National League All Stars

From its inception, this blog has been strictly limited to covering the Victoria Seals and stories on the Golden Baseball League that might be of interest to Seals fans. This post will break from tradition so that we can fulfill our duty to the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and make our selections for the National League All-Star team.

I have always liked the idea of selecting players who are having great seasons over established stars who are having bad seasons. However, I'm wary of selecting players who might be "flash in the pans" or those who haven't paid their dues. With that in mind, here are my All-Star selections for the National League (current position in fan voting in brackets):

• 1st Base - Albert Pujols STL (1) - .309 BA 15 HR 49 RBI 6 SB 38 R
• 2nd Base - Martin Prado ATL (2) - .333 BA 6 HR 29 RBI 1 SB 47 R
• 3rd Base - David Wright NY (2) - .293 BA 12 HR 50 RBI 11 SB 33 R
• Shortstop - Troy Tulowitzki COL (3) - .306 BA 9 HR 33 RBI 7 SB 45 R
• Catcher - Brian McCann ATL (2) - .261 BA 6 HR 27 RBI 3 SB 29 R
• Outfielder - Ryan Braun MIL (1) - .304 BA 10 HR 45 RBI 11 SB 44 R
• Outfielder - Andre Ethier LA (3) - .339 BA 11 HR 40 RBI 1 SB 31 R
• Outfielder - Jason Werth PHI (4) - .281 BA 10 HR 39 RBI 4 SB 35 R
• Starting Pitcher - Ubaldo Jimenez COL (N/A) - 12 wins, 1.16 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

There are a few selections that may generate some debate. For instance, taking Prado at second base over Chase Utley, due to the fact that Prado is out-hitting him by 73 points (.333 vs .260). Or how about my selection at short of Tulowitzki over Hanley Ramirez and the injured Jimmy Rollins? I'll give Tulowitzki the nod over Ramirez due to a better batting average (16 point difference) and the extra 10 runs that he has scored. I also left rookie Jason Heyward off the team due to his .268 batting average and the fact he hasn't proven himself over a full season yet.

Leave a comment to this post if you would like to share your selections.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance will be issuing a press release around July 1st with the voting results from our members.