Now, with Robinson Cano leading the pack, most of us are staying mum.
As of late, it seems as though there has been a surplus of capable second basemen who would all be qualified to start for the AL in the Summer Classic. Last year, Aaron Hill ran away with the starting job, but the battle to be a reserve was primarily between Pedroia and Ian Kinsler — although Cano could have certainly been in the running.
This year, the Yankees second baseman has run away with the honor — not that he wasn’t deserving in 2009 as well.
Through June 28, 2009, Cano was hitting .297 with 12 homers, 42 RBIs and a .330 on-base percentage. Compare that to Pedroia, who was hitting .288 with just two homers and 30 RBIs, with a .367 OBP, or Kinsler, who was hitting .268 with 18 homers and 50 RBIs, and was headlining a suddenly dangerous Rangers team.
Last year, though Pedroia was eventually named the reserve, Kinsler may have been the deserving one. Everyone in Boston loves Pedroia, and there’s no doubt that he, too, could have easily been named the starter in any other year. But recently, when the AL is cropping up with a multitude of All-Star-worthy second basemen, the voting is a popularity contest and doesn’t necessarily reflect the numbers. In 2009, the wave of momentum that comes with being named league MVP helped Pedroia win that contest.
Again, that's not to say that he didn’t deserve it. Sometimes, though, there are smaller-name guys who deserve it more.
This year is a different story. This year, it seems that the right person is going to end up starting at second.
Cano, who has never started an All-Star Game, leads Pedroia by more than a million votes. (Pedroia leads third-place Kinsler by more than 200,000 votes.) The Yankee is hitting a whopping .359, which leads the league, and has 15 dingers and 53 RBIs to his name. His .409 on-base percentage is 50 points higher than it’s ever been at the end of any of his five previous seasons, and he needs just 10 more home runs to match his total from all of last season.
Pedroia, prior to going on the disabled list this weekend, deserves to be in the running, too. There was that 5-for-5 performance against the Rockies last week, when he hit three home runs, and he’s hitting .292 with 12 homers, which is just five fewer than his career high.
Pedroia won't be appearing in the 2010 All-Star Game, and this year, the right guy will be starting.
Just because he’s wearing pinstripes doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it.
