Weekly Rotation: This season’s most deserving first-time All-Stars
Any day now, Major League Baseball will reveal its first fan voting update for the 2016 All-Star game in San Diego. It might seem too early to consider who deserves to earn bids to the Midsummer Classic, but online fan voting commenced on April 24.
One can debate the merits of that starting point, but since the ballot boxes have been stuffed for more than a month now, it’s high time to discuss which players have matured into All-Star caliber performers this year.
Though Weekly Rotation, brought to you by PointAfter, usually ranks five baseball-related things, the format is being mixed up a bit this week. Like some clubs occasionally need to stretch out to a six-man rotation to cruise through particularly grueling sections of their schedule, Weekly Rotation will instead highlight six players who deserve All-Star calls: two pitchers and four batters.
Note: All statistics are accurate as of games played through May 24.
Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox OF
2016 Stats: .346/.415/.622 slash line, 54 hits, MLB-best four triples, 8 HRs in 44 games
Position competition: Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, Michael Saunders, Jose Bautista, Adam Eaton
Once considered somewhat of an “all glove, no bat” prospect, Bradley has turned that notion on its head during his third full season as a starter. He leads American League outfielders in OPS by 50 points over Mike Trout. Entering Wednesday, he had a clean sweep atop the batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage leaderboards for May.
JBJ has reached base in over half of his plate appearances this month, and is the owner of the season’s longest hitting streak at 28 games (and counting). If he extends it to 35, it’ll break the Red Sox franchise record set by Dom DiMaggio in 1949.
With the way Bradley’s been raking at the plate, let alone the stellar defense he always provides, the 26-year-old could very well be patrolling center field for the first pitch of the Midsummer Classic — though Trout might claim seniority and push Bradley to a corner.
Eric Hosmer, Royals 1B
2016 Stats:.298/.353/.497, 51 hits, 8 HRs, 21 RBI in 45 games
Position competition: Miguel Cabrera, Chris Davis, Hanley Ramirez
Hosmer’s sixth season is on pace to yield career highs in home runs (29) and OPS (.850), as he’s seemingly matured into a bona fide slugger with an ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) of nearly .200.
And while defense typically doesn’t dictate All-Star selections (hence why Adam Eaton probably won’t make the trip to San Diego this summer), it should be noted Hosmer has taken home three straight Gold Gloves at first base.
Miguel Cabrera deserves to be voted a starter for the fourth consecutive year (once at third base in 2013), and almost certainly will be – not even Kansas City’s notorious ballot-box stuffing last summer could net Hosmer a starting nod. This time around, however, his fellow players and coaches should recognize that he’s the best all-around option to back up Cabrera.
Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox SS
2016 Stats: .346/.397/.495 slash line, 63 hits, 15 doubles, 4 HRs in 43 games
Position competition: Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien
Truthfully, I wanted this column to feature one pitcher and two hitters from each league. But I didn’t want to choose two Boston position players, and I couldn’t leave out one of Bogaerts and Bradley, who have combined with David Ortiz and Co. to transform the Red Sox into the highest-scoring offense in the majors.
Though Bradley, Ortiz and David Price have been stealing most of the spotlight in Boston this year, Bogaerts probably has a better chance to start the All-Star Game than Bradley or Price. His competition at shortstop is so meager, and his bat has been so dominant, that he might already have the honor locked up.
The Aruba native won the Silver Slugger at shortstop last year at age 22, and has blown past the numbers he put up then. He leads the American League in hits (63) and batting average (.346), has the second-longest active hitting streak in baseball (behind Bradley) at 17 games, and has tallied at least two hits in 13 of his last 21 games.
Wilson Ramos, Nationals C
2016 Stats: .336/.381/.528, 42 hits, 5 HR, 9 BB, 17 K in 35 games
Position competition: Yadier Molina, Buster Posey, Jonathan Lucroy, Welington Castillo
One year after crashing to career lows across the board, Wilson Ramos is back to exhibiting the offensive potential that led Washington to acquired him for Matt Capps in 2010 — a trade that looks quite one-sided now. The 28-year-old leads all Major League catchers in OPS (.909) by a hefty margin (Castillo is the closest, at .833).
When you’re the only catcher with at least 100 at-bats who’s batting at least .300 and slugging at least .450, and clearing those marks rather easily while leading all catchers in range factor, you deserve a spot on the All-Star team.
Rich Hill, Athletics SP
2016 Stats: 7-3, 2.18 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 21 BB, 65 K in 57.2 IP
You probably know Rich Hill’s story by now. After toiling in independent leagues as recently as last year, the veteran lefty caught on with Boston near the end of 2015 and revived his MLB career with four dominant starts. Oakland took a flier on him via a one-year, $6 million contract, and all Hill’s done is keep the A’s out of the AL West cellar with 10 more dynamite outings.
Though wins are a flawed stat, it’s telling that Hill has earned seven of Oakland’s 20 wins. The 36-year-old ranks fifth in the Junior Circuit in strikeouts per nine innings (10.1) and second in ERA (2.18) through 10 starts (Jose Quintana, another eminently deserving first-time All-Star, leads the AL with a 1.98 ERA).
Hill is the only qualified AL pitcher with an ERA under 2.00 in May, and he’s also third in the league with a .170 batting average against this month.
Hill’s chances are helped by the fact that he’s the only seriously deserving Athletic in consideration for the All-Star Game, barring a torrid run from Marcus Semien or a token closer bid to Ryan Madson. It’d be quite a story to see him go from being a member of the Long Island Ducks in July 2015 to an American League All-Star in July 2016.
Noah Syndergaard, Mets SP
2016 Stats: 5-2, 1.94 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 9 BB, 76 K in 60.1 IP
Noah Syndergaard might have earned his “Thor” nickname due to his striking resemblance to Chris Hemsworth. However, it’s not an exaggeration to say watching the fireballing Texan pitch in person truly does feel like observing a superhero at work. At least, that’s how I felt when I witnessed his relief cameo in Game 5 of last year’s NLDS.
I can only imagine, then, what it’s felt like to face down Syndergaard in the batter’s box this year. The 23-year-old has somehow ramped up his velocity in 2016, and is regularly touching 100 mph with both fastballs and sinkers.
Unsurprisingly, hitters have had a tough time making good contact against Syndergaard. ESPN’s Mark Simon reports that he boasts the lowest hard-hit rate in the majors.
As a guy who ranks fourth in the Majors in strikeouts per nine innings (11.3) and ERA (1.94), Syndergaard not only deserves All-Star consideration, but Cy Young votes as well. That’s a tall task in a league that boasts Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta, Jose Fernandez, Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer. But more evidence keeps on rising to indicate Thor is no mere mortal.
Close calls: Welington Castillo (Diamondbacks), Dexter Fowler (Cubs), Odubel Herrera (Phillies), Drew Pomeranz (Padres), Stephen Piscotty (Cardinals), Jose Quintana (White Sox), Danny Salazar (Indians), Trevor Story (Rockies), Neil Walker (Mets).
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Will Laws is a writer for PointAfter, a sports data aggregation and visualization website that’s part of the Graphiq network. PointAfter is a platform for shot charts, scatter plots and other data visualizations about NBA players, NFL teams and dozens of other topics. Follow him on Twitter.
