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While many of you may be watching the Women’s World Cup and the United States dominating the game to this point, Major League Baseball held a selection show for the All-Star starters. This year, the fans were tasked to vote online only.
The fans have now spoken.
Two St. Louis Cardinals have made the All-Star team as starters. Jhonny Peralta, with nearly 8.5 million votes will represent the club and start at shortstop. Peralta beat-out Troy Tulowitzki by over 3 million votes. Peralta is enjoying one of the better seasons of his career hitting .301/.355/.475. He has added 11 home runs and driven in 42. The Cardinals have the best record in Major League Baseball and Peralta, with all his consistency and defense has been a big reason why.
Though he has been injured for close to a month, Matt Holliday managed to secure a starting spot. Holliday has been struggling with power this season but had managed to produce a triple-slash line of .303/.417/.421. With just 3 home runs through 52 games, Holliday isn’t off to a typical season but was an important piece for the team and will be going forward.
Holliday could rejoin the Cardinals as early as next week, making his All-Star appearance questionable. It is likely the club would not want him to play in the exhibition game to avoid re-aggravating his injury.
Coming up short for starting positions were Kolton Wong, Matt Carpenter, and Yadier Molina, each finishing second at their positions in the voting. Wong followed Dee Gordon, Carpenter lost out to Todd Frazier on a last-second rush, and Molina was beaten by Buster Posey. Each player lost by around 2 million votes.
While the starters have been announced there will still need to be substitutes named to the National League Roster. It is likely that Molina will make the team. Carpeter and Wong also will be considered for the roster moving forward.
