MLB All-Star ballot: Picking the early favorites, with room for Alec Bohm, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and more

Voting for the annual All-Star Game (July 16 in Texas) is underway. You can vote on MLB.com here. I will do this many times with two different sets of ballots this season and post them both for you to see.

This first vote is the most important. It’s simply who I believe was the best player among the voting options available at each position this season. Many people don’t agree with this stance and think they should simply be the biggest stars. For example, Julio Rodriguez is an established star at this point – even at the age of 23 – but is having a subpar year so far. I won’t vote for him, but people who think ASG should be played by the biggest stars could do so.

I fully admit that my method is risky, as a player with two months of luck can totally fall apart before the All-Star Game, while established stars can get excessively hot. I understand. It’s just my method and that’s why we all voted. We are free to disagree and leave MLB count the votes. Additionally, there is now a final round of voting and this gives us time to reevaluate.

Let’s go to this vote.

American League

catcher – Salvador Perez, royalty. With apologies to Adley Rutschman, applaud the venerable Perez. He is in his 13th season and this will be his ninth All-Star Game. He’s hitting .315/.383/.521 (154 OPS+) with 15 doubles, 10 homers and 41 RBI for a playoff-caliber team.

First base – Josh Naylor, Guardians. It’s a tough call as Naylor has seen his average drop to .229, but he is batting .500 and leads the position with 16 home runs and 44 RBI. It’s a running production position, so he wins here. Ryan Mountcastle has a case and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the average and OBP, although he doesn’t have power right now.

Second baseman – Marcus Semien, Rangers. Jose Altuve is here with a better average and on-base percentage, but Semien wins elsewhere. He’s ahead in WAR from FanGraphs and Baseball Reference thanks to much better defensive ratings, while also leading by 14 RBI and eight runs. He has one more home run. He walks more and attacks less. That’s Semien.

Third base – José Ramírez, Guardians. The Orioles’ Jordan Westburg and the Rays’ Isaac Paredes are very close, but we’re running with Ramírez thanks in part to his 16 homers and MLB-best 58 RBI. He went crazy with the power to keep his Guardians first, despite the Twins getting hot and the Royals around.

Shortstop – Gunnar Henderson, Orioles. The veteran and established stars are Corey Seager, Carlos Correa and Bo Bichette. This is a two-man position right now between rising stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson. Neither has come close to oversaturation in terms of public attention and hasn’t even been an All-Star yet. So I will go with one on every vote and send an apology to Anthony Volpe.

Outfielders – Aaron Judge, Yankees; Juan Soto, Yankees; Kyle Tucker, Astros. Who would have thought that stopping exactly three outfielders would be the easiest position on the board? No one else is even close to those three.

Designated Hitter – Yordan Alvarez, Astros. Some possibly worthy candidates here like Kerry Carpenter and Brent Rooker, but this basically came down to Giancarlo Stanton vs. Alvarez and Yordan at this point is just a better hitter, even if he has a few less bombs.

National League

Catcher – William Contreras, Brewers. Will Smith is the other option here and he is also having an excellent year. I’m going to Contreras by the smallest margin. He’s hitting .310/.380/.478 with eight homers, 44 RBI and 48 runs.

First baseman – Bryce Harper, Phillies. As always, Freddie Freeman has a case and Christian Walker once again has good power numbers in addition to his great glove. Harper, however, has the best overall numbers and is the centerpiece of the best team in the National League.

Second baseman – Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks. I think Luis Arraez deserves a lot of credit for his ability as a hitter, hitting .335 and almost never striking out. It’s surprising these days. I also think him being negative on defense and lacking power means that overall he has provided a little less value this season than Marte, who is batting .278 on .502 (exactly 100 more batting points than Arraez) with 12 home runs, 32 RBI and 40 runs.

Third base – Alec Bohm, Phillies. Many big names have faltered this season, such as Austin Riley, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado. Matt Chapman’s defense is still incredible, but he’s just attacking. Let’s go with Alec Bohm here, as he is having an offensive season for the best team in the NL. He is hitting .296/.350/.481 with 50 RBI. Apologies here to Joey Ortiz of the Brewers.

Shortstop – Mookie Betts, Dodgers. Undoubtedly.

Outfielders – Jurickson Profar, Padres; Christian Yelich, brewers; Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres. Between Betts’ position change and Ronald Acuña Jr.’s injury, this position is reduced a bit, but we still have three quality teams.

There’s no way to say enough about the year Profar is having. The former No. 1 overall prospect is now 31 years old and has never been an All-Star (or even a contender, really). He leads the majors with a .424 on-base percentage while hitting .329. he has 11 doubles, eight home runs, 38 RBI and 34 runs. He deserves to start.

Yelich, the former NL MVP, missed a chunk of time due to injury, but in just 35 games, he looked the same, slashing .318/.400/.530 ​​with six homers and eight steals.

Tatis should probably be better, but he’s playing well enough to start here, unless you prefer Teoscar Hernández.

Designated Hitter – Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers. It’s Ohtani here with a more complete offensive arsenal than Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna.