Fan voting for the All-Star Game starters is drawing to an end, meaning the rosters for each league will be taking shape over the next two weeks. If I was in charge of assembling the American League team of 34 All-Stars, with (for some unknown reason) home-field advantage in the World Series on the line, this is what the group would look like.
Catcher: Joe Mauer. After an injury-plagued 2011, Mauer's .414 OBP leads all AL catchers by a wide margin.
First Base: Paul Konerko. He's blown the rest of the AL first basemen out of the water with his .346/.419/.570 line.
Second Base: Robinson Cano. Konerko is to AL first basemen as Cano is to AL second basemen. He leads all league position-mates in OPS (by 100 points, no less), HRs, AVG, SLG%, and WAR.
Third Base: Adrian Beltre. Has almost the exact same statistical line as Miguel Cabrera...except with, you know, real defense.
Shortstop: Asdrubal Cabrera. Hitting .300/.385/.492 with stellar defense, the guy is an underrated beast.
Left Field: Josh Hamilton. He's cooled off, yet still hitting .320/.379/.652. Yes please.
Center Field: Adam Jones. Lots of excellent candidates here. Jones has 19 HRs, 9 steals, and the speed to cover for the big, slow guy I'm putting in right field.
Right Field: Mark Trumbo. Defensively, he's the weak link. But there's no keeping his .318/.370/.618 line out of the starting nine.
Designated Hitter: David Ortiz. Who else? With 18 HRs and a .588 slugging percentage, he keeps defying the effects of aging.
Starting Pitcher: Justin Verlander. I don't care if other guys have slightly lower ERAs and a couple more wins. Verlander has already thrown a boatload of innings (117.2), with 113 K's to just 28 walks for a 0.97 WHIP.
Infield Reserves: Most of these guys shouldn't see much time in the field. For example: there's no keeping Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder off this roster. Adam Dunn is in the same boat--he'll be relegated exclusively to hitting duty (he hits more homers and walks more frequently than anyone else in the league). Edwin Encarnacion (21 HRs) will be deadly as a pinch-hitter, too. Youngsters Jason Kipnis and Elvis Andrus offer excellent all-around game as middle infield backups. The complementary reserve catchers will be the offensively-minded A.J. Pierzynski and defensively-minded Matt Wieters.
Outfield Reserves: This is where the competition is tightest; there's only room for three. Mike Trout (.337/.399/.535 as a 20-year-old) is the only lock. Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson have hit 23 and 21 homers respectively, and boast very good track records. Unfortunately hat leaves out deserving candidates Josh Willingham, Matt Joyce, Josh Reddick, and Austin Jackson. All have pretty good arguments for inclusion here.
Pitching Reserves: Some of the names are hardly surprising: David Price, Jered Weaver, and C.J. Wilson have all been stellar. The more surprising inclusions: converted reliever Chris Sale (league-leading 2.24 ERA), Colby Lewis (striking out roughly eight men for every walk he allows), Jason Hammel (2.61 ERA after leaving Coors Field), and the resurgent Jake Peavy. Then comes a six-man bullpen. Every team must be represented with an All-Star, so here's where the Royals (lefty Tim Collins, who allows a .172 average), Athletics (Ryan Cook, owner of a tidy 0.57 ERA), and Mariners (Tom Wilhelmsen, the "most" deserving of an undeserving Mariners bunch) get their representatives. Ernesto Frieri is a must-have, since he still hasn't allowed an earned run with the Angels and has struck out 36 in 20.2 innings. Finally, the 'pen is rounded out by the league's two most overpowering closers: Joe Nathan and Fernando Rodney. But like in the outfield, relief pitching is a crowded occupation this season, and there's almost no distinction between Nathan/Rodney and Jim Johnson, Scott Downs, Joaquin Benoit, Chris Perez, and Rafael Soriano. You can pretty much flip a coin there.
So, my American League batting order would look something like this:
C Joe Mauer
1B Paul Konerko
DH David Ortiz
LF Josh Hamilton
RF Mark Trumbo
CF Adam Jones
2B Robinson Cano
3B Adrian Beltre
SS Asdrubal Cabrera
SP Justin Verlander
I'm thinking that lineup would win a lot of baseball games. Stay on your toes, National League.
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