Saturday, September 18, 2010

Meet the Possible Contenders for the 2010 Topps All-Star Rookie Team

It's been a long season for Chicago baseball fans. Whether one roots for the Northsiders or the Southsiders, we just can't wait for this season to end. And as usual, both teams found ways to break our hearts. At least the Cubs knew to disappoint us early enough not to be a factor, but those darn White Sox are letting us down at the wrong time.

Well with the season almost mercifully over, it's just about the right time to think about which ten players will make Topps' Annual All-Star Rookie Team and thus have that rookie cup appear on their cards. I'm curious as to why the new silver cup logo (seen here below), didn't make it onto cards of the players in series 2? Will they bring back the gold standard???


Kind of creepy looking, isn't it???


Well, just like last year, MLB.com is keeping tabs of how well this year's rookie crop is doing with their Top Rookie Tracker. But this time, it looks like there are a lot more players that MLB is keeping tabs on this time around (when I last looked, even Tyler Flowers of the White Sox, who only appeared in three games at the time I first did my research, was on the list). So while there are many, I will condense the list of players by position to those who have played for most of the year.

Many on the list are strong contenders for his league's Rookie of the Year award. And believe it or not, the players on the list they have provided stats for well represent each of the positions Topps uses for their Rookie All-Star team (1b, 2b, 3b, ss, three outfield, c, rhp, lhp). With that said, unless somebody comes up with a strong finish in September, here is what should be the list of contenders for the 2010 Topps All-Star Rookie Team:

First Basemen:
Ike Davis, NYM
Gaby Sanchez, FLA
Justin Smoak, SEA

Second Basemen:
Scott Sizemore, DET
Neil Walker, PIT

Third Basemen:
Pedro Alvarez, PIT
David Freese, STL
Chris Johnson, HOU
Danny Valencia, MIN

Shortstop:
Reid Brignac, TBR
Starlin Castro, CHC
Jason Donald, CLE
Alcides Escobar, MIL

Outfield:
Roger Bernadina, WSH
Brennan Boesch, DET
Chris Carter, NYM
Tyler Colvin, CHC
Jason Heyward, ATL
Austin Jackson, DET
Jon Jay, STL
Michael Saunders, SEA
Mike Stanton, FLA
Jose Tabata, PIT

Catchers:
Alex Avila, DET
John Jaso, TBR
Lou Marson, CLE
Buster Posey, SFG

Right Handed Pitchers:
John Axford, MIL
Jhoulys Chacin, COL
Wade Davis, TB
John Ely, LAD
Neftali Feliz, TEX
Daniel Hudson, CWS
Mike Leake, CIN
Carlos Monasterios, LAD
Alfredo Simon, BAL
Drew Storen, WAS
Stephen Strasburg, WAS
Mitch Talbot, CLE

Left Handed Pitchers:
Madison Bumgarner, SFG
Jaime Garcia, STL
Brian Matusz, BAL
Jon Niese, NYM
Hisanori Takahashi, NYM
Jonny Venters, ATL

Am I missing anybody? Please let me know so they can be added to the lists above. Start drafting your picks for the All-Star Rookie team now folks. A contest will be in the offering here soon (I promise...)

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

3 comments:

salveste said...

Not sure why he's not on the MLB.com Top Rookie Tracker, but second baseman Danny Espinosa is causing some excitement here in D.C.

John Bateman said...

Here is the offensive team.

1B Sanchez
2B Walker
3B Johnson
SS Castro
OF Heyward
OF Stanton
OF Boesch
C Posey

I don't like it but Sanchez will edge out Davis. Boesch could be replaced by Jackson or Colvin. Notice how the NL dominates the rookies this year.

Vincent Perry said...

I am glad you have Austin Jackson in the mix. I hope he continues to play well. I just like his attitude. I'm surprised more people haven't argued about your picks, but they are all pretty darn solid.