Five Players Who Deserve to be First Time All-Stars
With the weather heating up across the country, it’s almost time for the 89th annual midsummer classic. The 2018 All-Star Game will be in Washington D.C. and there are many notable first time candidates. Here are a few players, some young and one old, who deserve to make the rosters.
Nick Markakis — Braves OF
One of the best stories of the 2018 season, Markakis absolutely deserves to make the All-Star team. The 13-year veteran has always been a solid, dependable hitter, but at 34 years old, he’s having his best season. The New York native is batting .327 and leading the National League in hits with 92. Markakis has over 2,000 knocks in his career and has played nearly 2,000 games. His first all-star appearance would put a nice cap on a very solid career.
Ozzie Albies — Braves 2B
Albies has lit the National League on fire in 2018 after a very solid rookie season. At 21, he leads the National League in doubles and runs scored. After coming up as a shortstop, Albies has had no problems moving to second base for Dansby Swanson, and is a catalyst on one of the best offenses in all of baseball. Expect the second-basemen to be in D.C. as one of the youngest All-Stars next month.
Josh Hader — Brewers LHP
Hader has had a historic start to his career out of the bullpen and a case could be made that he’s been the best reliever in all of baseball in 2018. The lefty has faced 142 batters on the year and struck out more than half of them (77 of 142). Opponents are batting just .103 against Hader and he would make for an excellent lefty relief option out of the National League bullpen next month.
Andrew Benintendi- Red Sox OF
No surprise here, Benintendi has been one of the better players on one of the better teams in baseball this season. Benintendi, hitting .299 with a .925 OPS, is a steady left-handed bat who would make for a good pinch hitter off the American League bench in D.C. He has done a lot of his damage lately, as he’s hitting .327 with 9 homers over his last 30 games.
Scooter Gennett — Reds 2B
One of the more unheralded potential All-Stars of the summer, Scooter Gennett was designated for assignment by the Brewers two spring trainings ago. Everything has turned around for the second-baseman, as things seemed to click on June 6th of last season when he hit four home runs in a single game. Since then, he has been one of the better offensive infielders in all of baseball, hitting .318 with 36 homers and 125 RBI in 165 games. Gennett deserves to make the National League squad. He also has experience playing 3rd and the outfield if that is where he is needed.
