MLB experts weigh in on potential Diamondbacks All-Star candidates
Jun 30, 2012, 12:50 AM | Updated: 2:52 am
Major League Baseball’s 83rd Midsummer Classic is on the horizon.
On July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., the American and National League All-Stars will converge to fight for home field advantage in this year’s Fall Classic.
ESPN.com polled five of their baseball experts — Jim Bowden, Jerry Crasnick, Tim Kurkjian, David Schoenfield and Jayson Stark — to see which players they thought were the most deserving to represent their respective leagues in the 2012 All-Star game.
Arizona Diamondbacks rookie hurler Wade Miley was selected by four out of the five experts to make the National League’s roster.
Miley, who is 9-3 with a 2.19 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 64 strikeouts in 90.1 innings pitched this season, has been one of the league’s surprise feel good stories and arguably deserves a spot on the National League All-Stars’ pitching staff.
The young southpaw started the season in the bullpen and has ascended into the rotation with a bang, touting the third-best ERA in the National League and becoming a viable candidate for NL Rookie of the Year.
Other Diamondbacks players who were deemed worthy All-Star candidates by ESPN.com’s experts were second baseman Aaron Hill, who garnered two votes to start and one as a reserve, and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt who received two reserve selections.
Hill, who was acquired from Toronto last August for his defensive prowess, has proved his bat packs quite the wallop.
The D-backs’ second baseman has absolutely set the league on fire in the month of June, boosting his batting average to .302 with 11 long balls and 38 RBI this season.
He also became just the second player in major league baseball history to hit for the cycle twice in a single season on June 29 against the Milwaukee Brewers. More impressively, Hill hit his second cycle of the year just 11 days after notching the first of his career against the Seattle Mariners.
Goldschmidt got off to a slow start this season but has turned it on as of late, amassing a .299 average with 11 home runs and 35 RBI in 2012.
