Since June 1st, fans all over the world can vote for their All-Stars. But who deserves to play for the American and National League teams in mid-July? MLB editor Marcus Blumberg gives an initial overview.
As always, the majority of fans will follow the popularity principle: Which players do you like best? Does he even play for his favorite team? But of course these are not necessarily the main criteria that should be consulted for an All-Star election.
Rather, All-Stars are about selecting the best players in a particular season. To do this as objectively as possible, there is certainly no sport that can be better explained by statistics than baseball. Accordingly, we are now looking at the current performance status of the top people in several issues and are thus putting together our All-Star teams.
The statistics I focus on are OPS+ from Baseball-Reference and wRC+ from Fangraphs. Both are cumulative and environmental-exempt offensive statistics that reflect the value of a player as objectively as possible. In both cases: 100 reflects the league average. If someone has a value of 150, then his offensive performance is 50 percent better than the average etc. (If you still want to see the traditional stats, just click on the name of the player and look at his profile!
The biggest star of the up-and-coming Braves has started the season strongly again and leads all players in his position in the NL in these stats. And unlike last year, it is in top shape and therefore a safe all-star starter.
My first thought in this position was Ozzie Albies. The dynamic youngster is currently causing a sensation among the Braves and is in the spotlight. But Gennett plays a much better season! Albies’ wRC+ alone is almost 40 percent (119) worse than Gennetts, who is currently perhaps the best offensive player in his team. He is also the only NL second baseman to have more than 2 wins above replacement in his account.
Nuances currently lie between Crawford and Chris Taylor of the Dodgers. The choice ultimately falls on Crawford for the moment, who has shown a little bit more offensively than his worst opponent so far. In addition, the fact that he is a trained shortstop speaks for him, while Taylor basically only replaces the injured Corey Seager.
It’s a head-to-head race between Arenado and Kris Bryant of the Cubs. Currently, however, Arenado is slightly ahead. However, there is no doubt that the loser of the fan voting will still be elected to the team by colleagues, managers and co. Also strong: Eugenio Suarez from the Reds, who should not be represented several times in a perfect world due to their sporty obliqueness.
Narrow box! Posey leads NL-Catcher in both categories and in WAR, but the distances between him, Yasmani Grandal (Dodgers) and Willson Contreras (Cubs) are marginal. In this respect, it is certainly too early to make a definitive decision. Stand now would have Posey because of his shiny vita my voice.
The stats in this position are not really helpful. The wRC+ leaders here would have been Matt Kemp (Dodgers), Nick Markakis (Braves) and Kyle Schwarber (Cubs), although Harper actually plays the better season. He leads the NL in home runs (18) and also has the most RBI (40) in his account. The impact average (.232) is a problem for him. All in all, however, he is the biggest star of the All-Star host Washington, which is why he simply has to be there.
It’s hard to believe, but there’s no way around Kemp. In wRC+ he leads all outfielders of his league, in OPS+ he is also fourth. Secretly, quietly and quietly the Dodgers returnee puts in a really good season. In this respect, Kemp’s all-star choice would be highly deserved.
Markakis also plays an outstanding season. The veteran is better than he has been for a long time and has played a major role in the success of the Braves this season. One can assume that his top performance will pass most of the voters, but his nomination would be justified in any case.
Page 1: National League All-Stars
Page 2: American League All-Stars
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