Voting for the annual All-Star Game (July 16 in Texas) is underway. You can vote on MLB.com here. I'll be doing so lots of times with two different sets of ballots this season and I'll post them both for you to see.
This first ballot is the more important one. It is simply who I believe has been the best player of the available voting options at each position this season. Many people don't agree with this stance and think it should simply be the biggest stars. For example, Julio Rodriguez is an established superstar at this point -- even at the young age of 23 -- but he's having a sub-par year to this point. I will not be voting for him, but the people who think the ASG should be played by the biggest stars might.
I'll fully admit that my method is risky in that a player having a fluky two months could totally fall apart before the All-Star Game while the established stars could get overly hot. I get it. It's just my method and that's why we all get to vote. We're free to disagree and let MLB tally the votes. Plus, now there is a final round of voting and that gives us time to re-evaluate.
Let's get to this ballot.
American League
Catcher - Salvador Perez, Royals. With apologies to Adley Rutschman, give it up for the venerable Perez. He is in his 13th season and this will be his ninth All-Star Game. He's hitting .315/.383/.521 (154 OPS+) with 15 doubles, 10 homers and 41 RBI for a playoff-caliber team.
First baseman - Josh Naylor, Guardians. It's a tough call, as Naylor has seen his average drop to .229, but he's slugging .500 and leads the position with 16 homers and 44 RBI. It's a run production position, so he wins out here. Ryan Mountcastle has a case and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the average and OBP, though he lacks the power right now.
Second baseman - Marcus Semien, Rangers. Jose Altuve is right here with a better average and on-base percentage, but Semien wins elsewhere. He's ahead in both FanGraphs' and Baseball Reference's WAR thanks to much better defensive scores while he's also 14 RBI and eight runs ahead. He has one more home run. He walks more and strikes out less. Semien it is.
Third baseman - José Ramírez, Guardians. Jordan Westburg of the Orioles and Isaac Paredes of the Rays are very close, but we're running with Ramírez thanks in part to his 16 homers and MLB-best 58 RBI. He went crazy with the power to keep his Guardians in first place despite the Twins getting hot and the Royals hanging around.
Shortstop - Gunnar Henderson, Orioles. The veteran, established stars are Corey Seager, Carlos Correa and Bo Bichette. This is a two-man position right now, though, between up-and-coming superstars Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson. Neither has gotten anywhere close to oversaturated in terms of public attention and neither has even been an All-Star yet. Thus, I'm going to go with one on each ballot and send apologies to Anthony Volpe.
Outfielders - Aaron Judge, Yankees; Juan Soto, Yankees; Kyle Tucker, Astros. Who would've thought stopping at exactly three outfielders would be the easiest position on the board? No one else is even close to these three.
Designated hitter - Yordan Alvarez, Astros. A few possibly worthwhile candidates here like Kerry Carpenter and Brent Rooker, but this basically boiled down to Giancarlo Stanton vs. Alvarez and Yordan at this point is just a better hitter, even if he has a few fewer bombs.
National League
Catcher - William Contreras, Brewers. Will Smith is the other option here and he's having an excellent year as well. I'm going Contreras by the slightest of margins. He's hitting .310/.380/.478 with eight homers, 44 RBI and 48 runs.
First baseman - Bryce Harper, Phillies. As always, Freddie Freeman has a case and Christian Walker has good power numbers again in addition to his great glove. Harper, though, has the best numbers overall and he's the centerpiece of the best team in the National League.
Second baseman - Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks. I think Luis Arraez deserves a ton of credit for his ability as a batsmith, hitting .335 while hardly ever striking out. It's astounding in this day and age. I also think him being a negative on defense and having no power means he overall has provided a bit less value this season than Marte, who is hitting .278 with a .502 slugging (exactly 100 points of slugging more than Arraez) with 12 homers, 32 RBI and 40 runs.
Third baseman - Alec Bohm, Phillies. Lots of big names have faltered this season in Austin Riley, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado. Matt Chapman's defense remains amazing, but he's only slugging on offense. We're gonna go with Alec Bohm here, as he's having an offensive breakout season for the best team in the NL. He's hitting .296/.350/.481 with 50 RBI. Apologies here to Joey Ortiz of the Brewers.
Shortstop - Mookie Betts, Dodgers. No question.
Outfielders - Jurickson Profar, Padres; Christian Yelich, Brewers; Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres. Between Betts changing positions and Ronald Acuña Jr.'s injury, this position is a bit thinned out, but we still have three quality selections.
You cannot say enough about the year Profar is having. The former No. 1 overall prospect is now 31 and has never been an All-Star (or even a candidate, really). He leads the majors with a .424 on-base percentage while hitting .329. he has 11 doubles, eight homers, 38 RBI and 34 runs. He deserves to start.
Yelich, the former NL MVP, missed a chunk of time due to injury, but in only 35 games, he's looked like his old self, slashing .318/.400/.530 with six homers and eight steals.
Tatis probably should be better, but he's playing well enough to start here, unless you prefer Teoscar Hernández.
Designated hitter - Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers. It's Ohtani here with a more well-rounded offensive arsenal than Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna.