Introducing the 2011 Topps All-Star Rookie Team!!!

The MLB managers have spoken, and today, Topps has announced the players named to the 53rd All-Star Rookie Team!!! (If the player's name is in bold, it means I predicted that they would make the team earlier this month).

• 1B: Mark Trumbo, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (0.254 batting average, 29 HR, 87 RBI, 2011 stats)
• 2B: Danny Espinosa, Washington Nationals (.236, 21, 66)
• 3B: Brett Lawrie, Toronto Blue Jays (.293, 9, 25)
• SS: Dee Gordon, Los Angeles Dodgers (.304, 0, 11)
• OF: Doug Jennings, Tampa Bay Rays (.259, 10, 25)
• OF: Josh Reddick, Boston Red Sox (.280, 7, 28)
• OF: Ben Revere, Minnesota Twins (.267, 0, 30)
• C: J. P. Arencibia, Toronto Blue Jays (.219, 23, 78)
• Starting Pitcher: Jeremy Hellickson, Tampa Bay Rays (13-10, 2.95 ERA, 117 K's)
• Relief Pitcher: Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves (4-3, 2.10 ERA, 121 K's, 46 saves)

So I guessed 6 out of 10 spots correctly (I guessed Eric Thames for the third outfield spot, Freddie Freeman for first base, and Brent Morel at third, with Ivan Nova as my RHP & Cory Luebke as the LHP). I did worse than well last year (when I got 7 of 11 correct).  

Now my comments. Who knew that Topps would return to the 10-player team this time? WHAT??! What happened to last year's RHP and LHP for starting pitchers??! I knew there was something fishy going on when Topps' wunderkind Stephen Strasburg happened to make the team as the RHP; in turn, making Neftali Feliz, also a RHP, the "relief pitcher" for the ASRT. Now they get rid of the third pitching spot and instead of reverting to top RHP and LHP, it's now Starting Pitcher and Relief Pitcher??! Regardless, if you entered the contest and picked Hellickson and Kimbrel as your pitchers, those will count as count as correct answers. Let the conspiracy theories continue!!!

It could have gone either way for the first baseman spot with Trumbo and my pick Freeman. But even with Hosmer as the dark horse, Trumbo did outslug the Braves slugger (although Freeman had a better average of .282 vs. Trumbo's .254). Brett Lawrie's selection is a surprise as he played in far too few games to have warranted consideration (in my opinion).  But I guess when you perform almost as well as the front-running Morel (9 HR's to Morel's 10, .293 to Morel's .245) and Daniel Descalso of the Cardinals (25 RBI's to Descalso's 28) while playing in less than a third of the games (Lawrie played 43 compared to Morel's 126 and Descalso's 148), you deserve recognition. So congratulations to all. Each player will now get the illustrious rookie cup trophy added to their 2012 Topps cards.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama