The Generals’ continuing look at All-Stars now turns to the OF.

American League

1. Ichiro Suzuki–He is one of my favorite players, and I have an autographed Ichiro ball even though I am a Yankee fan. One of my great memories is of sitting in the first row down the RF line at The Stadium, when a ball was hit into the corner. Ichiro picked it up and threw to second nailing the runner. Even from the stands you could hear the “whizzz” of the ball as it left his hand. For that alone he deserves the number one spot. Oh, that and his .348 BA with 19 SB. Ichiro is walking 8% of the time, making him even more dangerous; with his speed and 90% contact rate he is a cinch for a high BA. Amazingly, he hits only 26% of his balls in the air, a tremendous way for him to take advantage of his speed. As Bill James once said about Kenny Lofton, if you don’t like him then you don’t like baseball.

2. Carl Crawford–Another one of my high stakes league studs; I think I spent more on him this year than I have for any other player in my fantasy life, $38. Has he been worth it?? With 7 HR and 47 RBI he is on pace for almost 100 RBI. With 21 steals so far, I could live with 40 SB, 100 RBI and a .300 average, especially if he helps me win. I will have to then go get a Crawford autographed ball also.

3. Torii Hunter–OK, so I am not as kind to pure power hitters as I should be. Excuse me for loving these multi-tooled players. Hunter is another of my favorites, as you know from reading my prior post on him. Sadly, he is cooling off and won’t be top three material at the end of the year; but for now I will take his 16 HR 58 RBI and 10 SB and give him the number three spot in a close call, over…

4. Grady Sizemore–Bill James may well have been talking about Sizemore and not Lofton. He is just a tremendous talent; sadly I traded him away when he was in the minors in one of my leagues. Damn! His 13 HR 41 RBI and 12 SB fall just short of Hunter, and Hunter has him beat in the BA category as well. I will admit that Sizemore’s 76% contact rate is troubling; and he has a 35% hit rate, so he may be due for a fall.

If you want to write in and lambast me for not including Magglio or Sheffield or Vlad let me know. They were all under consideration.

National League

1. Matt Holliday–Perhaps the most unsung player in baseball since Bernie Williams, with 15 HR 54 RBI and a .335 average, he is a legit four tool stud and that BA is a huge advantage to his owners. The only knock is the lack of speed. Sadly, he has an unsustainable 40% hit rate, so don’t count on a .330 average, especially with an 80% contact rate. For now though, he gets the top spot.

2. Eric Byrnes–If I had a nickel for all the times I have badmouthed him on this blog, I would be a rich man. That said though, he has to get his props for this half season breakout. 13 HR 46 RBI 15 SB and a .315 BA is just a hair below Holliday, in what is a relatively weak NL field led not by Hall of Fame types like in the NL but very good players who have been very lucky so far. Byrnes is no Holliday in the hit rate luck department, but with a 35% hit rate of his own he has been lucky. It IS possible (unlike in Holliday’s case) that Byrnes will keep it up, but I wouldn’t bet on it. 35% is a lot more sustainable with Lady Luck than 40%.

There is a big drop off from the top two to:

3. Alfonso Soriano–In a weak NL field he gets the nod here. After a horrendously slow start he has come on like Sun-Tzu’s boulder rolling down the mountainside in May and June, coming up to 15 HR 30 RBI and 10 SB and a .304 BA is very good but not up to the lofty standards of the AL.

4. Carlos Lee–Our last pick is another weak one. He has a solid 15 HR 51 RBI and .304 BA. In the AL he is no All-Star but in the NL he barely gets the nod here.