All-Star voting update puts two St Louis Cardinals in Denver

The St Louis Cardinals have more star power this year than they have had in a while and the first All-Star ballot update puts two players in the game.

While the St Louis Cardinals currently sit at a game under .500 after starting June 2-9, it hasn’t been all bad if you look at things in a vacuum.

As far as individual performers go on the position player side, the Cardinals seem to have one of the better offenses that they have had in recent years. Tyler O’Neill is breaking out, Nolan Arenado is proving he is still a star outside of Coors Field, and Yadier Molina is hitting better than he has in years.

The pitching side of the ball for the Cardinals has been racked by injuries and lack of performance though, a key reason why they have fallen to their current spot.

In a month though, the greatest stars of the game will head to Denver for the 2021 All-Star Game, and voting is out now. On Monday, fans got the first update of how the voting has gone.

As most St Louis Cardinals fans would expect, both Molina and Arenado are sitting in great spots at their respective positions. Among qualified NL third baseman, Arenado currently leads the group with a 2.0 fWAR and is third with his 129 wRC+. Kris Bryant has Arenado beat in both fWAR and wRC+, but hasn’t played enough innings at third this year to technically qualify for that position. However, Arenado is easily a top three third baseman.

Among NL catchers, Molina is 8th in overall fWAR and 7th with his 117 wRC+. As has been the case in the past with Molina, his reputation and game-calling ability carry him to the All-Star Game more than his box scores.

While you can see Tommy Edman, Paul DeJong, and Paul Goldschmidt on the voting lists, it’s hard to argue any of them are deserving of the trip West at this moment.

The only other name that you could expect to see work his way in the conversation if the performance continues is Tyler O’Neill. The 25-year-old slugger is currently right behind Christian Yelich at 12th among NL outfielders; nine of which will make the team.

By wRC+, O’Neill is the 7th best outfielder and is 8th-best by fWAR. All-Star or not, it is great to see O’Neill finally breaking out (even though he is still just 25).

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