Detroit Tigers: Ian Kinsler Deserves to Be an All-Star
Detroit Tigers 2B Ian Kinsler is having one of the best years of his career, and is well-deserving of his fifth career All-Star appearance.
Ian Kinsler is having himself a year for the Detroit Tigers.
The 33-year old is hitting .316 with 13 home runs with 42 RBI. He’s the second best hitting second baseman in the American League behind Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros. He also ranks in the top four in the AL thanks to a sparkling .989 fielding percentage at second base.
He’s homered in the last two games and was a one-man wrecking crew in this past series against the New York Yankees. He also delivered the walk-off hit in the Tigers’ improbable victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on June 7.
But, for whatever reason, the odds that the Detroit Tigers’ star represents the team in San Diego for the 87th annual All-Star Game on July 12 is slim.
When the latest All-Star voting results came in on June 7, Kinsler was listed as the fifth and final second baseman on the ballot with 267,337 votes, nearly 626,000 votes shy of the leader Altuve.
In front of Kinsler is Dustin Pedroia from the Boston Red Sox, Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners, Omar Infante from the Kansas City Royals, and the Astros’ Altuve.
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Pedroia is hitting .312, Cano sits at .292 with 18 home runs, and Altuve is doing Jose Altuve things- hitting .341 with 38 runs driven in.
Kinsler, Pedroia, Cano, and Altuve are arguably four of the best second basemen in all of baseball. It’s only right for them to duke it out every year for the starting nod at the Mid-Summer Classic.
And then, there’s Infante.
Yes, this is the same Omar Infante that helped the Tigers reach the World Series as a Wild Card team back in 2006, and again, reuniting with the club in 2012 on their way to another unsuccessful World Series run.
Infante left Detroit after the 2013 season to join the Royals, who made back-to-back World Series appearances in ’14 and ’15. They were only victorious once (’15), and Infante was there to help. Actually, no, he did nothing.
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The Royals managed to maneuver their way around Infante’s horrific .220 regular season BA in the playoffs, and luckily, had journeyman Ben Zobrist to bail them out. Zobrist was the second baseman the Royals needed, and Infante played no part in capturing the team’s first championship in 30 years.
Infante, the .220 aging second baseman who splits time with Whit Merrifield, is second in votes for second basemen in the American League. How?
The voting system is clearly skewed. Pedroia, Altuve, Cano, and Kinsler are very good players. Omar Infante is not.
The second base position in the American League boasts some of the game’s best stars. But, does Kinsler deserve to represent the AL in San Diego? Absolutely. Just ask Jon Heyman.
wow ian kinsler (2-run HR) can play. and what a great year for 2B in AL: altuve, cano, pedroia, kinsler, etc.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 12, 2016
What Kinsler does not deserve is to be robbed of his fifth career All-Star appearance for Infante, who’s hitting .239 this year with only 11 RBI.
Next: Tigers-White Sox Series Info
Say what you will. Ian Kinsler is an All-Star. There is no question about that, whether he’s on the AL squad or not.