With the All Star voting period rapidly coming to a close (4.59 on Thursday morning is the deadline for us Brits), we reach the final starting position. There’s plenty of scope for sentimental picks in the outfield, as well as taking a punt on a young player or two.Â
American League - He’s cooled off over the last month, but Josh Hamilton still leads the Majors in RBIs and is the joint leader in home runs in the AL. Normally I would want a longer track record to raise someone up to All Star status; however everyone knows the reasons for his ‘lost years’ and the story of him getting his life back on track and making it to the ASG is too good not to fall for. Alongside him, Manny Ramirez made it to 500 home runs earlier this season and while his ’08 numbers aren’t outstanding, that doesn’t detract from his appeal at all. He’s a certain future Hall of Famer, having a very solid season, and he’s a great character (flaws and all) so he would be on my ballot.
The third spot is more difficult to decide on. Jermaine Dye has been a key reason why the White Sox have surprised so many people this season, as has his team mate Carlos Quentin. J.D. Drew has really stepped up his game as well for the Red Sox since David Ortiz went on the DL, and silenced some of his doubters at the same time (for now, at least). In the face of this competition, Grady Sizemore just wins out for me. Still only 25 years old, he’s already made two All Star appearances and this five tool talent deserves to make his first ASG start this time around. The Japanese fans will probably push Ichiro onto the team instead and you can’t question his credentials on previous form (not least his MVP performance in last year’s game), but I would like to see the younger talent given his chance.
National League – There are several players in the running here and essentially they are competing for two spots. Whether it is Griffey’s last season or not, his feat of reaching 600 homers has put him in the spotlight again and as this is likely to be his final chance of making the ASG, he deserves one last start.
Ordinarily speaking, Alfonso Soriano would definitely get my vote for the second spot in the NL outfield; however the fact that he’s had his injury problems this season does put a slight question mark against his name. The same can be said for Matt Holliday, who would have been a very strong favourite to make the team coming into the season (particularly with some fans wanting to make up for him not winning the MVP award last year). There are other candidates out there performing well this season though. For instance, Ryan Braun has to be considered because of the incredible impact he has had in such a short space of time. Through his first 194 career games, Braun has slammed 54 home runs while batting .306/.350/.596. Kosuke Fukudome has also impressed so far during his first year in the U.S., sporting a .404 OBP. With Soriano being an injury doubt, I’m tempted to shunt him for Ryan Braun, but I’ll stick with Alfonso and Matt Holliday to round out my NL outfield.
