All-Stars

At first Teixeira trails in the voting (3rd place) by about 120,000 votes. He needs to beat out Miguel Cabrera (2nd Place) and Kevin Youkilis (1st place).

Robby Cano is fourth in the voting for second base behind Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, and Aaron Hill. Robby is about 267,000 votes behind the 1st Place Kinsler.

Derek Jeter is the highest vote getter in the AL so far with 664,630 votes. The second place shortstop, Marco Scutaro only has 273, 589 votes.

Alex Rodriguez, believe it or not, is third in the voting for third base, but don't expect to see him in the game as Evan Longoria has a lead of almost 420,000 votes.

Even with his injury Jorge Posada is fourth in the standings for catcher. He trails Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez, and Jason Varitek. If Jorge plays like he usually does upon his return he might be able to get to the top, but Martinez and Mauer have been incredible and both deserve the start more than Jorge. Posada trails Mauer by about 104,000 votes.

The outfield has Jason Bay, Josh Hamilton, and Ichiro as the top vote-getters. Damon is the only Yankee outfielder in the top 15 coming in at 11th. Damon is having a great year, but he most likely won't win a spot.


If I were to pick up a ballot right now my American League votes would be as follows:

C Joe Mauer
He's hitting over .400, has an OBP of .496, and is slugging over .800. Those are like video game stats. Just ridiculous. Add in that he is a phenomenal fielder (remember that dive play to tag out B-Gard and prolong the game). This is the easiest decision on the ballot.

1B Miguel Cabrera
.366/.428/.594. That is a stellar line. Now, Teixeira has more homers than Miggy, but Tex's .382 OBP, although phenomenal, isn't anything compared to Miggy's .428. Tex also has 12 more strikeouts than Miggy. So Cabrera gets the nod from me.

2B Ian Kinsler
He's hit 13 home runs and stolen 10 bases already. With his 2 triples and 11 doubles he's managed to slug .569. Don't forget that he's improved his defense drastically this year as well. I've heard the arguments of The Ballpark in Arlington being a hitters park, but Kinsler is a phenomenal player, there is no getting around that.

3B Evan Longoria
Surprised? Probably not. Like everyone else in baseball I'm a Longoria fan. The kid has 12 homers this year to go with his .324/.395/.622 line. He's also one of the best defensive thrid basemen in the game. I don't usually endorse using RBI's to judge a player's value, but his 51 ribbies this early in the year are impressive. He'll get the nod from me.

SS Derek Jeter
He's the captain. We know he's never used steroids. He's a class act. He's an all star game staple. And he isn't having a bad season either. Jeet's moved to the leadoff spot this year and the results have been okay. He's got a .378 OBP and he's slugging .464. Jeet's been hot on the basepaths too, so far racking up 10 steals. He's got 7 homers on the year as well. I gave Marco Scutaro (.291/.403/.449) serious consideration. However, I think he could start to fade fast as we get further into the season.

OF Adam Jones
OF Jason Bay
OF Torii Hunter

Jones (.357/.410/.637), Bay (.281/.407/.611), and Hunter (.315/.394/.595) are all having great seasons. Jones is going to be a superstar, you can just tell. He's a 5 tool guy. Word has it he threw 96 MPH as a high school pitcher (what can't this guy do?). He's an easy call, but he's not even in the top 15 in the MLB.com update. Bay (currently first in AL outfield votes) has had a great season in Boston. He's kept his OPS above 1.000 and has 14 homers on the year. Hunter, one of the most likable guys in the game, is acting like he used to in Minnesota again. He's stolen ten bag, homered eleven times, kept his OBP around .400, and brings that intangible energy that makes him so famous. He's also a pretty good fielder. Although by UZR and +/- ratings he might not be the best, it's the all-star game, and there is no outfielder more FUN to watch than Torii Hunter.