It's All-Star-r-iffic!

Jason Michael Barker

Hey! You there! Don't look now, but on-line fan voting for the 2000 All-Star Game ends tomorrow. The nice people over at seasonticket.com will let you vote up to 25 times per email address, so what are you waiting for? Oh, you're waiting to hear who you should vote for. Wednesday I offered my suggestions for the American League, so here then are my thoughts on the NL.

Catcher
You know him, you love him, he's the best hitting catcher in baseball history and just also happens to be the leading vote-getter in the National League. He's Mike Piazza, and he's having yet another outstanding year. His numbers are nearly in line with his fantastic 1997 season, in which he hit .362 with 40 homers despite playing half his games in the pitcher's paradise known as Dodger Stadium. Piazza's hitting .361/.429/.713 with 21 homers so far this season, and Shea Stadium isn't exactly Coors Field, either. Simply put, there is no other NL catcher even worth considering.

First Base
This one's worth at least a little debate, as both Mark McGwire and Todd Helton are having very good years. Their numbers are actually very similar, with only 18 points of OPS between them with a 20 point edge to McGwire in slugging percentage. The big difference is that McGwire gets his slugging percentage from all those homers, while Helton hits a combination of homers and doubles -- it's no secret that McGwire isn't fleet of foot out there.

I'm going to give the nod to McGwire, and once again this one comes down to Coors Field. Helton has hit very well away from home this year, but he's still getting a big boost from his home park, where he's hitting a Ruthian .462/.569/.908 compared to a simply very good .298/.382/.556 on the road. McGwire is mashing the ball both at home and away, and his 28 homers lead the majors.

Second base
Houston's Craig Biggio leads the voting right now, but he's having something of a down year. He's still getting on base at a .400 clip, but his power has all but dried up and he's not stealing bases either. With apologies to Florida's Luis "OBP-machine" Castillo, the three primary candidates for the position are Jeff Kent, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Jose Vidro. Any of the three would make deserving starters -- Kent is hitting .435/.674, Alfonzo .439/.584, and Vidro .409/.609.

Normally I'd go with Kent, as he has the power edge over Alfonzo and a better walk rate that Vidro, but this late in the voting it's often necessary to check the vote totals. Kent currently sits third, over 100,000 votes behind Biggio. Alfonzo, on the other had, is second and has a chance (albeit extremely slim) of overtaking Biggio before voting closes, so I'm going to go with him.

Third base
Chipper Jones, and this one should be just as easy picking Mike Piazza at catcher. Ken Caminiti was making a decent case for himself before suffering his latest injury (they seem to come like clockwork, don't they), but with him out of the way it's all about Chipper. Thankfully he leads the voting, and isn't in danger of being surpassed.

Shortstop
Much like second base in the American League, shortstop is the weak position in the National League. Perennial whipping boy Rey Ordonez is out for the season, San Diego's Damian Jackson and Arizona's Tony Womack aren't good players, and Chicago's Ricky Gutierrez, who started the year on a hot streak, missed nearly a month on the disabled list. Who's left?

A veteran, one of the old guard: Barry Larkin. After turning in a fine season in 1999 and staying healthy all year, Larkin's at it again this year, getting on base (.384 OBP) and even hitting for a bit of power (.498 SLG compared to his .455 career mark). Larkin is leading the voting heading into the final days of voting... For the most part the fans have done a pretty good job this season, particularly in the NL.

Outfield
The National League is rife with outfielders having big years, from Barry Bonds and Vlad Guerrero to Jim Edmonds and Brian Giles. The current voting is as follows: Griffey, Bonds, Sosa. I don't mind this one so much, actually -- the All-Star Game is for the fans, and the fans want to see players like Griffey and Sosa, even though there are certainly more deserving players year.

That aside, my three outfielders are Bonds (.437/.736), Guerrero (.433/.720) and Gary Sheffield. Gary Sheffield? Yeah, Gary Sheffield. Has anyone else noticed the numbers he's putting up this year, Dodger Stadium and all? Further, Sheffield has put up big numbers for several years now, and yet gets very little recognition. Is he the Edgar Martinez of the NL?

Back to Sheffield, who's hitting .444/.679 this year with 25 homers and continues to dominate the strike zone (55 walks, 31 strikeouts). For his career, he's walked 808 times against 585 strikeouts. It's rare to see this sort of combination -- most players who walk regularly also strike out quite a bit as a result of working deep in the count.

about the author

Don't tell him this, but if enough of us put him on our ballots as a write-in candidate, Jason Michael Barker might get enough votes to beat out Ricky Ledee. Be sure not to give the game away if you write to him at jmb@strikethree.com.