All-Star snub a puzzler

Hunter Mercado-Hood - All-Star snubbed

Let's talk about the WCL All-Star selections that were named today. There is no doubt that our representatives are very deserving candidates. Gabe Clark and Alex DeGoti are both hitting well above .300 and at the top of most significant offensive categories. Alex Rogers is an unbelievable story himself, working his way up from a 10-day contract into being a key starter who sits near the top of the league in ERA and second in the league in WHIP with an incredible 0.94 (for hurlers who with a minimum amount of innings). Congratulations to all three!

But to leave out Hunter Mercado-Hood and Mikey Wright? Are you kidding me? Wright is a stud. Pure and simple. In fact, he is the only pitcher in the league with a WHIP lower than Rogers, coming in at an eye-popping 0.85 in his 46 innings of work this year. He also holds opponents to a .176 batting average which is good enough for fourth in league regardless how many innings pitchers have pitched. He has a 2.74 ERA and is third in the league in strikeouts with 37 against only nine walks. And he's not an All-Star? Is it because he goes by Mikey instead of Michael...that's the only explanation that I can fathom.

That aside, what an AWESOME 1-2 punch we are blessed with this year on the mound. And these are guys who are first (Wright) and tenth (Rogers) in the entire league in innings pitched - Logan Lombana (another pitcher worthy of at least some consideration) is eighth. See previous blog posts on that topic.

Now on to HMH. Hunter Mercado-Hood is currently second in the entire league in RBI's and as far as his value to the HarbourCats, he is first on the team in batting average (.339 - good enough for 11th in the league), RBI's, at bats, runs, hits and doubles. He also has the second most walks on the team so has a good eye up there too. HMH is near the top of all other major offensive categories so is basically the best hitter on the team and certainly in the discussion as one of the elite hitters of the league. What does he need to do, sell Bin 4 burgers in between innings? Maybe don the Harvey costume?

And if you are going to pick Clark and DeGoti, what about Nathan Lukes? He is right there as far as numbers go and also worthy of some serious consideration. In terms of hitters, I would have taken HMH (no brainer) and Lukes or Clark - Lukes takes more walks, strikes out less and is a better fielder, but "the Babe" has more pop so it depends if you value power over on-base percentage. That is a reasonable debate to have, but to leave off HMH is a travesty of justice. The voters' baseball IQ's must be questioned on this one.

As for pitchers, both Rogers and Wright should be there - no doubt in my mind. Anyone who thinks differently has obviously been to Seattle recently and is still wallowing in the haze of one of the newly erected head shops.

Hopefully this will be rectified if players need to be added for injury reasons but if not, I'd deem the "All-Star" game either a random player festival or a popularity pageant. On this blog, both Mr. Wright and HMH are first ballot All-Stars with no room for debate.