Giancarlo Stanton has spent much of the 2014 season atop many leaderboards, most notably the home run department in the National League. He leads all NL players in homers and is fourth in all of baseball behind Edwin Encarnacion, Nelson Cruz, and Jose Abreu. Stanton is among the three players having monster MVP-caliber seasons, as his batting line and defense have carried him near the top of the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) leaderboard, along with Troy Tulowitzki and Mike Trout.
Unfortunately, Stanton is slipping in one important leaderboard, as he is now fourth in the NL outfield vote for the 2014 MLB All-Star Game. This past week, he was overtaken by Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez,
Stanton's offensive onslaught has been tempered thus far in the month of June, and it has reflected in the balloting. Entering Monday night's game against the Phillies, Stanton was hitting .263 with four home runs and seven RBIs this month.
Subsequently, Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez has leapfrogged Stanton in the balloting and leads by nearly 300,000 votes. The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig and the Pirates' Andrew McCutchen continue to lead the pack.
Stanton is hitting just .269/.367.487 (.369 wOBA), a fantastic line for a good player, but below what is expected of a star like Stanton. Oddly enough, however, Gomez has been even worse in June than Stanton. He has nine RBIs to Stanton's seven this month, but he is hitting a paltry .298/.337/.393 (.325 wOBA) and displaying no power at all; he has hit just one home run in the month compared to Stanton's four.
Gomez is a true center fielder and a good one at that, and his claim to an All-Star bid is in part because of that reason. In fact, that much was said so in the Brewers' clever "attack-style" ad campaigning for Gomez.
But the All-Star Game will already have a center fielder in Andrew McCutchen, who is second in the outfield vote behind Yasiel Puig. And voters should not forget that Giancarlo Stanton is a more than capable right fielder who would be playing a role in a much better defensive outfield than last season's All-Star crop.
The rest of the numbers support Stanton's claim to a starting bid.
PLAYER, 2014 | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | WOBA | FWAR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andrew McCutchen | 340 | .317 | .424 | .525 | .414 | 3.4 |
Yasiel Puig | 314 | .312 | .404 | .524 | .404 | 2.8 |
Giancarlo Stanton | 329 | .303 | .398 | .585 | .414 | 4.2 |
Carlos Gomez | 314 | .312 | .377 | .525 | .394 | 3.4 |
The rest of the players on this four-man list did not improve their play since last week. Stanton has added almost half a win during the week thanks to a .321/.406/.571 week during which he hit two home runs. Stanton has maintained his torrid pace for the week, yet somehow the voting has fallen on the struggling Gomez's favor.
Marlins fans can remedy this travesty. With Stanton having the best season of his career, it is time to get out and vote. You can vote locally at Marlins Park whenever you are there, but you can also submit 25 online ballots, with an extra ten available if you are a registered MLB.com user. Head over to the 2014 MLB All-Star Game ballot and put in as many votes as you can for Giancarlo Stanton, as he is 300,000 votes behind Gomez. Cast your vote today and keep casting until we get Stanton to the All-Star Game as a starter!