All Star Picks... NL 1B

I always enjoy making my All-Star baseball picks. I make them for football as well, but football requires watching so many different things, from the quarterback, offensive line, defensive line, coverage assignments, play-calling. Basically, in football, too many things cannot be measured with tested metrics. KC Joyner tries, and reinvents himself every year with new analyses. Outside of that, there isn't much to measure the effectiveness of left guards and weak-side linebackers. Baseball has a qualitative measurement for almost everything now. Baseball picks are fun because they are easy to argue and defend with evidence as opposed to exposure.

I will post National league picks first.

First base: Not many incorrect answers here, but I think I will go with the less popular pick of the Padres' Adrian Gonzalez. I have Joey Votto on my fantasy team, and he has been obscenely good when not suffering from mysterious illnesses. Pujols is having another first-ballot season, but the reason I like Gonzalez is this: his road splits have him on pace for a 1.168 OPS and 73 home runs over 500 at bats. Amazingly, he has only driven in 31 runs on his 17 bombs. Seriously, get this guy out of Petco Park. It doesn't hurt that he has been the better defender of the three.

Where does Nick Johnson fit in? He isn't having a poor season at all, but doesn't hit with the power the public expects from the corner positions. He probably fits into his own group, probably seen by the public as being less effective than Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard. His numbers are slightly inflated by a .395 BABIP, but with the number of injuries he's suffered in his career, he should be due for a little luck, especially given his retarded 32.3% line drive figure.