Major League Baseball unveiled the 2011 All-Star ballot on Tuesday for the July 12 game in Phoenix.
And, fear not, Sam Fuld did make the cut, as the league chose to list Johnny Damon at DH and Ben Zobrist at second base for the Rays.
So, head over and cast your vote. Or, better yet, unless you happen to be reading this from a ballpark, wait a couple of months since the season is still just four weeks old at the moment.
In the meantime, here’s my ballot, just for the fun of it.
American League
C Joe Mauer
1B Miguel Cabrera
2B Robinson Cano
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Asdrubal Cabrera
OF Jose Bautista
OF Josh Hamilton
OF Carl Crawford (Or Shin-Soo Choo or Ichiro)
DH Adam Dunn
National League
C Buster Posey
1B Albert Pujols (Joey Votto can DH)
2B Rickie Weeks
3B Chipper Jones (One last start for a future HOF)
SS Troy Tulowitzki
OF Ryan Braun
OF Matt Holliday
OF Matt Kemp
Obviously, there are a couple of slow starters there, but that’s OK. One thing I don’t like: while I agree with the idea that the DH should be used in every All-Star Game, I’d rather it didn’t get a spot on the ballot. Adrian Gonzalez, Evan Longoria and Mark Teixeira are all likely to more deserving of that start than Dunn or David Ortiz. It puts the AL at a disadvantage that the NL can just slide Votto or Prince Fielder in there.
One other note: for the second year in a row, Detroit’s Brennan Boesch may very well be the most deserving player not on the ballot (though Jed Lowrie is right there, too). Last year, he wasn’t called up until April 23, so there was no helping that. This year, though, he was bypassed despite a .348 average in 69 at-bats. He ranks 11th in the AL in OPS.