Why Pablo Sandoval Should Start over David Wright for NL All-Stars

Because some of the best New York Mets—Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado—are on the disabled list, third baseman David Wright has been forced to carry the load.

He has done his best, but since he’s been alone in the lineup, he’s had to be more aggressive. This is the reason why he has struck out an unsightly 84 times this season. To put this amount in perspective, his previous high for an entire season is 118.

In spite of countless swings and misses, he has boasted incredible numbers: .342 batting average, 42 RBI, and a .414 on-base percentage. To combat these positives, his high strikeout total, and the fact that he has only five home runs (he hit 33 last season), should have kept him from being voted as an All-Star starter.

San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval deserved to be named instead. The 22-year old who is ambidextrous, a switch hitter, and can catch, play first base, as well as a Gold-Glove caliber third, has had a better overall year than Wright, and on a more successful team.

He has a better batting average, .333, and has struck out nearly half Wright’s amount, just 43 times, a very small amount considering how young he is. He’s not particularly a power hitter—at least not yet–but his twelve homers trump Wright’s measly five. He has 44 rbi’s, more than Wright, a similar on-base percentage of .388.

Wright has 25 more at-bats, which makes Sandoval’s statistics that much more extraordinary. Wright has scored 14 more times and has six more hits, but though he has made a strong case to start, his popularity, the team that he plays for, and the city he plays in had a lot to do with his selection.

The fans choose the starters in the All-Star Game, which is a mistake. New York is heavily populated, which means a substantial amount of votes, and because his name carries so much across the country, he clearly has thousands of fans nationwide.

So, though his statistics are All-Star worthy, there is no way competent fans would have chosen him over Sandoval.

California has three major league baseball teams–the Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim Angels, and the Giants—which limits San Francisco’s fan base. The population of New York is just over 19 million, while San Francisco, presumably where most Giants fans reside, has a little over 800,000 residents.

So, while Wright benefited from millions of votes, Sandoval needed ever San Francisco resident to vote multiple times, as well gain some votes from the rest of California and the other 49 states (my father voted for him; I, ironically, didn’t vote).

The Mets carry more weight, primarily because of their star-laden roster and repeated September collapses, while the Giants, prior to this season, hadn’t been particularly good since the Barry Bonds Era. It was a longshot for Sandoval, but it shouldn’t have been.

If a starter’s snub wasn’t enough, Sandoval isn’t even on the roster, despite his superior statistics. This is inexplicable. The managers and players vot