The Reds Should Have Multiple All-Stars This Year

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I bet you would like to read about something fun. Thusly, I have prepared the following fun things for your eyeballs to read.

Fun Thing Number One: The All-Star Game is a thing that exists.

Fun Thing Number Two: This year, there is more than one player for the baseball team residing in Cincinnati who is an appropriate candidate to play in said All-Star Game.

Fun Thing Number Three: The following list of players and a brief discussion as to how their appearance in the All-Star Game would be appropriate. There are seven of them. Seven is more than last year. Seven is a lot. And when you are discussing all-stars and the baseball team you follow, more is better.

Best Candidate
Zack Cozart: According to WAR, Cozart has been both the best shortstop and… wait for it… the best player in the National League. He’s currently hitting .347/.431/.599 while playing elite defense. That makes him not just an all-star, but an MVP candidate if he keeps it up. Hooray for Zack Cozart. That’s what I say.

Second-Best Candidates
Eugenio Suarez and Joey Votto: Suarez has been the second-best third baseman in the league. Votto has been the fourth-best first baseman, at a stacked position. Conversely, Votto has been the 15th most valuable position player, while Suarez has been the 16th. Suarez is hitting .288/.365/.516 while playing some (surprisingly) fabulous third base. Joey Votto is being Joey Votto (.283/.410/.576) while playing better defense than last year. Sign these boys up. (And really, it’s ridiculous that Joseph Daniel Votto hasn’t been an all-star since 2013.)

Other Pretty Solid Candidates, Really
Scott Schebler hits home runs a lot (16 so far) and is right now the second-best right fielder in baseball. Adam Duvall also hits homers and is the fourth-best left fielder in baseball (but 29th most valuable position player overall). Billy Hamilton is a fast runner and plays great defense with his fastness, which makes him the 30th-best position player overall, even though he isn’t so much with the hitting.

Ooo, Ooo, There’s Even a Pitcher!!!
Raisel Iglesias. I know this may be a little shocking, but it’s somehow true: The Reds have a pitcher who is not only good, but can maybe be so good he all-stars. His ERA is 0.68. That’s a zero at the beginning there, and that’s pretty solid. He also strikes out lots of opposing players and has nine saves (if saves are your thing).

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen (and you too, Jeremy, I see you out there), the Reds, even though they are only okay as a baseball team overall, will probably have more than one player on the All-Star team. All of these guys probably won’t make it, but at least two should. Maybe three or four if we’re lucky. Which is fun, like baseball, which is also fun. And we here at Nuxhall Way are pro-fun.

Jason Linden is a contributor to Nuxhall Way, Redleg Nation, and The Hardball Times. You can follow him on Twitter at @JasonLinden.

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