First Half Picks

So we’ve reached the All Star game and by now we all know who made the team and who got snubbed.  I decided to give out awards dedicated to the first half only; MVP, Cy Young for both leagues and more.  So here they are my first half awards.

1)   First Half AL MVP- Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles: The funny thing I find about him is the power numbers have always been there throughout his career, now that he has playing time he is actually hitting for an AVG.  He’ll regress in the AVG but that power is legit.

2)   First Half NL MVP- Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies: This was a tough call since there are many players that can compete for this in my eyes.   Car-Go is the entire package with power, speed and ability to hit.

3)   First Half AL Cy Young- Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers: He’s had a career year and it doesn’t look like its slowing down any time soon.

4)   First Half NL Cy Young- Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers: His major downside is that he’s a Dodger with a week bullpen, but the numbers are just amazing.

5)   First Half AL Rookie of the Year- J.B. Shuck, LA Angels: This is a hard choice, not because there are so many deserving players in the AL it’s actually quite the opposite.  Shuck has been great for the Angels so far but he’s done nothing special but play solidly.

6)   First Half NL Rookie of the Year- Yasiel Puig, LA Dodgers: You follow baseball at all and this is no surprise.  While I admit I expect a regression sooner than later he leads a very strong rookie class for the NL with amazing hitting is such a short time.

7)   Biggest Surprise- Jason Castro, Houston Astros: This was a nice surprise for us Astros fans and a good sign for things to come from the team.  Castro isn’t going to be the next Buster Posey or Yadiar Molina but he does have a .290 AVG and 20 HR potential.

8)   Biggest Disappointment- LA Dodgers/Washington Nationals: I expected so much more from these two teams.  While looking back I think injuries was the killers so far both have a chance to redeem when healthy.  Both are as of late playing much better.

9)   AL All-Star Picks-

C- Joe Mauer

1B- Chris Davis

2B- Jason Kipnis

SS- Jhonny Peralta

3B- Miguel Cabrera

OF x3- Mike Trout, Jose Bautista, Jacoby Ellsbury

SP- Max Scherzer

RP- Mariano Rivera

10)                  NL All-Star Picks-

C- Buster Posey

1B- Paul Goldschmdit

2B- Matt Carpenter

SS- Jean Segura

3B- David Wright

OF x3- Andrew McCutchen, Domonic Brown, Carlos Gonzalez

SP- Clayton Kershaw

RP- Jason Grilli