Okay, I may be drawing at straws a little by tackling the catcher position for the American League right away, but at the same time, the roster for American League catchers shows how much Royals fans pushed for their catcher in the All-Star game.
If the catcher position was decided solely based on statistics, Salvador Perez would not have been on the roster.
| Top C by nERD | Team | HR | RBI | SB | wOBA | wRC+ | WAR | nERD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Vogt* | Athletics | 14 | 56 | 0 | 0.371 | 143 | 2.7 | 2.04 |
| Russell Martin* | Blue Jays | 12 | 41 | 4 | 0.347 | 120 | 2.5 | 1.21 |
| Brian McCann | Yankees | 14 | 55 | 0 | 0.346 | 120 | 2.3 | 1.18 |
| Salvador Perez* | Royals | 15 | 38 | 1 | 0.312 | 98 | 1.4 | 0.12 |
Perez may have been a fan favorite to land the starting job, but there is only one category that jumps out to make us notice him. Perez has 15 home runs on the season now, the most of all qualified catchers not just in the American League but Major League Baseball as a whole. But there are few redeeming qualities after that.
Perez's nERD suggests he is a very replaceable player, as he only has a 0.12 nERD on the season and his fWAR is half of Stephen Vogt's, the more natural starter at catcher for the American League. But who should have Perez's spot on the roster? Brian McCann.
After putting together one of his poorer seasons, the McCann we got to know in Atlanta at the beginning of his career is back on track. His fWAR, wOBA and wRC+ are nearly identical to Russell Martin's, and he's on pace to hit a personal record number of home runs and collect a career high RBI (he's never had more than 24 home runs or over 70 RBI in his career). If it wasn't for the fan voting, McCann would almost certainly be on the All-Star roster this year.