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MLB All-Star Game: National League lineup predictions

By Nathaniel Reeves

Oct 3, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper (34) heads out on his two run home run during the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Washington Nationals won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper (34) heads out on his two run home run during the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Washington Nationals won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 10, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) hits a single to right field during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kenny Karst-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) hits a single to right field during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kenny Karst-USA TODAY Sports /

Catcher

Starter: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants

It’s a two-horse race for the NL starting catcher spot between Posey and Yadier Molina. While Molina is still a valuable player, Posey will put up better numbers at the plate and pull away in the voting with San Francisco’s passionate fanbase behind him for his third All-Star start and fourth appearance overall.

The 29-year-old Posey continues to be one of the most valuable players in baseball and is looking to lead San Francisco to its fourth World Series title in a span of seven years this season. While Posey hasn’t put up quite the same numbers at the plate recently as in his 2012 MVP season, the Giants will happily take the 5.7 WAR he’s put up in each of the past two years per FanGraphs.com again.

With those kind of numbers, defense is a huge part of Posey’s game, and he graded out very highly behind the plate in 2015 by just about any metric. Even as the Giants start to transition Posey to first base, it looks like his bat is going to hold up, as he’s posted no worse than a 134 wRC+ in any full season in his career.

Posey is off to a bit of a slow start at the plate, but there’s every reason to believe he’ll get back to his typical production level soon enough. Molina is his only challenger, and the difference in their offensive numbers will be too much for fan voters to ignore.

Reserves: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals. Francisco Cervelli, Pittsburgh Pirates.

While Molina might not be the force at the plate he was from 2011-2013 ever again, he’s still a terrific catcher and is off to a great start following an injury-plagued year. Cervelli was the most underrated catcher in baseball in 2015 and leads all players at the position with 0.7 WAR early on this year per FanGraphs.

Next: First Base

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