Thursday, July 8, 2010

Swisher, Votto Earn Final All-Star Spots

Usually, baseball fans are the ones who make the most egregious errors when it comes to All-Star balloting, but this year Charlie Manuel was not going to be outdone. In a rare instance of the fans correcting the baseball people, they elected Joey Votto to the NL All-Star team, correcting an oversight that would have been historic in it's gut-wrenching stupidity. Votto is having a superb season, posting a .417 OBP to go along with a .588 SLG percentage. According to WAR (Wins Above Replacement) Votto has been worth almost 4 wins to the Reds, who currently find themselves in contetion for the NL Central crown.

The case for Swisher is a bit less clear-cut, but he is having a fine season, with a .376 OBP and a .517 SLG percentage. Both his OBP and his batting average may be augmented thus far by some luck (a .344 BABIP, way above career norms) but any man who campaigns for himself like this has earned his spot.

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