At Home Plate - Anything Goes: Adam’s All Stars

At Home Plate

Written by Adam Adkins (Contact & Archive) on July 14, 2009

I'm going to give you my All Star starting lineups, packed full with a starting pitcher and the closer, too, just for fun. Let's do this thing, position by position.

Catcher: Joe Mauer-AL, Brian McCann-NL

Joe Mauer has been incredible this year.

Photo by Keith Allison, used under creative commons license.

One of those shouldn't surprise anyone. Mauer is an absolute monster, the best bat at his position and damn near the best glove. He's hitting .373/.447/.622 right now, and his VORP is 46.2 (that means he's produced 46.2 more runs in his plate appearances than a 'replacement-level' player would, basically a Triple-A guy), which is even more impressive when you realize he's only had 8.2% of the Twins' PAs.

McCann's been very good as well, hitting .298/.375/.487. Can't complain.

First Base: Kevin Youkilis-AL, Albert Pujols-NL

Youkilis is a phenomenal glove (after all, he's really a third baseman out of position) and his bat has really come alive in the last few years -- .298/.419/.566 is nothing to sneeze at, even though it's hard to tell if he's made marked improvements or is just hot. Either way, it all counts.

Pujols is Pujols, an offensive monster and a defensive whiz -- .332/.456/.723. What else can you say? That speaks for itself well enough.

Second Base: Aaron Hill-AL, Chase Utley-NL

Hill has almost always been a great glove, but this year he's having a nice year swinging the bat. A .292/.333/.487 batting line is absolutely terrific given the excellent glove work he's provided.

Chase Utley is no surprise. He's hitting .313/.430/.573 and is the best player on his team, even though his name does not appear on the plus/minus leader boards for second base. Upon further inspection, we see that Utley has absolutely regressed as a defender -- likely due to the injury he had last year -- but he's still good at +1.

Shortstop: Derek Jeter-AL, Hanley Ramirez-NL

Derek Jeter is a model of consistency with the bat.

Photo by Keith Allison, used under creative commons license.

Jason Bartlett is having an awesome year, far (no, sorry, FAR) better than he's ever been before. Sorry, for this situation, the consistent performer earns the spot, and that's Derek Jeter. It helps that he's hitting a robust .321/.396/.461 with, wait for it, ABOVE-AVERAGE defense! He's +2, Yankee fans! I know! I can't believe it!

Hanley is Hanley, a hitting machine with an ever-improving glove. Man, so far, the NL can really hit.

Third Base: Evan Longoria-AL, Pablo Sandoval-NL

Evan is good. My 2009 AL MVP pick is hitting .285/.362/.535, which isn't spectacular, but it's quite good, and he's at +10 this year with the glove. The total package.

David Wright is the star, but he's having an off year offensively (power) and defensively, so I'm cool going with Pablo Sandoval. He's fun, and he's out-hit Wright this year, and his glove is only -5; Wright is -4. The difference between Sandoval and Bartlett is simple -- Sandoval is 22 and Bartlett, 29. One is young with potential, other is what he is. Plus, Sandoval is nicknamed Kung Fu Panda. You'll get no argument from me!

Left Field: Carl Crawford-AL, Ryan Braun-NL

Crawford is a young star, a good bat and a good glove, an exciting base stealer, which I like to see. OBP rules all, but stealing bases and stretching singles is exciting. I can't deny it. Crawford's been terrific, .309/.367/.439 with 44 steals in 51 chances, plus the good glove. Yeah, he's fine.

Braun hasn't been as good offensively or defensively as Raul Ibanez, but he's a younger player and I like having younger players in the game. Plus, Ibanez is juicing. (I kid.)

Center Field: Adam Jones-AL, Matt Kemp-NL

Adam Jones gives Baltimore hope for the future.

Photo by Keith Allison, used under creative commons license.

Jones is another young star, with a good bat and a good glove, even though his 2009 plus-minus hasn't been great. One year won't eliminate the other years of his being good glove-wise though. He's hitting .303/.357/.481.

Kemp is a star, hitting .320/.384/.495 with precisely average defense. That line doesn't belong in the 8 spot, Joe Torre. It belongs right in front of Manny Ramirez.

Right Field: Ichiro Suzuki-AL, Justin Upton-NL

All I'll say about Ichiro is this. He leads all right fielders in VORP and Plus-Minus.

Upton is a young star -- really young -- and he can hit. .301/.374/.544 with +6 defense. That sort of performance warrants a starting nod, especially given the age. Get some young stars in this thing!

Starting Pitchers: Zack Greinke-AL, Dan Haren-NL

Did you know that Haren lead the majors in VORP?

Photo by wcamlin, used under creative commons license.

Simply put? Greinke's leading AL pitchers in VORP. He's awesome. 9.22 K/9, 1.48 BB/9. Awesome.

Meanwhile, Haren leads all pitchers in VORP. 8.93 K/9, 1.11 BB/9, 2.01 ERA. Lincecum is a better pitcher, both have track-records of being awesome, and so far this year Haren has been better.

Closers: Mariano Rivera-AL, Jon Broxton-NL

Rivera is what Rivera is, awesome. How does a 14.33 K to BB ratio sound? Huh? Come on, pretty swift, right?

Meanwhile, Broxton is the latest strikeout machine of a reliever. How does a 14.4 K/9 sound? Goodness. Joe Torre went from Mo to this monster? Unfair. Just unfair.

So there you have it! Enjoy the game tonight, kiddies!

Adam writes for his blog, like, often.

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