Ranking Tonight’s All-Star Game Starters

Just a quick ranking of tonight’s starting position players, ranked 1-18 (with Wins Above Replacement over the last calendar year my initial filter, but adjusting for Disabled List time) with National Leaguers all italicized and stuff.

Looks pretty even to me. What was striking, when looking at WAR over the last year, is how many of the best players -- by that particular measure, anyway -- aren’t even on the All-Star rosters at all, let alone starting the game. There really are a few guys at the top of the sport -- those top four or five guys, for example -- but once you get past them, there are dozens of great players who bounce around from season, in terms of statistics if not abilities.

Care to guess who’s got the fifth-best WAR in the majors over the last calendar year?

Hint: He’s a Kansas City Royal.

Answer: Alex Gordon. Granted, his ranking’s due largely to a fantastic fielding number, which certainly looks a bit questionable.

Really, the most striking thing to me about the numbers is that Miguel Cabrera’s not starting this game and Prince Fielder is, solely because Cabrera moved to third base to accommodate Fielder. But Cabrera goes in that group with Votto and Braun and Hamilton, and Fielder does not.