Call to the Pen’s All NL West team

Catcher

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Buster Posey – San Francisco Giants

And Posey collected every first=place vote. That shouldn’t be a surprise. The 2012 NL MVP didn’t have quite the offensive season he did the previous year, but there’s no denying that he has evolved into an elite player. Sure, he received his fair share of knocks due to the regression from that year, but those were some pretty high marks he set.

Even if you throw in last year’s “down season”, his career OBP is .377.

Order:
Posey, SF; Montero, ARI; Ellis, LAD; Rosario, COL; Hundley, SD

First base

Paul Goldschmidt – Arizona Diamondbacks

Another unanimous selection, and it’s not hard to dig into the reasons why. Goldy finished second to Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen in last year’s MVP voting. He led the NL in HR (36), RBI (125), SLG (.551), OPS (.952), OPS+ (160), total bases (332) and intentional walks (19). Goldschmidt also snared the NL Gold Glove and Silver Slugger for his position.

Not to mention Goldschmidt made his first All-Star team.

Order:
Goldschmidt, ARI; Gonzalez, LAD; Belt, SF; Morneau, COL; Alonso, SD

Second base

Aaron Hill – Arizona Diamondbacks

This was a close one. Hill received five (out of ten) first place votes. Who was nipping at his heels? Marco Scutaro of the Giants. But Scutaro did not receive the second most first place votes. That honor, if you can call it that, is held by San Diego’s Jedd Gyorko.

Granted, Hill couldn’t have put together the season he had in 2012 (.302/.360/.522, 133 OPS+) as he only played in 87 games, but in some areas he wasn’t that far off (.291/.356/.462, 124 OPS+).

Order:
Hill, ARI; Scutaro, SF; Gyorko, SD; Guerrero, LAD; LeMahieu, COL

Shortstop

Troy Tulowitzki – Colorado Rockies

Have to say that I was somewhat shocked Tulo received every first place vote. I thought Hanley Ramirez would nab at least a couple, but he did manage every second place vote.

Tulowitzki is another that saw his season limited due to injuries, but there’s no mistaking that his presence, both offensively and offensively, command respect. In 127 games last season (512 PA), Tulo compiled a triple slash of .312/.391/.540 with 25 HR and 82 RBI. He was also selected to his third All-Star team.

Order:
Tulowitzki, COL; Ramirez, LAD; Cabrera, SD; Gregorius, ARI; Crawford, SF

Third base

Pablo Sandoval – San Francisco Giants

Panda was the recipient of six first place votes while both Chase Headley and Martin Prado nabbed a pair.

Order:
Sandoval, SF; Headley, SD; Prado, ARI; Arenado, COL; Uribe, LAD