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2015 MLB All Star Roster: Breaking Down the AL and NL Starters

Published by Bleacher Report on Mon, 06 Jul 2015


All the votes are in, and now the secret is out.On Sunday night, Major League Baseball revealed which players the fans voted in as the startersfor the 2015 MLB All-Star Game, to be played at Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park on July 14. With the reveal come a few surprises, some lingering question marks and, this being the All-Star Game and everything, plenty of intrigue.If you'll follow me this way, we'll break it all down.American League StartersCutting right to the chase, here's how the final voting in the American League turned out:First things first: The awkward situation that appeared on the radar a couple weeks ago has been avoided. Rather than eight members of the Kansas City Royals, in the end the fans selected just four as starters.This is thanks to Miguel Cabrera and Josh Donaldsonwho, according to MLB, set the record for most All-Star votes everovertaking Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas in the voting a couple weeks ago. But as these totals reveal, it's also because Jose Altuve and Nelson Cruz were able to pull ahead of Omar Infante and Kendrys Morales in the last week of voting.And for this, Evan Drellich of theHouston Chronicleand Ryan Divish of theSeattle Times report that Altuve and Cruz are very thankful:For all those who rocked the vote for Altuve and Cruz, take a moment to pat yourselves on the back.Altuve's victory means that the AL's reigning batting champion will be starting at second base rather than a guy with a .547 OPS. And though Morales is having a good season, he can't match Cruz's .918OPS and 21 homers.As for what all nine guys are doing in 2015, here are their stats as of this writing (viaFanGraphs):Yup, that sure looks like an All-Star-caliber starting lineup. The only guy who's not having a big offensive season is Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, but both the eye test and the advanced metrics say he'll bring some good defense to Cincinnati.For that matter, defense in general should be a strength as long as this lineup is in the game. Salvador Perez is one of the best there is behind the dish. Donaldson is a wizard at third base. An outfield of Alex Gordon, Mike Trout and Lorenzo Cain is about as good as it gets.However, this All-Star lineup is not without question marks.Chief among those is whom AL skipper Ned Yost will choose to replace Miguel Cabrera at first base, as he's asterisked because he's out for the next six weeks with a calf injury.With Cabrera out, the most obvious injury replacement is AL home run leader Albert Pujols. But ifYost selects him as a replacement, he won't be helping another of the lineup's issues.That would be its extreme right-handedness, as only Gordon is a lefty hitter.So instead, Cabrera's spot could go to Hosmer, the runner-up in the fan voting.Or it might go to Prince Fielder. He's primarily been a designated hitter, but he's hitting .347 and is no stranger to first base.Whatever the case, the absence of Cabrera's bat may not alter how Yost approaches his batting order. He has an opportunity to go with speed and explosiveness at the top with Altuve leading off followed by Cain and Trout, and then the big power bats after them.That would make for a darn good lineup, which just so happens to be exactly what the American League will need to take down the National League.Because, spoiler alert, it's kinda loaded.National League StartersHhere's how the final voting in the National League turned out:There are few surprises here, as this is how the National League All-Star voting looked last week.Save for one exception: Todd Frazier surpassed Matt Carpenter at third base in the 11th hour.That's a move you could see coming. Beyond Frazier being a hometown favorite in Cincinnati, he's also having a huge season with a .946 OPS and 25 home runs. And just like Altuve and Cruz, he's thankful for the last-minute nudge in the voting:As for how these eight guys are doing, here are their numbers as of this writing (courtesy ofFanGraphs):Thanks to the left-handed presences of Dee Gordon and Bryce Harper, the NL's lineup isslightly more balanced than the AL's lineup. And on paper, it's also a better group of hitters.Of course, "on paper" are the operative words there. For though it looks good, how much of this lineup NL skipper Bruce Bochy will actually get to field is a good question.Giancarlo Stanton has a broken hand that's going to keep him sidelined for several weeks, so he's definitely out. Matt Holliday, meanwhile, is still recovering from a quadriceps injury.The news on Holliday, however, is good. According to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, he's getting healthier and intends to play in the All-Star Game:If Holliday is able to go, Bochy will need to pick just one replacement for his outfield.It's a good bet that said replacement would be a center fielder, with the most likely candidates being Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Andrew McCutchen and Los Angeles Dodgers rookie phenom Joc Pederson. Between the two, Pederson's left-handed bat could be a deciding factor. So could his power, as his .504 slugging percentage and 20 home runs could go a long way toward replacing Stanton's absent power.Speaking of power, that's something this lineup has in spades. Particularly in the middle, where Harper, Goldschmidt and Frazier will form a trio that could deposit a few baseballs in the Ohio River and/or on the surface of the moon.Let's also not forget that Bochy will get to choose a DH for the game as well. To that end, his options could include Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who is one of the NL's five best hitters.But while it's easy to focus on the power, let's not overlook the speed demon that Bochy will have in his lineup. Gordon is likely to lead off, and could have American League pitchers in a funk before they even get to the big guns.Defensively, the National League lineup probably isn't as strong as the American League lineup. But the offensive edge possessed by the NL lineup could easily overrule that. Great American Ball Park is an offense-friendly yard all day, particularly when it comes to power.Either way, we don't have long to wait to find out. All these stars will see each other in Cincinnati next week, and that's when the real fun will begin.Stats courtesy ofBaseball-Reference.comandFanGraphsunless otherwise noted/linked.If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.
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