Designated Hitter
Who's winning: David Ortiz (.270/.372/.503, 12 HR, 31 RBI, 51 hits)
Who should be winning: Nelson Cruz (.308/.376/.652, league leading 19 home runs, 49 RBI, 62 hits)
Though Edwin Encarnacion has had a May for the history books with 16 home runs (still has tonight to collect more), he is only hitting .265 and slugging .600 (still amazing but not compared to Cruz). He has been a key part of the Blue Jays success thus far, but Cruz is having a slightly better, more consistent season. Victor Martinez also comes to mind, considering he leads the AL in hitting at .347 and has 13 home runs thus far. But again, his slugging is not quite to the point of Cruz and when I think DH, I think slugger. Hence my choice of Big Nelly.
First Base
Who's winning: Miguel Cabrera (.328/.374/.556, 9 HR, 48 RBI, 65 hits)
Who should be winning: Cabrera
The back-to-back MVP winner is having a bad year. Hard to believe given the stats you see above but by his standards, 2nd in RBI and 7th in hits is a bad year (so far). He started off ice cold but has been on a tear recently, hitting .375 with 7 home runs this month. Other candidates that come to mind are Brandon Moss (13 home runs, 46 RBI, .276), Jose Abreu (15 home runs, 42 RBI, .260 average, currently on the DL), and Albert Pujols (14 home runs, .257 average). Cabrera has shown a little more consistency out of this group, as shown by the highest average by more than 50 points.
Second Base
Who's winning: Ian Kinsler (.316, 19 doubles, 68 hits)
Who should be winning: Jose Altuve (.324, 77 hits, 20 steals, 56 games played)
Altuve hasn't missed a game for the Astros as he cements his role as a leader for this rebuilding team. He still manages to play at an incredibly high level without missing games, he leads the league in hits and steals (20/23 completions) and is a great defender, too. He also has only struck out 19 times thus far. Others that came to mind: Robinson Cano is hitting .327 but with no power in a much larger Safeco Field. Howie Kendrick is also quietly having a good season, hitting .291 with 62 hits.
Third Base
Who's winning: Josh Donaldson (.285, 15 home runs, 45 RBI, .579 slugging)
Who should be winning: Donaldson
Beltre is hitting .305 in 41 games with little power, so I think Donaldson deserves the start here. His average is a little lower than last year (finished at .301) but he is hitting for more power and slugging .561 - and leading the league in runs. His defense is subpar considering he has a .958 fielding percentage but I'll look past that for how hard he hits the ball.
Shortstop
Who's winning: Derek Jeter (.273/.339/.326)
Who should be winning: Jeter. One of the greatest leaders of our generation - he could be hitting .100 and I would still say he deserves to start. Because it's Derek Jeter.
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| Courtesy of the hilarious movie The Other Guys |
Outfield
Who's winning: Mike Trout (.294/.380/.549), Jose Bautista (.305/.438/.555), Jacoby Ellsbury (.268/.338/.387)
Who should be winning: Bautista, Melky Cabrera (.309/.353/.483), Alex Rios (.317/.349/.472)
Trout is having a down year by his standards by only hitting .294 but the real shocker is that he leads the AL in strikeouts and only has 5 steals so far this year, on pace to about 20 fewer than average. His OBP is slightly down but still good - but not starter worthy if you ask me. Ellsbury's high number of votes is strictly based on popularity, because right now he is only batting .268 with 52 hits. Again, not starting caliber.
Joey Bats is off to an incredibly hot start (as are the Jays, holy cow) - he leads the league in OBP and walks and still has 14 home runs and 39 RBIs, on pace for approximately a 40/120 season, home runs right around where he's been in the past, but more RBIs (mostly because he can be injury prone). He's also scored 41 runs. Playing in the same uniform as he, Melky Cabrera deserves to start because of not only his .309 average but also is second in hits in the AL with 73 and is slugging just under .500. As a former All-Star Game MVP, I think its time he gets back into the lineup. Last but not least, Rios is quietly having a stellar season in Texas. He has been one of very few Rangers to avoid the injury bug, and he is stepping up. He's hitting .317 and leads the league in triples and has 10 steals.
Pitcher
The starting pitcher is not a fan vote, so this one I just have to throw out there. I'd give it to Jays starter Mark Buehrle, who is leading the league in wins with 9, has an ERA of 2.33 and a WHIP of 1.23, all very good numbers. Rookie Masahiro Tanaka is also in the mix, leading the league in ERA (2.06) and WHIP (.95), is 2nd in the league with 8 wins, and is 3rd with 88 K's. Actually maybe I'd give Tanaka the nod.
I have no idea.
Time will tell, and I do not envy manager John Farrell to have to make a decision between Buehrle and Tanaka - 2 bitter division rivals. If he picks a Yankee to start the ASG, they'll have his head in Boston. But you can't refuse this guy's numbers!
I'll do the NL a little later - today was my day off so I had time to think about it. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, folks. As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to shoot down my choices. I'm a blogger, not a manager.
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