MLB All-Star Voting Picks: NL

Also see: MLB All-Star Voting Picks: AL

And now, we move on to the home team's current projected starting roster. As in the AL, there is one wretched choice and others that are a bit more nebulous. But more or less, the fans are actually on the right track.

Catcher

Frontrunner: Yadier Molina

Merits: Best defensive catcher in baseball. No doubt. And that means more at this position than any other. Offensively, he's no liability at all. Brian McCann is by far the best offensive catcher in a weak crop, even while missing a two-week stretch. His leads in averages are commanding (at .310/.412/.939, his leads are 39, 51, and 139 points, respectively). And he's second in homers and fourth in RBI among NL backstops despite the absence.

Also, Pudge Rodriguez is making a quality case himself. Although he's a shade below Molina as a hitter now, he's actually been even better throwing out runners than the 2008 Gold Glove winner (thrown out 9-of-19 as opposed to Molina's 8-of-18). Still, the two are 1 and 1A as no one else is even close. Fewer than 20 have tried on either of them. The next most used player with 20 or fewer theft attempts against has pitched 142 innings fewer than Pudge and 188.1 fewer than Molina.

Verdict: Molina. Again, defense is crucial. And with a .342 OBP Molina will keep any offense afloat. McCann, like Mauer, has started only 36 games. And while I wouldn't begrudge a vote for McCann (defense is good enough to make the case that the gap in hitting is bigger than that behind the dish), to me his bat doesn't set him apart nearly as much as Mauer's does. The game is in St. Louis, and I'm perfectly alright with a close call going to the fan's choice. Plus, McCann would be a nice pinch hit for him in a tight spot in the eighth. McCann could easily get there as a reserve barring a lifetime achievement nod from coaches or players towards Pudge.

First Base

Frontrunner: Albert Pujols

Merits: You kidding? The guy slumps to all-star numbers. He's finished below fourth in MVP voting once in his eight years. (In 2007, he "only" finished ninth.) Don't get me wrong, Adrian Gonzalez hitting 22 homers while playing half his games in a stadium with enough space to be capable of facilitating horse racing is flat amazing. So is the fact that he has less protection than a cargo boat off the coast of Somalia. (Then again, the only way I can comprehend opponents actually throwing a ball near him would be with a crew of Navy snipers ready to take them out if they walked him.) But if you haven't realized at this point that Pujols is still the game's premier assassin, you are probably mucking up votes a lot worse than this one.

Verdict: Pujols. He's got fewer homers than Gonzalez, but literally every other stat looks notably better in red, including 7 steals in 9 attempts. Plus, it's St. Louis; Pujols has to start. (Also, how in the world does Adrian Gonzalez have 22 homers and just 5 doubles? This ratio is crazy to me.)

Second Base

Frontrunner: Chase Utley

Merits: What is it about second base? (Biting tongue...) Just no controversy in either league. This is the largest voting gap in baseball. Why? Maybe it's Utley's lead in every major hitting statistic. Maybe it's ... aw, who am I kidding, yeah, it was that first thing.

Verdict: Utley. If I had to pick a reserve, it'd be Brandon Phillips. But he's closer to my next five or six choices than any of them are to Utley. Yes, second is closer to the bottom half of qualified second baseman than it is to this man.

Shortstop

Frontrunner: Jimmy Rollins

Merits: Uh ... he won the 2007 MVP? He's kind of amusing in commercials? Yeah, I got nothing. At .222, I think I need say no more other than help. Hanley Ramirez. Miguel Tejada. Hell, anyone would be better. I firmly believe Rollins will decline the invitation if elected. I can honestly tell you I would say no. He doesn't deserve it and I think he'd be first to tell you. Grant this struggling man the dignity of not having to make that choice to turn down the fans' misguided invite, which would be the equivalent of inviting your ex-spouse to your second wedding eight months after a messy divorce.

Verdict: Ramirez. His 8 homers and eight steals are off last year's torrid paces. But he's still hitting .330, reaching base at a .397 clip, and is more than just one of the brightest young players in the game, but is also one of the most complete. Plus, he's in second and has the best chance of being the merciful bullet to Rollins' all-star chances. Go now. Don't even finish reading this.

(Tejada's resurgence in Houston including a .354 batting average merits mention, but he's behind Ramirez in every other category. Reserve status, and probably Houston's only all-star.)

Third Base

Frontrunner: David Wright

Merits: Now that you're back from voting, you probably don't have much use for this information. But on the off chance you didn't listen to me like I had a voice like James Earl Jones (far-fetched, I know), you should know that even in a quiet year with just 3 homers in over two months, David Wright is still a stud. I'd blame Shea being a Petco-esque fly-ball cemetery, but he's only hit 1 homer on the road. Strange. Still, his OPS is higher than anyone but Chipper Jones (and his revolving-door nagging-injury routine negates him in my mind), and he has stolen 14 bags to go with it, with no competing third baseman within 12 of him. (Emilio Bonifacio doesn't count.) And let's not forget the Gold Glove defense.

Verdict: Wright. On first glance, he's a name-recognition choice suffering a sluggish start. His power is down, and quality selections Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds have him in runs and RBI, too. But he's holding down a .448 OBP on a team battling injuries all year. That's gotta mean more than a minor homer gap. It's not like Mike Schmidt is waiting in the wings.

Outfielders

Frontrunner: Raul Ibanez, Ryan Braun, Carlos Beltran

Merits: Wow. What can I say. I was sure Ibanez reeked of someone the fans would overlook. Always a nice player, in a new league I thought even his 19 homers and .328 average could get inexplicably overlooked. He leads the NPL (Non-Pujols League) in OPS, has 10 more RBI than the next highest outfielder (Adam Dunn), and has proven to any doubters that there is a difference between the ballparks in Seattle and Philadelphia. (He's now five away from his career-high in homers in early June at age 37. You don't want to discuss the other reason that happens. Or at least Roger, Barry, Sammy, and Mark don't want to talk about it.)

Nearly as lethal as Ibanez, Beltran hasn't flown under any radars for years. And in other news, Ryan Braun is a beast of a hitter still getting better. Even if, by the standards of his short yet explosive career, this has been a slow-ish first half, he still is fifth among NL outfielder in homers, and except Ibanez, none of the others have an OPS as high. So none of these guys seem undeserving of NL starting roles.

But even with these solid resumes, there might be better choices. (Just don't think one of them is Alfonso Soriano, who is hitting .241 and is somehow fourth in the voting.) Brad Hawpe is unique in being among the top four OF in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, RBI, and doubles. Not that he'll make it: he's not even in the top 15 in votes despite the fact that he's basically Beltran with less defense, 7 fewer steals, 26 fewer on-base points, but 10 more RBI and 45 more slugging points. Pretty close. Meanwhile, Justin Upton is even less distinguishable from Ryan Braun statistically. And Adam Dunn is the on-base (.397) and home run (17) machine he's always been. Only Ibanez has more homers or RBI.

Verdict: Ibanez, Beltran, Upton. Beltran and Upton 7 and 8 steals, respectively) both get speed and defensive nods over Braun, Hawpe, and Dunn — especially Hawpe and Dunn. And especially Dunn. But let's all just hope Dunn gets the Nationals' auto-bid, and that he finally participates in the Home Run Derby; it's just time.

Projected Starters

C Yadier Molina
1B Albert Pujols
2B Chase Utley
SS Jimmy Rollins (Hanley Ramirez)
3B David Wright
OF Raul Ibanez
OF Carlos Beltran
OF Ryan Braun (Justin Upton)

So that's it. In all, there are five changes that should be made, with varying degrees of urgency. But most of the choices of the much-maligned voting block hold water. Maybe there are enough columns and "Baseball Tonight" segments to get the voting public aware of its errors. Maybe the aforementioned incredible ease of accessing statistics online has educated the masses. In any case, there are still some corrections that really need to be made.

Again, as for the stakes, well, we're playing at the five-dollar table. But the guys that lose out when the wrong choice is made are not the guys that should be in. When players that probably wouldn't make it as a reserve, say Josh Hamilton and Ichiro, get voted in, it directly takes spots away from guys having great seasons that deserve to go. (I know, Hamilton won't cost a spot this time because of his injury.) Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones, Torri Hunter, and Carl Crawford make a crowded pool for reserves to be pulled from, and I bet you could find a deserving guy or two among a trio of Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon, and Shin-Soo Choo (not a joke; check out his stats).

But there's still time. Remember when I told you to go to MLB.com to vote? Yeah, this time I mean it. Go. Now. Or it'll be your fault we're watching guys that haven't hit a baseball out of the infield all year on center stage at the Midsummer Classic.

Of course, one of them will probably go on to win the game MVP, anyway.

(Note: In the day before this article was published, Jimmy Rollins was passed up by Hanley Ramirez. Power to the people.)