My 2018 NL All-Star Game Starters

Yesterday, I ironed out a few kinks and finally determined my 2018 All-Star Game ballot for both leagues. I started off by showing the 9 American League starters I chose, so I thought it was only fair to announce my National League choices the day after.

Unlike the American League, there is no vote for the NL, mainly because the NL still has never implemented the DH and likely never will. With that being said, the NL All-Star team still has a DH in the starting lineup and has for many years now, a decision I assume is made by the manager which is Dave Roberts this year so long as the managers are still the managers from the previous pennant-winning team.

Now, without a DH I might as well begin with the Catcher position. I've chosen Buster Posey behind the plate due to his continued consistency thus far in the 2018 season. Posey has never had a full season where he hasn't been an All-Star, and with his .306 batting average and 23 RBI so far this season, it seems likely that he'll keep the streak up. Granted, there's always Yadier Molina and young Catcher Wilson Contreras waiting in the wings, but for now, the Catcher position is Posey's.

Moving on to 1st base but keeping it with the Giants, I've selected Brandon Belt, as long as he's healthy, to start in the All-Star game. He currently has appendicitis, but I'm pretty sure he'll be ready come July 17th to play in the All-Star game. Belt is currently hitting like crazy. With 31 RBI and a .307 average under his belt so far (pun intended), he appears ready to have the best season of his career. He certainly can and deserves to capitalize on that by making it to Washington this July. 

Javier Baez and Ozzie Albies help to make the competition for 2nd baseman tough, and I do think both of them should be voted All-Stars as well. But in terms of starters, I'm picking Scooter Gennett all the way. Gennett is 3rd in baseball in batting average, trailing only Mookie Betts and another guy who I also am voting for who's on this ballot (he will be revealed later). He's tied for 7th in baseball with 41 RBI and is currently ahead of guys like Bryce Haper while tied with none other than Aaron Judge.

I'm usually not a big fan of voting for guys with a low batting average like Trevor Story's (.249), but to be honest, the competition from all the other NL 2nd basemen isn't enough for me to change my mind. Story has 41 RBI, just like Gennett. Furthermore, he also has 11 homers and even 8 stolen bases. As long as he can get his average to around .260 ish by the All-Star game, I will not change my mind or my vote for Story.

First back to back Giants now back to back Colorado Rockies as Nolan Arenado is the 4th, but not the final, player representing the NL West on my ballot. We all know what Nolan Arenado is capable of, and he's doing exactly that so far this season. A .327 batting average along with an OPS of 1.001 which is 6th in all of baseball. From 2015-2017, Arenado made the All-Star team, finished top 10 in MVP voting, won a Gold Glove, and won a Silver Slugger in each of those 3 years. He seems pretty likely to extend that streak to 4 given his track record so far in 2018.

I feel like I'm back in 2011, because why else would I be considering Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis for the All-Star team, much less the starting lineup? Oh yeah, it's because they're both in the top 5 in all of baseball in batting average. They have both been quite possibly the biggest surprises in baseball, particularly Kemp who was rumored to be released or sent to the minors this season, not play, let alone as well as he has been.

As for Corey Dickerson, I will never understand why the Rays designated him for assignment over the offseason. He was a starter for the AL in 2017 and looks like he could fit the DH role well for the NL in 2018, freeing up space for another outfielder.

Notice how I didn't vote for Bryce Harper? That's right, he may have 18 homers and over 40 RBI, but his pitiful .233 batting average is far worse than Trevor Story's. So if I had doubts about voting for Story, then Bryce Harper doesn't have much of a shot.

My 2018 AL All-Star Game Starting 9

On Friday, MLB officially began the voting for the 2018 MLB All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. Now, I have been watching my Red Sox pretty extensively, but I don't really know much about how everyone else in the MLB is doing. So, I took a couple days to think about who I felt deserved to be on the All-Star team. Certain guys like Didi Gregorius who seemed like a shoe-in a month ago have completely fallen flat while other guys have made surprisingly strong cases for themselves. 

I've decided to start with the American League starting 9 and will get to the National League tomorrow. Specifically, I'm starting by announcing my starting designated hitter for the AL, Boston's own J.D. Martinez. Let me be clear, I'm trying not to be biased, but there's no way I can ignore J.D.'s talent. He's currently hitting .315 and is tied for the league lead in home runs with 19 and has the league lead in RBI with 50 just 1/3 of the way into the season. Assuming he keeps this up, there's no one more worthy of the spot than J.D.

Due to his abysmal .205 batting average, I simply cannot vote Gary Sanchez as the AL starting catcher for the All-Star game. Wilson Ramos is an interesting choice, but his .301 batting average leads me to believe he is the right choice. Additionally, with 29 RBI under his belt already, Ramos appears to be having a year similar to his 2016 season with the Nationals where he was also an All-Star, so it's likely we'll see history repeating itself.

Before you get too skeptical as to why I chose Mitch Moreland of all players, please hear me out. Yes, I know he plays for the Red Sox and I may seem biased, but the fact is Moreland has done more in not even 150 at-bats than some players have in over 200. Despite having limited playing time until recently due to Hanley Ramirez playing almost every night, Moreland is hitting .305 with 10 homers and 30 RBI. His OPS is outstanding and he's a Gold Glove-caliber defensive player. If I had my way, Moreland would be an All-Star, but due to not being a super well-known player, I don't think that will happen.

The reigning AL MVP is back at it again and isn't showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. He has a .329 batting average as I speak with 29 RBI and 8 stolen bases on the year. Granted, his stats aren't jumping out at you the way they did in 2017, but he has plenty of gas left in the tank. With that being said, the competition at 2nd base is not close to enough to threaten Altuve's All-Star starting spot.

Manny Machado is playing shortstop this season, making the competition at that position more stiff than it's been in years. However, he's without a doubt the best choice for the position. Given his .327 batting average (10th in baseball) as well as his 18 homers (tied for 3rd) and 47 RBI (2nd in baseball), Machado could be on-pace for an MVP season if he wasn't playing for a team that is somehow already 23 games out of 1st place. Not only will we see Machado in the All-Star game, but he'll also be on a new team by the trade deadline if he keeps going at this rate.

Last season, Jose Ramirez finished 3rd in the AL MVP voting behind only Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge. This season, he's still proving he deserves to be up there with those guys. He's currently hitting just under .300 at .299 and has the same number of homers as Machado with 18 and already has over 40 RBI along with some solid speed given his 7 stolen bases. Over the past few seasons, Ramirez has only improved year after year after year. If he keeps putting up numbers like this and improving the way he has been, we might not just be looking at an All-Star. He could realistically win MVP in an upcoming season or 2.

As for the outfield, it's pretty predictable in terms of who I chose, and that's a good thing. In my opinion, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Mookie Betts are all currently top 10 players in baseball with Trout and Betts cracking the top 3. They all have been hitting homers and driving in runs like it's nobody's business while Mookie Betts is leading all of baseball with a .359 batting average despite being injured right now. Point is, all 3 of these guys have been nearly unstoppable, so if things keep going the way they're going, these 3 will all be All-Star starters.

Now that is one scary outfield to have to face.

Top 5 Cards: Andrew Benintendi

With Dustin Pedroia back on the disabled-list just 8 games after making his season debut, Mookie Betts who has a rare DL stint of his own, and Hanley Ramirez being designated for assignment, it's crazy that the Red Sox are still powering through all of this, becoming baseball's first 40-win team after yesterday's victory over the Astros.

Much of their recent success is due to 2nd-year outfielder Andrew Benintendi who is hitting .333 over the last 30 games and has been truly spectacular as of late. Benintendi, along with J.D. Martinez are definitely the hottest hitters in Boston right now and if they keep this up, both of them could easily be all-stars.

Benintendi is in only his 2nd full season, but he's already fixing his biggest issue of 2017 which was contact hitting. He currently has a .294 batting average which is exactly where I'd like to see him all season, if possible.

Since he's in only his 2nd full year, I only have 15 cards of Andrew Benintendi, but considering I already have 4 cards of him from 2018, I can certainly see that number growing throughout the year. Now, here are my 5 favorite cards of his.

#5 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter

It's cards like Benintendi's rookie card that make 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter the best release of the set many years, back to at least 2012. I'm a huge fan of the frame around the headshot of the player which, combined with the signature A&G color splotches, makes the picture look like a piece of art. The only fault I can find with the card is how out of place the rookie card symbol is, though that's nobody's fault although they did change it a bit for 2017 Gypsy Queen by making it a shade of purple, so a slight change for Allen & Ginter wouldn't be a bad idea.

#4 2017 Topps Archives

Look familiar? That's because Benintendi's 2017 Topps Archives card uses the same photo as his Allen & Ginter card. Usually, I would be pretty annoyed by this. However, I appreciate their effort to switch it up by including more than just the headshot for the Archives card and not adding any filter to the photo, leaving it as it was taken. I'd also like to point out how carefully Topps appears to choose which player goes into which set in Archives because I truly believe that out of 1960, 1982, and 1992 Topps, 1982 is definitely the best choice for this card.

#3 2018 Topps Legends in the Making

Even though the checklist of the Legends in the Making set doesn't really live up to the name since I'm pretty sure Andrew McCutchen, Joey Votto, and Robinson Cano have already established themselves as legends, the set design is still very cool. I've said before that it's similar to the Topps Fire insert from 2016 Topps Update. I, for one, am a huge fan of the splashes of color behind the player on each card. I happen to think it's a very cool concept, it could just use a better name. Topps has been very creative with their set names in the past, so I'm sure they could think of something.

#2 2017 Topps Stadium Club

After being called up straight from AA Portland to the majors in 2016, Benintendi made a sensational catch to rob a home run against the Rays in Tampa Bay. Well, Stadium Club, being the set that it is, decided to put that incredible catch on a baseball card in their 2017 set, a card that I got a couple weeks ago. The angle in which he caught the ball is no-doubt a tough angle to get a good shot, so I understand why it's not as clear as other pictures of guys robbing home runs. With that being said, the catch he made was so iconic and memorable that I'll take just about any card I can of his catch, though I don't believe there are many more out there.

#1 2018 Topps 1983 Silver Pack Exclusive

The silver pack promotion that Topps has been running for 2 years now will never be something I get into since you have to buy a hobby box of Series 1 or 2 to get the cards. However, I'll try to find a way to add some to my collection by means of the card show. At the Mansfield show earlier this year, I picked up 4 silver pack cards from 2018 Series 1, 2 Cubs (Sandberg and Rizzo) and 2 Red Sox (Boggs and Benintendi). I chose this card for the #1 spot because of how much I love the '83 design, and how well Topps was able to pull off transforming this set into something that would look nice as a chrome refractor.

Plus, I'm always a stickler for those alternate red home jerseys that the Sox wear for every Friday home game.

Who Else Remembers the Popular Baseball Card Plaques?

In today's world of baseball card collecting created cards which I posted about yesterday are one of the most popular ways to collect your cards and keep the damage free. Additionally, there was a time where baseball card plaques were equally maybe even more popular than the current phenomenon of graded cards.

Granted, plaques are not the best way to keep cards damage free. However, they were certainly more intriguing ways of collecting and storing your cards than simply putting a regular card out of a pack into a sheet or penny sleeve. Available for purchase at stores, the likes of which I’m not sure, baseball card plaques were a baseball card fad that I actually caught onto towards the end of the 2000’s and the very beginning of the 2010’s.

Given that I'm a die-hard Red Sox fan and at the time I collected plaques was at the very end of the 2000s, the two players that I was able to get cards of were ones who were very popular at the time, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. At the time I bought these plaques Pedroia was just a couple seasons removed from his MVP year while Ellsbury was blossoming into an All-Star player. I can only assume that wherever I bought these plaques didn’t have any of David Ortiz because if they did, I’d definitely have one of these plaques of Big Papi.

Also, the original card for the Jacoby Ellsbury plaque was from 2008 Topps the same as Dustin Pedroia leading me to believe that I bought these in 2008 or maybe 2009. However, I removed the 2008 Ellsbury card the shot of him sliding into home plate because I wanted it for his player collection away from the plaque. So, I put a 2008 Topps Co-Signers card in its place.

Additionally, a couple years before I bought my two Red Sox plaques, my dad bought his own of two Red Sox players who could be seen as the Pedroia and Ellsbury of their time even though they only played a couple years before those 2 did. All-Star Slugger Manny Ramirez and team captain Jason Varitek were joined together on a two-player plaque that my dad picked up a year after the 2004 World Series champion team. I also recognize the two cards showcased on the plaque. The Varitek is from 2005 Donruss Team Heroes while the Manny Ramirez is from the 2005 Fleer Tradition set.

The final of the 4 plaques I own is actually the only one that does not feature a Red Sox player. This one features one of the greatest players in baseball history and one of my top 5 favorite players of all time. I'm talking about Roberto Clemente and this plaque that features a card of his from a set I'm not too sure about, though it features a gold stamp with Clemente’s name at the top of the card. Additionally, the card is in the 1969 Topps design and appears in the same style plaque as the one previously shown of Varitek and Ramirez. Therefore, it too is likely from 2005 which likely means the set is a Topps product.