Who Will Be MLB's Second-Half All-Stars?

First Base

American League: Miguel Cabrera

National League: Freddie Freeman

With apologies to Matt Carpenter and Justin Bour, the NL pick has to be Freddie Freeman, who was a shoo-in for the All-Star game before missing nearly seven weeks with a wrist injury. The wrist sure doesn't seem to be bothering him either, as he's already hit two more bombs since returning on July 4th, giving him 14 on the season in just 193 plate appearances. With just a 34.9% ground-ball rate, he's putting that 41.3% hard-hit rate to good use in the air, and has the highest xwOBA (.459) among hitters with at least 150 at-bats. Expect him to pick up right where he left off.

While it's fun to make fun of Logan Morrison after his ill-advised words about Gary Sanchez in the Home Run Derby, he is having a darn good season. That said, he's getting "snubbed" once again because we simply can't ignore Miguel Cabrera, who's in the midst of what feels like a down season, but has an eye-popping 49.5% hard-hit rate, bested only by his teammate Nick Castellanos among qualified hitters. A line drive machine, it's practically unfathomable that he only has 11 homers and a .176 ISO to show for all that hard contact. Look for that to change, as a .418 xwOBA suggests a monster second half could be coming.