All of the (healthy) pitchers who are top ten in WHIP were selected except for Peavy and McDonald. Peavy can still get in as a final vote candidate, but McDonald doesn’t even have that chance. I don’t get this one at all.
Over-rated All-Stars
Note: I guess I shouldn’t call these guys over-rated. Their numbers are very impressive, but there have just been several players better than them in the first half of the season so far.
Hitters
- SS – Rafeal Furcal – STL (.276/.343/.370 53R, 5HR, 32RBI)
- 3B – Pablo Sandoval – SFG (.300/.362/.471 26R, 6HR, 25RBI)
- 2B- Jose Altuve – HOU (.304/.347/.444 46R, 5HR, 23RBI)
- SS – Starlin Castro – CHC (.292/.315/.422 37R, 6HR, 40RBI)
- 1B/C -Napoli – TEX (.235/.335/.438 36R, 12HR, 30RBI)
- 1B – Prince Fielder – DET (.300/.380/.487 43R, 12HR, 53RBI)
- 3B – Adrian Beltre – TEX (.323/.355/.527 45R, 14HR, 52RBI)
- SS – Derek Jeter – NYY (.298/.348/.404 42R, 7HR, 25RBI)
- OF – Curtis Granderson – NYY (.244/.345/.503 54R, 23HR, 47RBI)
- C – Matt Wieters – BAL (.247/.333/.436 34R, 11HR, 38RBI)
- 2B – Ian Kinsler – TEX (.276/.451/.786 61R, 9HR, 40RBI)
- DH/1B – Billy Butler – KCR (.293/.363/.505 31R, 16HR, 48RBI)
For me, the strangest selection here is Pablo Sandoval starting at third for the national league. Not only should he not be starting, he probably shouldn’t even be on the team. Both Martin Prado (left off the team) and David Wright (reserve) are both having better seasons so far. Even if you decide to take Sandoval over Prado to make the team, how do you choose Sandoval to start? Wright is batting .354 with 53R and 50RBI and is slugging nearly 100 points higher than Sandoval (.560 to .471). But, hey, it’s what the fans want.
Pitchers
- SP – Cole Hamels – PHI (10-4, 3.08ERA, 1.099WHIP, 111K)
- SP – Lance Lynn – STL (10-4, 3.62ERA, 1.247WHIP, 98K)
- SP – Matt Harrison – TEX (11-3, 3.16ERA, 1.244WHIP, 65K)
- SP – C.C. Sabathia – NYY (9-3, 3.45ERA, 1.271WHIP, 105K)
It looks strange for me to leave a guy like Hamels off of my All-Star team, but their are just so many good, deserving pitchers in the NL. You might ask why I choose, for instance, Greinke (9-2, 3.08ERA, 1.176WHIP, 106K) and not Hamels (10-4, 3.08ERA, 1.099WHIP, 111K) for my All-Star team and that is a good question. I’d answer by saying that Greinke’s HR/9 is .4167 and third best in the league, whereas Hamels HR/9 is more than double that at about 1.0 HR/9.
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Posted on July 3, 2012, in Baseball, Sports. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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