Catcher <\/strong><\/p>\nMark George (MG): Alex Avila. I wasn’t expecting him to hit .300. I thought he’d be in the .250s.<\/p>\n
Matt Smith (MS): Alex Avila. After a learning year during his first full term as a Major Leaguer in 2010, the Tigers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 catcher is having a strong season, both in the batter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s box and behind the dish.\u00c2\u00a0 Carlos Santana and Matt Wieters will stake a claim for the spot in future years, but Avila deserves the call this time around.<\/p>\n
First baseman<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Adrian Gonzalez. Honourable mention to Konerko, but Gonzo’s been outstanding.<\/p>\n
MS: Adrian Gonzalez. Not much of an argument, really. Everyone thought that the former Padre would fit Fenway perfectly and after a slightly slow start, he has been outstanding for the Red Sox, finally getting the superstar recognition that he had deserved during his time in San Diego. Konerko, Miguel Cabrera and Mark Teixeira are all having good years too.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Second baseman<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Robinson Cano. Easiest choice on the ballot?<\/p>\n
MS: Ben Zobrist. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going in a different direction for this pick, partly on the grounds that Cano is almost certain to make it so voting another way isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t likely to hurt his strong case to start. \u00c2\u00a0Zobrist plays in the outfield as well so that perhaps counts against him on the ballot; however he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been the Rays\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 best position player this year and it would be good to see him get some recognition.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Third baseman<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Alex Rodriguez. Youk pushes him very close, but A-Rod has the edge in average by almost 20 points.<\/p>\n
MS: Alex Rodriguez. I have to agree with Mark on this one: Youkilis is playing very well yet again, just not quite up to A-Rod\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s standard so far.<\/p>\n
Shortstop<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Asdrubal Cabrera. You can make a good case for Peralta, but Cabrera’s been a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n
MS: Asdrubal Cabrera. Add up his batting performance this season, his collection of great fielding plays and that fact that he plays for a team that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get the headlines and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got someone who fully deserves his night in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
Outfielders<\/strong><\/p>\nMG:\u00c2\u00a0 Jose Bautista – It turns out last year wasn’t a fluke. Regretting not drafting him for my fantasy teams! Curtis Granderson – A personal favourite, nice to see him doing so well. Jacoby Ellsbury – Great to see what he can do when he stays healthy.<\/p>\n
MS: Jose Bautista \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an easy pick as he continues to smack the living daylights out of the ball. Curtis Granderson \u00e2\u20ac\u201c similar thoughts to Mark on him, having a great season and one of the most likeable players in the Majors (even in a Yankee uniform). Alex Gordon \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one of my \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwildcard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 picks, the Royals have done their best to mess him about, yet he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming through for them now and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great to see.<\/p>\n
Designated Hitter <\/strong><\/p>\nMG: David Ortiz. Big Papi off to a hot start for a change, and proving he can still deliver.<\/p>\n
MS: David Ortiz. Has to be Big Papi, with the caveat that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the position deserves its own spot on the roster and DH\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s should be considered with the first basemen (pick the best two, one starts as a fielder, the other starts as a DH regardless of if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a DH normally), in which case Ortiz wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make the team.<\/p>\n
Additional choices \u00c2\u00a0– Starting pitcher and closer<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Jered Weaver. Tough call between Jered Weaver and Verlander, but I’ll pick Weaver. Mariano Rivera for the closer. Brandon League has more saves, but Mariano’s ERA is more than two runs better.<\/p>\n
MS: Justin Verlander. Same as above, only with the opposite outcome. Verlander’s recent spell just tips the balance. Mariano Rivera \u00e2\u20ac\u201c because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mariano Rivera.<\/p>\n
———————–<\/p>\n
National League<\/strong><\/p>\nCatcher <\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Brian McCann. Montero and Lucroy have been good, but McCann’s the clear pick here.<\/p>\n
MS: Brian McCann.\u00c2\u00a0 No argument with Mark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thought process here.<\/p>\n
First baseman<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Prince Fielder. Deserves to start even before Pujols’ injury. Good time for the free agent to be to have a monster year!<\/p>\n
MS: Prince Fielder. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need a big All-Star moment to guarantee that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be paid like one of the very top stars after the offseason, but it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprise me if he delivers one all the same.\u00c2\u00a0 Reigning MVP Joey Votto deserves a mention here as well.<\/p>\n
Second baseman<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Rickie Weeks. Hardly a strong NL crop this year, but Weeks deserves the reward for avoiding injuries so far this year.<\/p>\n
MS: Rickie Weeks. He finally showed last year what he could do with a healthy full season and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s carried that form forward into 2011. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the cream of the crop, but Brandon Phillips is doing a lot more than just tweeting to deserve plenty of attention (although it seems like his Twitter antics are all many in the media want to talk about), while Danny Espinosa has been a real bright spark in Washington.<\/p>\n
Third baseman<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Placido Polanco. It’s hard to believe only on NL 3B has double-digit homers. And that’s Ryan Roberts. I’ll take Polanco’s average and good RBI numbers.<\/p>\n
MS: Placido Polanco. A steady contributor on the best team in the Majors so far this season, he deserves the call from a slightly underwhelming 2011 third base class.<\/p>\n
Shortstop<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Jose Reyes. Tulo’s the leading power hitter by a mile, but Reyes is earning himself a fortune with his huge walk year.<\/p>\n
MS: Jose Reyes. The Mets\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 owner Fred Wilpon infamously stated earlier this season that Reyes wants \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carl Crawford money\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe his injury history will leave him a little shy of Crawford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seven year\/$142m deal, but if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s healthy the rest of this season and keeps playing as he has, he will get very close to it.<\/p>\n
Outfielders<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Matt Kemp – Finally putting it all together for an MVP type year. Lance Berkman – Outstanding year for the Cards. Ryan Braun – Close here with Bruce and Pence leading other contenders, but Braun has the better average, RBIs and steals stats.<\/p>\n
MS: Matt Kemp \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHollywood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Kemp has rebounded from a trying 2010 and is having a great season in an otherwise tumultuous year in L.A.\u00c2\u00a0 Ryan Braun \u00e2\u20ac\u201c easy to take his performances for granted as we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve quickly come to expect him to play at a very high level.\u00c2\u00a0 Andrew McCutchen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there are several contenders, as noted by Mark above, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go for the exciting young Bucco.<\/p>\n
Additional choices \u00c2\u00a0– Starting pitcher and closer<\/strong><\/p>\nMG: Roy Halladay to start, with Cliff Lee and Clayton Kershaw to follow.\u00c2\u00a0 Joel Hanrahan. I remember when he was a top prospect for the Dodgers, but it looked like he’d never reach the majors for a while. He now has 20 saves, a 1.31 ERA and a 30\/8 K\/BB ratio.<\/p>\n
MS: \u00c2\u00a0Roy Halladay.\u00c2\u00a0 What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left to be written about Doc?\u00c2\u00a0 A great pitcher at the peak of his powers.\u00c2\u00a0 As for the closer, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go with the Braves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Craig Kimbrel.\u00c2\u00a0 His fastball\/slider combination is absolutely devastating.<\/p>\n
——————<\/p>\n
Who did you vote for in this year’s ballot?\u00c2\u00a0 Let us know via the Comments section below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All-Star games are not a feature of British sports, but that’s part of what makes them special to us in the UK. In this edition of Weekly Hit Ground Ball, Mark George and Matt Smith explain who was on their 2011 All-Star ballots and why<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-hit-ground-ball","category-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11268"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11317,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268\/revisions\/11317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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All-Star games are not a feature of British sports, so in many respects\u00c2\u00a0they are\u00c2\u00a0an unfamiliar, alien concept to fans in the UK.<\/p>\n