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Astros are not getting the early votes for the All-Star game
The Astros are underrepresented in the early All-Star voting, let’s get out and rock the vote!
The Houston Astros have won the last seven games and sit at 38-16 on the season. They have at least an 11 game lead over the Rangers or Angels at the time of writing. Coming off a series where they scored 40 runs in three games, the Astros should be the talk of the town. As a teacher, I have heard students and teachers talking about the Astros.
It’s bandwagon time! Time for all the Astros fans to come out of all the cracks and crevices. All aboard the Astro Express train to the playoffs. The 38-16 Astros have many star players, and the way the team is playing should garner them some All-Star votes. Right? Wrong, there are no Astros players currently leading at any position.
The Astros are winning, so…
Why are the Astros not getting any love around the nation with All-Star votes? You can argue till you are blue in the face about the East Coast bias in baseball. This is not a new concept, the Yankees, Red Sox, and other teams may get more votes. A few years ago we had the Royal effect where the fans tried to get the entire starting nine on the roster.
However, the biggest thing that jumps out to me this year is the Yankees love. After selling last year, the Yankees are once again winning. They are doing so with a younger group of players led by the offensive juggernaut in Aaron Judge. Fans want to make sure they get Judge to preside over the All-Star starting nine, so they are voting straight ticket. Vote Yankees, every
Vote Yankees, in almost every top five, there is one of the Yankees players there. The lone exception is at first base where even Yankees fans can’t stomach voting for Greg Bird. Chase Headley is getting some votes, but he is not an All-Star. Only Stalin Castro is leading their position, but people are voting Yankees.
Where are the Astros with All-Star voting?
The closest Astro would be Mr. Jose Altuve, who got off to a sluggish start but has raked lately. Altuve is currently batting .319 with seven homers and 27 RBIs. His ten stolen bases also lead the Astros at the moment. Altuve’s 515,732 votes trail Castro’s 516,732, so has the best chance of overtaking his competition.
While Castro is having a good year batting .324 with seven homers and 28 RBI, Altuve is demonstrating all around talent with the steals.
No Astros lead the AL in first All-Star voting update but Altuve and Correa are second at their positions pic.twitter.com/ptbULdSktP
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 31, 2017
Carlos Correa is second among shortstops, but the gap between him and Fransisco Lindor is massive. The shortstop who went to the World Series in 2016 Lindor leads with 602,228 votes above Correa’s 253,518 votes. While no gap is insurmountable, it should be pointed out that Correa was struggling when the voting began.
Lindor is also off to a great start with a .276 average with 12 homers and 35 RBIs. Correa has picked up the pace recently and has been a big reason behind the recent Astros power surge. For the season, Correa is batting .316 with nine homers and 34 RBIs. I could go either way when I’m voting here, but Correa needs more love than this.
This week's @TalkingStros on @SportsTalk790. We talked trade deadline, All-Stars, Morton's injury, and more... https://t.co/K8HJsvyQK3
— Talking Stros Podcast (@TalkingStros) May 30, 2017
Should McCann catch on?
Brian McCann is having a good year but is slumping a little at the moment. His slash line has reverted to similar numbers that he has had in the past. He’s batting .248 with six homers and 25 RBIs. McCann was hanging around stat wise with Salvador Perez before suffering the concussion. Perez is leading in the voting at the moment. McCann is currently trailing Perez’s 420,268 votes with 296,187 in third place.
While Alex Bregman is one of my favorite players, his numbers don’t scream All-Star worthy at the moment. Yulieski Gurriel is doing well at first base with 182,945 votes, which is fifth behind Miguel Cabrera. There are really not that many strong candidates for first base, which is why we are trying to write in votes for Marwin Gonzalez in as a first baseman. Join the revolution!
Astros: Should Marwin Gonzalez be an All-Star this year?
Super Springer!
The thing that perplexes me is how little love George Springer is getting. He has graced ESPN and MLB Network with his amazing plays on the field. He has twice had two-homer games, once on Derek Jeter day at Yankee Stadium. I will write a separate post for this soon. At this point, Springer is 14th among outfielders with 162,087 votes.
Josh Reddick, Nori Aoki, and Jake Marisnick are not in the top 15. They are helping the Astros win but may not be All-Star worthy. Carlos Beltran is getting some votes though, but maybe people feel that the end is coming for him. He did play for multiple teams in his career. Beltran is 13th with 175,700 votes, ahead of Springer.
Next: Houston Astros: Alex Bregman’s power potential is real
Get out your phones and vote Astros fans. We don’t want to have to do the big push we did for Springer last year with the final vote. As we saw, Canada gets out their fake email addresses to vote for their players. This is a special team, let’s reward them by making them All-Stars.
***Stats from Baseball-Reference***