MLB Daily: Picking an All-Star Team; Bryce Harper's Pop Fly Homer

Welcome to MLB Daily, where it feels like a Tuesday … or maybe a Wednesday … these post-holiday weeks are confusing. 

Hey now, you’re an you might be an All Star: The first updated All-Star game totals came out on Tuesday for the American League. Normally this would be a place to point out that Royals fans are flocking to Kauffman Stadium by more than 7,000 a game from last year and stuffing the ballot, except the ballot is online only in 2015. Either way, Kansas City fans love their Royals.

Here’s the current voting leaders and my pick as of Wednesday morning…

Catcher: Salvador Perez … my pick: Stephen Vogt
First Base: Miguel Cabrera … my pick: Cabrera
Second Base: Jose Altuve … my pick: Altuve
Third Base: Mike Moustakas … my pick: Josh Donaldson
Shortstop: Alcides Escobar … my pick: vacant (we discussed AL shortstops in this space earlier this month) … but I have no problem with Escobar starting.
Outfielders: Lorenzo Cain, Mike Trout, Alex Gordon … my picks: Cain, Trout, Adam Jones
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz … my pick: Cruz

Ned Yost will end up with many familiar faces July 14 in Cincinnati.

Winner! Winner! Winner! Winner!: Four teams won via walk-off Tuesday night, the Cubs, Reds, Mets and Blue Jays. This video shows you all the heroics in one neat-and-tidy package.

Dare I say it’s almost as if MLB Advanced Media knows what it’s doing.

Oh Canada: Here’s a simple, but true, statement: Josh Donaldson is really really good at baseball (and dugout curse words). There were questions about just how good the Blue Jays third baseman was, despite finishing fourth in the AL MVP voting in 2013 and eighth last year. Mostly this is because Donaldson is linked with WAR, which isn’t exactly a be-all, end-all stat. The last two years he rated out as a 7-win player. In 2014, the only two players ahead of him in the stat were Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout.

This year Donaldson is on an even better pace, leading the AL in runs with 40 along with an 165 OPS+ and great numbers across the board hitting anywhere at the top of the Jays lineup. The question is whether or not Donaldson, who hit a walk-off homer against the White Sox last night, can help Toronto get into the playoffs. Granted the Jays’ success is tied closer to their suspect pitching. The AL East is wide open. Oakland made the playoffs each of the last two seasons with Donaldson. Let’s see if the numbers translate into real-life wins, or just some interesting stats to parse over when the writers vote for the MVP.

A home run is still a home run: Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant squared off last night at Wrigley Field, or specifically the Nationals played the Cubs. As you saw above the Cubs won on an Addison Russell hit up the gap.

Both Las Vegas-area natives, Harper and Bryant, hit home runs. Harper’s looked like a pop-up off the bat and he wasn’t happy about it. The Wrigley Field crowd threw it back regardless.

Bryant’s homer was a no-doubter that nearly went 500 feet. Boom.

At this point it’s worth pointing out that Bryant is 23 and Harper is but 22.

This & That: The Braves and Dodgers eventually completed the Alberto Callaspo/Juan Uribe (et al) deal. … Rays manager Kevin Cash didn’t like the umpires last night. … We’ll close today with Miguel Cabrera’s attempted fake on Billy Burns in Oakland.

[Maybe time to retire this joke]