Breaking: Harvey to Start the All-Star Game

Giants and National League manager Bruce Bochy announced earlier today that Matt Harvey would get the start for tomorrow’s All-Star Game. Harvey will be pitching in his home ballpark, Citi Field, along with his teammate, David Wright, at third.

After a half season of great young pitching in the National League, Harvey received the starting nod over fellow National League All-Stars, Clayton Kershaw, Patrick Corbin, Jordan Zimmerman, and Jeff Locke.

The Mets skipped Harvey’s start on Saturday to “limit his innings” but most likely to make him more eligible to pitch in front of his home crowd in the All-Star Game.

Harvey joins Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver as the only Mets pitchers to ever start the All-Star Game. The 24 year old Harvey is also the first rookie since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 to start the Mid-Summer Classic. The only other rookies to start are Mark Fidyrich in 1976 and Dave Stenhouse in 1962.

Through the first half of the season, Harvey is 7-2 with the third lowest ERA in the majors at 2.35 through 130 innings. Harvey’s .92 WHIP is second only to Clayton Kershaw’s .91.

Yadi or Buster?

The two leading vote getters in the National League for this year’s All-Star Game are Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina and Giants backstop Buster Posey. The two catchers have already combined for over 5,000,000 votes, but there can only be one starter on July 16 at Citi Field.

Whoever does not win, will become the most voted for backup in All-Star Game history, along with the creation of some very harsh feelings in either the Bay Area or Midwest. As of June 16, Posey was leading Molina by just over 600,000 votes, which is not as much as it seems.

Both players are having career years, excelling in different elements of the game and among the top of different stat categories. As the MLB’s leading hitter, Molina has a far higher batting average at .352, while Posey is at a modest .316. As of June 7, Molina had thirteen hits in thirteen more at bats than Posey.

Posey has however accumulated a higher slugging percentage of .515 compared to Molina’s .488. In support of his high slugging percentage, Posey has hit more homeruns than Molina with eight while driving in 41 runs. Not necessarily a power hitter, Molina has hit four homeruns and drove in 36 runs.

Posey has longer, more strategic at bats, while striking out more, but drawing more walks than Molina. In contrast, Molina takes a more aggressive approach, seeing almost 80 less pitches so far.

Molina has been a better defensive catcher, allowing only sixteen stolen bases on 27 attempts As a team, the Cardinals have allowed the least stolen bases in baseball Runners have had their way with Posey, yielding the second most stolen bases in the MLB with 38 on 47 attempts. The Cardinals backstop has also yet to allow a passed ball this year, as Posey has allowed three.

Though this may be a bit of an inaccurate way to measure a catcher’s talent, the Cardinals have been one of the best pitching teams in baseball. With three pitchers with over seven wins, the Cardinal staff also has an ERA almost one point lower than the Giant staff. The Giants have had an average year in pitching, a letdown considering all of their talent on the hill.

Despite being behind Posey, I think Yadier Molina is the more deserving catcher for the starting nod. “Yadi” has played better defensively while being a more complete offensive player. Posey is a good, young player with a lot of talent and potential, but he has more to do to become the National League’s perennial All-Star Game catcher.

Posey, the 2012 starting catcher, is not out of the race, considering the excessive voting habits of San Francisco fans, however Molina has had a better year by the numbers. This semi positional rivalry might be a preview of the MVP question later this year, but I think Molina will win out again, as he has been the heart of the best team and pitching staff in baseball, and as they say, “statistics do not lie.”