Last week I went out a limb for a Nats blogger and made the case for Ryan Zimmerman in the All Star game. Sure, it’s tough to be that man on an island, but hey, I’ll say what I think is right. In all seriousness everyone seems to be dumbstruck around here by the fact that Zimmerman is not even in the top 5 in voting, despite his recent slump. I’m the same way. Less vocal, although probably also out there, is the crowd that recognizes the All Star potential and snubbing of Adam Dunn. The difference between Dunn and Zimmerman is that there’s no Pujols in the Zimmerman category, whereas Dunn is never going to have a legit shot as the best first baseman in the NL. Here is list of top 5 1b votegetters as of today:
1. Albert Pujols (2,622,123)
2. Ryan Howard (1,137,058)
3. Prince Fielder (789,526)
4. Troy Glaus (753,249)
5. Joey Votto (691,075)
That being said, he may be deserving of some attention, let’s look at some of his rankings in the NL 1B category:
OBP
1. Albert Pujols (.426)
2. Adrian Gonzalez (.409)
3. Joey Votto (.409)
4. Aubrey Huff (.399)
5. Prince Fielder (.397)
6. Troy Glaus (.380)
7. Adam Dunn (.367)
11. Ryan Howard (.345)
SLG
1. Adam Dunn (.562)
2. Joey Votto (.560)
3. Adrian Gonzalez (.552)
4. Aubrey Huff (.550)
5. Albert Pujols (.548)
6. Ryan Howard (.506)
7. Troy Glaus (.494)
10. Prince Fielder (.453)
OPS
1. Albert Pujols (.974)
2. Joey Votto (.969)
3. Adrian Gonzalez (.961)
4. Aubrey Huff (.949)
5. Adam Dunn (.929)
6. Troy Glaus (.874)
7. Ryan Howard (.850)
7. Prince Fielder (.850)
HR
1. Adam Dunn (16)
2. Adrian Gonzalez (15)
2. Albert Pujols (15)
2. Joey Votto (15)
5. Troy Glaus (14)
5. Ryan Howard (14)
7. Prince Fielder (13)
8. Aubrey Huff (12)
On to the Sabermetric stats of runs created and runs created per 27 outs.
RC
1. Adrian Gonzalez (55.8)
2. Albert Pujols (55.5)
3. Joey Votto (54.3)
4. Adam Dunn (51.4)
5. Aubrey Huff (50.3)
6. Prince Fielder (48.3)
7. Ryan Howard (45.2)
7. Troy Glaus (45.2)
RC/27
1. Joey Votto (8.28)
2. Adrian Gonzalez (8.24)
3. Aubrey Huff (7.98)
4. Albert Pujols (7.97)
5. Adam Dunn (7.50)
6. Prince Fielder (6.75)
7. Troy Glaus (6.60)
8. Ryan Howard (6.20)
As for the overall value, let me look at that in two different ways. First, the silly way where I just total up the ranking of the convenient stats I’ve looked at, then by fangraph’s Wins Above Replacement:
Joey Votto (13)
Adrian Gonzalez (13)
Albert Pujols (15)
Adam Dunn (23)
Aubrey Huff (28)
Tory Glaus (38)
Prince Fielder (44)
Ryan Howard (44)
WAR
1. Adrian Gonzalez (3.2)
2. Joey Votto (2.9)
3. Aubrey Huff (2.5)
4. Albert Pujols (2.4)
5. Adam Dunn (2.0)
6. Prince Fielder (1.7)
Conclusions? Ok, so Dunn isn’t the super stud at his position that Zimmerman is, thanks in part to the depth of that position. Meanwhile, who noticed the kind of season that Aubrey Huff has been having over in San Francisco? He’s their best hitter by a significant margin. Anyway, despite maybe not being number one, Dunn still outpaces some of those guys getting votes ahead of him, he is definitely someone deserving of votes, and just looking at his numbers should show you that. He’s currently hitting .275/.367/.562, but since April 23rd, he’s hitting .300/.368/.630 – that’s 54 games! He should have a shot in going to his second All Star game. That’s right, the man who is right now 12th in the active HR list (11th if you dismiss Griffey) and the second youngest one on the list has only been to one All Star game.
This should also serve as a reminder of how much better Zimmerman is than the rest of the league. Go vote for both of these guys.