Chooch behind the pack in All-Star voting

Among major league catchers with a minimum of 150 plate appearances, Carlos Ruiz is:

 --first in batting: .368

 --first in OPS: 1.016

 --tied for third in home runs: 8 (but tied for first in the NL in home runs)

 --tied for second in RBIs: 32 (but also tied for first in NL in RBIs)

 -- first in slugging percentage: .600

 -- second in extra-base hits: 20

 -- seventh in All-Star voting: 562,021 votes (which is almost half of NL leader Yadier Molina's total).

 That's right, Carlos Ruiz, who has risen from the eighth spot to the cleanup spot in the Phillies batting order, who is a legitimate MVP candidate through the season's first two months (if he had enough plate appearances to qualify, he'd be leading the major leagues in hitting and he'd be sixth in OPS) is way behind the pack in his bid to go to his first All-Star Game.

 And, honestly, that's sad. Especially when he plays for a team that has sold out every home game this season (and, thus, there should be plenty of fans filling out those ballots).

I once spoke to a prominent Phillies player and former All-Star who made the observation that, for whatever reason, Phils fans don't get too much into the All-Star voting process). This would be the best proof yet.


 Here are the results for the first round of balloting among NL catchers:

  1. Yadier Molina, STL: 1,100,048 votes 
  2. Buster Posey, SFG: 1,072,464 
  3. Brian McCann, ATL: 707,508 
  4. Carlos Ruiz, PHL: 562,021 
  5. Jonathan Lucroy, MIL: 457,590


 Other major league catchers with more votes than Chooch: Texas's Mike Napoli, Baltimore's Matt Wieters and Minnesota's Joe Mauer.

 No other Phillies were among the top five players in their respective positions (which isn't shocking, given the way the offense has performed over the season's first two months).

 Among NL outfielders, Hunter Pence is 11th (446,460 votes) and Shane Victorino is 15th (373,034).