The Midwest League named their All-Stars yesterday and four Lansing Lugnuts were among them.

 

 

Leading the way was first baseman Rowdy Tellez along with outfielder Anthony Alford, DH Ryan McBroom and starting pitcher Shane Dawson. While these four represent the Lugnuts (and Dawson represents Canada too), there could have been several other hitters from Lansing who could have easily have been considered.

 

 

Tellez ranks second on the Lugnuts in home runs with six and is hitting .288/.342/.452 in 231 plate appearances so far this year. With a solid 7.8% walk rate and 19.0% strikeout rate, the powerful Tellez isn’t selling out for his home runs and has a 129 wRC+ this season while leading the Midwest League with 41 RBI. McBroom, drafted out of college last year only has two home runs on the season but has 16 doubles and a .443 slugging percentage to go with his .307 batting average and .390 OBP. He walks in 9.3% of plate appearances and only strikes out in 20%. His wRC+ is 144 while Alford comes in at 153, leading the active Lugnuts in that category. While Alford isn’t hitting for a lot of power yet (with a .084 ISO), his OBP is a whopping .446 (leading the league) and he is second in the Midwest League in walk rate at 19.6%.

 

Dawson is off to a stellar start with a 3.32 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and is walking just 5.3% of batters while striking out 23.5%. Dawson has a 7-3 record and has been the most consistent starter on the Lugnuts.

 

A couple of players could be considered fairly conspicuous omissions. First off is Richard Urena. The shortstop is just 19 (one of the younger players in the league) and leads the Lugs in home runs with seven. While his overall numbers aren’t superb (a .269/.285/.406 line with a 98 wRC+), his age and surprising power from a premium defensive position might have been enough to earn some recognition.

 

Another omission is second baseman Tim Locastro. Locastro has one of the highest batting averages and on-base percentages in the league (.311/.415) and while he doesn’t hit for much power (.091 ISO), he leads the Midwest League in stolen bases at 27 and hit-by-pitches with 16 already this season.

 

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