5 Pittsburgh Pirates’ Players That Should Be All-Stars

Five Pittsburgh Pirates All-Star Candidates

With the MLB All-Star Game just a little over a month away, it’s time to start looking at who should be on the rosters and how the voting is shaping up. As usual with the MLB All-Star voting, I see problems all through the results so far. Thanks in large part to the insane idea of letting the fans decide who plays in the All-Star game, players that play on large market teams usually dominate the starting lineups.

I see problems everywhere down the list of positions: Jonathan Lucroy is in the top five in catchers voting and Russell Martin isn’t; Dan Uggla is in the top five at second base despite his sub-.200 batting average; among the top 15 outfielders are guys like B.J. Upton and Gregor Blanco.

From what I have observed, it seems San Francisco Giants fans are going all-out in terms of voting. At every position, I see a player from the Giants in the top five, or top 15 at outfield.

From the Pittsburgh Pirates perspective, it’s tough to criticize the fans’ voting so far because other than Andrew McCutchen, there aren’t any shoe-in players. Martin should probably make it because he has been the best defensive catcher this season. I’m not sure about Starling Marte at this point. He would have been an obvious pick last month, but he has slowed down to basically a stop in terms of production.

The Pirates will likely have a few pitchers on the All-Star team, at least they should.

Russell Martin

Russell Martin is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball this season, and his bat hasn't been awful. He does have six home runs and his batting average has crept around .250-.260 for the majority of the season. Defense is more important from catchers anyway.

Mark Melancon

Mark Melancon has been amazing as the Pittsburgh Pirates' setup man this season. In 30.1 innings, Melancon has a 1.19 ERA and only four walks.

Jason Grilli

The Pittsburgh Pirates' closer hasn't blown a save all year, going 22 for 22 in his opportunities. His 1.01 ERA is outstanding, along with his 14.5 K/9. He seems to be the most obvious candidate from the Pirates.

Andrew McCutchen

While Andrew McCutchen hasn't been as great as he was in 2012, he is still having a very good season. He is currently seventh in outfield voting, and should probably creep even higher than that by the time the voting is over.

A.J. Burnett

A.J. Burnett has been leading or near the National League lead in strikeouts all season, and leads the league currently with a 10.4 K/9. He only has three wins, but wins for pitchers is becoming more and more of a meaningless statistic. He has a 3.22 ERA. Walks are the only concern for Burnett, as usual, but he strikes out more than enough batters to offset the high amount of walks.