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The results of the 2015 All-Star Game vote were announced on Sunday, and as expected, the Royals walked away with a whole bunch of starters. Of more interest, though, is the surge in votes for Blue Jays’ third baseman Josh Donaldson, who will not only start at the hot corner on July 14th in Cincinnati, but will do so after receiving the most votes any player has ever received from fans. Donaldson didn’t just make it to the record, either: his 14,090,188 votes were over three million more than Josh Hamilton, the previous record holder, received in 2012.
Donaldson is in the midst of maybe his best season to date, batting .296/.352/.527 with a 143 OPS+ while on pace for a season of eight wins above replacement (WAR) — he’s had consecutive seven-win campaigns, but never an eight, and his dominance both at the plate and with the glove is a large part of why the Blue Jays are still in the AL East picture despite a disappointing pitching staff. It’s tough to say Donaldson is an MVP candidate in a world where Mike Trout exists, but Donaldson is the kind of talent who would under normal circumstances get plenty of love for that award. It’s still a little odd that the A’s traded him while he was still inexpensive, but hey, Billy Beane has made a career out of seemingly weird moves that eventually worked out well for Oakland.
The rest of the All-Star Game players will be announced on Monday night at 7 pm on ESPN.
- The Reds haven’t decided if they are going to sell off their players at the deadline, or attempt to acquire more in order to remain competitive in 2015. Okay, Cincy, you’re 16.5 games back of the Cardinals in the NL Central, eight back of a wild card spot behind seven other teams, and Johnny Cueto is not re-signing with you unless he wants half his potential value. How is this a question still?
- Major League Baseball players celebrated the World Cup victory of the U.S. Women’s National Team (and you should, too).
- The White Sox have a three-year plan, and while Year 1 hasn’t gone so well, they aren’t about to sell off everyone in July. Well, maybe Jeff Samardzija, but that depends on if they think they can re-sign him or not.
- If the answer to the above is no, then the Yankees are a “perfect fit” for Shark. Truth be told, everyone is a perfect fit for Shark.
- Former Angels pitching coach and Padres manager Bud Black, dismissed earlier this season, is apparently the Halos’ first choice for their open general manager gig.
- Adrian Gonzalez suffered a hand contusion on Sunday, but he expects to be in the lineup again on Monday in spite of it.
- We’re right at the season midpoint, so now’s the time to check out Baseball Prospectus’ midseason top-50 prospects list.
- Max Scherzer’s Sunday Night Baseball interview was… well, you should watch it.
- There are second-half reasons to hope around the league, from the rise of Xander Bogaerts to the resurgence of Matt Kemp.
- Carlos Gomez left Billy Hamilton a note and some gum out in center field. How thoughtful!
- Brock Holt would be a fitting representative for the Red Sox in the 2015 All-Star Game. And not just so we can spend the entire game posting \o/ on Twitter.
