San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Michael Saunders won the final roster spots for the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game on Friday.
MLB's official Twitter account confirmed the news:
Belt has been on the verge of stardom for years, finally having his big breakout in 2016. The 28-year-old is on pace for career highs in batting average (.300), on-base percentage (.399) and slugging percentage (.519).
In May, Owen Watson wrote about Belt for FanGraphs, comparing the Giants' star to another former National League MVP:
From this early evidence, it appears as if Belt is morphing into a version of Joey Votto: an incredibly patient, contact-driven, powerful, all-fields hitter. The thing is, Mike Podhorzer already made that connection last season, and that was before this season’s ridiculous strikeout and walk rate jumps. Belt’s already hit an infield fly ball this season, so some of the more inhuman abilities aren’t there yet (that’d be asking a lot), but the similarities are apparent.
The Giants have been in control of the National League West this season thanks largely to the strength of their pitching staff, but Belt's growth as a hitter has offset injuries to Angel Pagan, Matt Duffy, Joe Panik and Hunter Pence.
Saunders took home the American League final vote for what has easily been the best season of his career. The 29-year-old has nearly matched his career high in homers (19) with 16 through 79 games. He's also on pace to have high-water marks in batting average (.298), on-base percentage (.372) and slugging percentage (.559).
When the initial voting results were released with Saunders leading in the AL, he explained his emotions and his gratitude to all Blue Jays fans, via Mike Wilner of SportsNet.ca:
The Blue Jays got off to a slow start this season but have turned things around before the All-Star break thanks to a potent offense that is firing on all cylinders—even with Jose Bautista on the disabled list—particularly Saunders.
With the AL and NL rosters now set for the 2016 All-Star Game, the players can focus their attention on doing what it takes to secure home-field advantage for their league in the World Series.
Based on their teams' current positions in the standings, Belt and Saunders will have a lot to play for when the Midsummer Classic takes place at Petco Park in San Diego next Tuesday.
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