11 days ago, Major League Baseball opened up “Phase I” voting for this year’s All-Star Game and I wrote about how Thairo Estrada of our beloved San Francisco Giants, being the best second baseman in the National League, should get yours and many other people’s vote.

Today, Major League Baseball released the first “Phase I” results from the balloting and, to my horror, Thairo Estrada, still the best second baseman in the National League, is not leading the results — he’s SIXTH! GO VOTE FOR THAIRO.

SECOND BASEMEN
1. Luis Arraez, Marlins - 509,092
2. Ozzie Albies, Braves - 376,726
3. Nolan Gorman, Cardinals - 245,524
4. Miguel Vargas, Dodgers - 142,182
5. Jeff McNeil, Mets - 126,924
6. Thairo Estrada, Giants - 103,446
7. Ketel Marte, D-backs - 102,953
8. Nico Hoerner, Cubs - 84,061
9. Ha-Seong Kim, Padres - 82,879
10. Bryson Stott, Phillies - 74,663

I suppose I could go through and make a case as to why he should be ahead of Jeff McNeil, Miguel Vargas, Nolan Gorman, and Ozzie Albies, but I feel like I’m speaking to partisans here; but, fine, I’ll do it anyway.

Luis Arraez occupies a special place because of his batting average — he’s legitimately one of the best hitters in baseball at the moment. What makes Thairo Estrada shine is his combination of power and defense, though. Not enough to overpower or defend against the .400 narrative, of course, but against Nolan Gorman? Sure. He does more than just hit home runs, he defends, hits doubles, and steals bases. Ozzie Albies is up there by Atlanta fervency and reputation, but he’s still not filling out the whole stat line — or defending — as well as Thairo Estrada has been. Miguel Vargas is a Dodger, but also, Estrada has 70 points on batting average in the same number of plate appearances and better defense. Jeff McNeil is there because he plays for the Mets. He’s just barely above a 1-win player.

This needs to be rectified. VOTE FOR THAIRO

VOTE

FOR

THAIRO

ESTRADA

The rest of the Phase I round one results don’t look anymore promising for the other worthy Giants. As the team’s MLB.com beat writer, Maria Guardado points out,

J.D. Davis ranks fourth among NL third basemen in the first All-Star balloting update. Thairo Estrada is sixth at 2B, and LaMonte Wade Jr. is ninth at 1B:

The J.D. Davis situation hurts my brain. Arenado and Riley are there because of reputation and riled up fans, respectively, but the same arguments used to plug in Luis Arraez should be used for J.D. Davis. He has the top batting average by third basemen in the NL (.286) — Gio Urshela leads all MLB first baseman at .303 — the top wRC+ in the NL (134) — Isaac Paredes of the Rays is #1 in MLB with 136 — which is 26th in MLB; he’s a plus defender, second in the NL by FanGraphs’ Defensive runs only to Washington’s Jeimer Candelario, who, again Davis is a better hitter than — he should be in the top three if not the top 2. Max Muncy has 18 home runs and just 40 hits total (.191 batting average). He’s also a crappy defender at third base. The top three are there because Cardinals, Braves, and Dodgers fans are just voting more frequently than the other fanbases. YOU CAN FIX THIS.

VOTE FOR J.D. DAVIS

And then we come to LaMonte Wade Jr., the 7th-best hitter in the National League (14th in MLB) by wRC+ (145). Freddie Freeman is #1 at 167. Pete Alonso is 12th at 140. Matt Olson is 20th at 126.

Now, I know what’s going on here. **Even I** want to see Pete Alonso in the Home Run Derby. He should be invited. He’s having a great season, too.

Is LaMonte Wade Jr. the ninth-best first baseman in the NL? NOOOOOOOO. It will be an embarrassment if Rowdy Telez, Trey Mancini, Jake Cronenworth, and Carlos Santana wind up with more votes than him — embarrassing! A truly black mark on the fanbase. You can hate on the Giants all they want for their management team’s behavior and decision-making, but YOU, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR COMMUNITY have the power to lift LaMonte Wade Jr. to where suffering cannot reach.

VOTE FOR

LAMONTE

WADE

JR.

VOTE FOR LAMONTE WADE JR RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DELETE THIS GIF FROM EXISTENCE.

Thairo Estrada should be competing with Luis Arraez, not Jeff McNeil. Where are the Yankees fans? Too embarrassed to vote for a guy your team threw in the trash? LaMonte Wade Jr. should be the surprise guy in there ticking off Braves fans wondering “Where’s Matt Olson who was gifted to us for free from the stupid A’s?” And J.D. Davis should just be the All-Star third baseman to the chagrin of the entire Arenado bloodline.

The Giants have more All-Stars than Camilo Doval and they’re worth more consideration than a late in the process reserve replacement. These results should be a wakeup call. Get on it, Giants fans.

VOTE