American League All-Star Team Predictions
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The 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star game is approaching as the Kansas City Royals continue to dominate the voting in the American League. Currently the Royals have eight of the nine players atop their respected voting positions. This comes after the Royals second baseman Omar Infante moves ahead of Jose Altuve for the second base position leaving only Mike Trout as the only non-Royal currently being voted in.
That being said it gives us a chance to look at what the real American League All-Star team should look like through the middle of June. We will use the same format that Major League Baseball uses including a starting roster with designated hitter, 12 pitchers and 12 reserve players. We will also appoint one player from each team from each of the 15 American League teams.
Here is what we think the 2015 American League All-Star team should look like.
American League Catchers
Stephen Vogt, Starting Catcher: The Oakland A’s catcher is putting up the best numbers of all the catchers in the American League through the middle of June. Vogt is hitting .280 over his first 193 at bats with seven doubles, two triples, 12 home runs, 45 runs batted in and 31 runs scored. Vogt also leads all catchers in the American league with a .26 win aboveson replacement for the position.
Salvador Perez, Reserve Catcher
Russell Martin, Reserve Catcher
American League First Baseman
Miguel Cabrera, Starting First Baseman: Cabrera is putting together another big season for the Detroit Tigers. Currently Cabrera is hitting .344 with 14 home runs, 13 doubles and 47 runs batted in while producing a 3.3 wins above replacement. Cabrera along with Prince Fielder are the only first baseman in the American League to post a batting average above the .300 mark.
Mark Teixeira, Reserve First Baseman
Prince Fielder, Reserve First Basema
American League Second Baseman
Brian Dozier, Starting Second Baseman: For a while we had Jose Altuve as our top option but since he has seen his batting average drop to under the .300 mark, Dozier has moved into the starting role for us. The Minnesota Twins second baseman is hitting .265 on the season with 21 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs and 32 runs batted in.
Jose Altuve, Reserve Second Baseman
Jason Kipnis, Reserve Second Baseman
American League Third Baseman
Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays: This decision might have been the easiest of all the positional players around the American League. Donaldson is having a monster season hitting .309 for the Blue Jays with 52 runs scored to go with 17 home runs and 45 runs batted in. Looking at his wins above replacement for the season Donaldson is posting a 3.9 through mid June.
Kyle Seager, Reserve Third Baseman
Manny Machado, Reserve Third Baseman
American League Short Stops
Xander Bogaerts, Starting Short Stop: While we tossed around a few different players for the position, Bogaerts currently leads all American League short stops with a .293 batting average. While the case could be made for a few of the other American League short stops including Marcus Semien, Erick Aybar or Elvis Andrus.
Marcus Semien, Reserve Short Stop
Erick Aybar, Reserve Short Stop
American League Outfielders
Mike Trout, Starting Outfielder: The Los Angeles Angels outfielder is having one of the best seasons of any player in the American League. Currently, Trout is tied with three other players in the American League for the home run lead with 18 home runs. Trout is hitting .300 on the season with 13 doubles,, 39 runs batted in and 47 runs scored for the Angels.
Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles: Jones and Trout are the top two center fielders in all of baseball and it has shown early on during the 2015 season. The Orioles outfielder has put up some solid numbers at the plate this year but his defense in center field has been outstanding through June. Jones has 10 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs and 33 runs batted in through 239 at bats this season.
Josh Reddick, Oakland A’s: The debate could be made for a handful of other outfielders but this is how we see it. Reddick is ranked third in the American League among outfielders with a .305 batting average. The A’s outfielder has 10 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs to go with 40 runs batted in during his 223 plate appearances.
Lorenzo Cain, Reserve Outfielder
Michael Brantley, Reserve Outfielder
American League Designated Hitter
Nelson Cruz, Designated Hitter: Really no debate who should start the All-Star game at the designated hitter position. Cruz is currently tied with three other players for the league lead with 18 home runs after getting off to a terrific start for the Seattle Mariners this season.
American League Starting Pitchers
Sonny Gray, Starting Pitcher: Gray lands as our top option to start the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star game. The debate could be made for Chris Archer, Dallas Keuchel, David Price and even Felix Hernandez. That being said, the A’s starting pitcher leads the American League with a 1.60 earned run average. Gray has also posted an 8-3 record in 14 starts this season with 88 strike outs.
Chris Archer, Reserve Starter
Dallas Keuchel, Reserve Starter
David Price, Reserve Starter
Felix Hernandez, Reserve Starter
Alfredo Simon, Reserve Starter
Nick Martinez, Reserve Starter
Chris Sale, Reserve Starter
American League Relief Pitchers
Glen Perkins, Closer: By the time the All-Star break has arrived this list of relievers might flip flop but for now Perkins anchors down the back end of the bullpen. The Twins closer leads the American League with 22 saves while allowing just five earned runs over 28 innings. Perkins has yet to blow a save converting all 22 on the season.
Andrew Miller, Reserve Bullpen
Zach Britton, Reserve Bullpen
Huston Street, Reserve Bullpen
In the end that is how our American League All-Star roster has shaped up as July slowly approaches. The snubs list is long as both Albert Pujols and Jose Abreu were deserving of spots as well as a few other big named stars around the league. In the end not every player that deserves will make a spot on either All-Star team.
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