The 2010 All-Star Ballot is available on mlb.com. You can vote now. I decided to cast my first ballot based on looking at the numbers, instead of my usual batch of homer votes, and a few based on merit. So here’s who I voted for.
For the AL, I listed the Rangers player that’s on the ballot, said a few words about them, and then said who I voted for. The NL, I just said who I voted for. Here goes. Any remarks?
American League:
1B – Chris Davis – Good defense, no real serious hitting threat. Won’t even peak the top. I voted for Miguel Cabrera from the Tigers.
2B – Ian Kinsler – Hasn’t played a game yet this year, shouldn’t be on here. I voted for Dustin Pedroia. His numbers are the best now of any 2B in the league.
SS – Elvis Andrus – Off to an OK start, but “OK” doesn’t get you voted in. As much as it pains me to vote for a Yankee, I voted for Derek Jeter.
3B – Michael Young – Off to a decent start, but not enough to take this. I had to vote for Evan Longoria, his stats are better. Almost voted for Young for the homer vote thing, but went with the MLB 2K10 cover boy.
C – Taylor Teagarden – Oh yeah, right. I have a better chance of charting in this category. Despite the surprising numbers of Jason Kendall in Kansas City so far this year, you have to vote for Joe Mauer. There really isn’t another choice for AL starting catcher.
DH – Vlad Guerrero – He probably has a realistic shot at winning this. His numbers out of the gate were fantastic. But going by pure numbers, Jose Guillen is besting him, and Adam Lind is up there, too. But I had to vote for Guerrero. Homer vote.
OF – Nelson Cruz, Julio Borbon, & Josh Hamilton – Hambone is playing like 2009 again unfortunately, probably is too far removed from the HR derby to coast on that this year. Julio Borbon was dropped to ninth, and nobody outside of DFW really knows him anyway. Nelson Cruz is definitely deserving, I voted for him. Beyond him I voted for Shin-Soo Choo in Cleveland, & Michael Cuddyer in Minnesota. Vernon Wells is also doing well, this year but I picked Cruz over Wells. All three guys I voted for had their last names starting with “C”. :)
National League:
1B – It’s either Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols. Pujols will probably get elected anyway, so I voted for my Phillies guy, Ryan Howard.
2B – As much as I like to vote Phillies, you can’t argue with Chase Utley’s numbers. Utley is way out in front of everyone else, he should win this easily.
SS – This is a tossup for me. I like Troy Tulowitski overall as a player, but his numbers aren’t huge. Rafael Furcal has the highest batting average (with the most at bats), but has no HR/RBI numbers to speak of. Orlando Cabrera in CIN has no average, but the other numbers. I ended up voting for Stephen Drew from Arizona. Had Jimmy Rollins not spent time hurt already, I probably would have voted for him.
3B – I was surprised when I looked at the numbers here. Mark Reynolds is who I thought I’d be voting for, and he has the power numbers, but a bad average. Going on numbers, it’s a tossup between McGehee of MIL, and Placido Polanco from Philly. Polanco has a track record, so I went with him based on his veteran status, not because he’s from Philly.
C – I’m sorry. I’m voting for Pudge. Not going to have a ton of chances to do that much more. He does have good numbers too, so it’s not a total “Rangers homer” vote. :)
OF – Went with Ryan Braun from the Brewers, Matt Kemp from the Dodgers, & Josh Willingham of the Nationals. Look up the numbers. :)
I believe it’s the first time I haven’t voted for a Texas Rangers player in awhile. Granted, I did vote for Pudge, but he’s over in the NL.