MLB All-Star Game 2017: Predicting rosters

Third Base

American League:

Minnesota Twins’ Miguel Sano is out in front with just over a million votes. There’s a real race between the Indians’ Jose Ramirez (697,747) and Baltimore’s Manny Machado (677,747). With over a week remaining and roughly 300,000 votes separating them, it could be possible for Ramirez or Machado to overtake Sano for the lead.

Sano (.286, 16 HR, 48 RBI) leads Ramirez (.313. 11 HR, 34 RBI) in homers and RBI, and he beats out Machado (.217, 13 HR, 32 RBI) in all areas. While Sano’s batting average isn’t the best, he does lead the ballot with his 48 RBI.

Prediction: Miguel Sano

National League:

No surprise here with Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant leading the votes with just over 1.2 million votes. Nolan Arenado  comes in behind him with roughly 950,000.

Bryant, the 2016 MVP, has been doing well this year but nowhere near where he was last year. The combination of MVP and member of the Cubs is what has him at the top of the ballot because he’s definitely not the leader with his .264 batting average, 15 home runs and 28 RBI and he’s trailing Arenado (.299, 15 HR, 55 RBI) in all three areas. Arenado’s 55 RBI are impressive, but he’s behind Arizona’s Jake Lamb, who has 59, and neither are close to LA’s Justin Turner, who has a .385 right now.

Even so, this one boils down to popularity.

Prediction: Kris Bryant