With the 2013 All-Star Game coming up on July 16, and voting ending even sooner than that, we're starting to see just who will be representing their leagues at each position. When the voting ends on July 4, it appears as though Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano will be the starting for the American League. He holds a nearly 900,000 vote lead over Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, so it would take an unlikely reversal of fortune for their positions to reverse in the next week.
MLB All-Star Game 2013 voting: AL Second Base
The voters are East Coast-biased.
Nick Laham
Robinson Cano: 3,032,183
The premier second baseman in baseball, Cano is putting together a modest season by his standards, batting .277 with 16 home runs with an OPS of 851. His solid play, name value, and the fact that he plays in perhaps the largest media market in the United States all make him the overwhelming leader for this spot with a week to go.
Dustin Pedroia: 2,135,499
Why should Pedroia win?
"He may not do it with home runs, but Dustin Pedroia remains (as of today) the most productive American League second baseman with the bat, and there's certainly no way to question his ability with the leather. Simply put, he is superlative." -- Ben Buchanan, Over the Monster Despite having one of the best years of his impressive career, Dustin Pedroia is a distant second in this season’s voting. Though he has not hit for his usual power, slugging just .425 with four homers, he has been one of the more productive second basemen in baseball thanks to his average and on-base percentage -- and he has accmplished it in spite of a fully torn ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb, an injury sustained back on Opening Day. He is widely-considered to be the leader of a resurgent Red Sox team that currently leads the AL East.
Ian Kinsler: 1,329,136
Kinsler has only played in 51 games, but he has done well when on the field. The Rangers second baseman is batting .304/.376/.466 with seven home runs and 12 doubles, and has played a fine keystone as well. It’s no surprise that it’s Cano, Pedroia, and Kinsler sitting at the top of the second base pile given their shared lengthy history of dominance at the position.
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