This week MLB released an update on All Star Ballot votes for the fan population portion of the game. This is generally when I like to to start looking at where the votes stand because players with unusually active April's drop off and it generally becomes clear at this point who is leading due to popularity, who is leading due being an amazing player and so forth. If the voting ended today, the starting lineup would be:
C – Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves
1B – Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
2B – Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
3B – Placido Polonco, Philadelphia Phillies
SS – Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
OF – Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
OF – Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals
OF – Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals
The one above that really bothers me is SS. Jose Reyes is third, with 774,000 votes, about 11,000 votes behind Rollins who is in second, and about 700,000 votes behind Tulo. Reyes is close enough to Rollins that he'll eclipse him, but being behind him right now shows the popularity contest portion, which no is denying, of the vote, as Reyes leads the league in hitting. He'll make the All-Star team at this rate no doubt, it's just frustrating, but I already vented about this once this season, so I'll try not to do it again.
Reyes is the best SS period!!!