All-Star Diamondbacks: The SnakePit Ballot

Back in mid-June we had a ballot here, to see who people thought should be an All-Star - and, a somewhat different question, who would be an All-Star. We had ten names on the ballot, and a total of 175 people took part. Of course, with the rosters proving extremely fluid this year - meaning that something like 10% of all major-leaguers can call themselves "All-Stars" in 2011! - we didn't know the final results until almost the day of the game itself. But now that it's finally taken place, and we know that Justin Upton and Miguel Montero were the two Diamondbacks' representatives, we can look at the results and see what we thought.

Upton proved the runaway leader, with over three-quarters of respondents saying he would be an All-Star..But people expected that, if the team deserved a second player, it would go to Ian Kennedy. Of course, he made it only as far as the Final Man ballot, where he lost out (inevitably) to a Phillie. Closer J.J. Putz came in third in the "Will be" category, though this poll was taken before he hit the DL, which one imagine probably ended any chance of him making the roster. Montero was fourth.

However, if you combine the "would be" and "should be" section of the poll, things do change somewhat/. Upton is still first, with 94% approval, and Kennedy isn't far behind on 84%. But third place now goes to Stephen Drew: only 11% of fans thought he would be an All-Star but over five times as many (63%) said he should be one.The combined approval rating of 74% was third-highest on the team, ahead of Putz (57%), Daniel Hudson (58%) and even "actual" All-Star Montero (57%). This is about par for the course when it comes to Drew who, since the start of 2008, has accumulated more bWAR for Arizona than anyone on the roster, pitcher or hitter, bar Upton.

Of course, adding up all the percentages of shoulds and woulds, Diamondbacks fans reckon we should have had about five representatives on the National League roster. I think even Prince Fielder would probably find that just a little bit homer-happy!