MLB All Star Starters Part 2

Just about a week ago, I wrote an article about who deserves to start for the American League in the 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Now I am choosing who deserves to start for the National League. The AL was actually straightforward for the most part and there were not many difficult decisions. The National League was much more difficult.

Designated Hitter: This one was tough to choose since the National League does not have a DH. The solution I came up with was to choose the best hitter who I did not select to start at any other position and I came up with Albert Pujols. He has the second highest OPS in the National League at 1.121, behind only Lance Berkman who plays the same position as him. Pujols also has hit 16 homers and driven in 43 runs while boasting a .358 batting average. He has been injured for some of the year, but has still put up excellent stats, making him deserving to start as the National League’s DH.

Catcher: This one was extremely difficult, because there are so many catchers having an exceptional years in the National League. Bengie Molina is having an excellent year, batting .313 and driving in 48 runs. Cubs’ catcher Geovany Soto has a .277 average, 12 home runs, and 46 RBI, but the player worthy of starting at catcher is Brian McCann from the Braves. He has a .303 average with 14 home runs and 44 RBI, but he leads all catchers with a .921 OPS, much higher than Molina’s .787 OPS and Soto’s .869 OPS. That’s not to mention the fact that McCann has made only 3 errors all year and has the fewest passed balls in the National League (1) making him the deserving catcher to start for the NL in Yankee Stadium Continue reading “MLB All Star Starters Part 2”

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