The National League's Got the Wrong Guy

     The "Final Vote", the process where fans elect the final player onto the All-Star squad, resulted in Paul Konerko and Shane Victorino being voted into the All-Star game after being left off the roster originally. Konerko was a great choice, as he's hitting .316 with 22 homers and 64 RBI, stats of a All-Star. But I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the selection of Victorino. He's having a fine season, but the Phillies' centerfielder shouldn't have been selected over Michael Morse of the Nationals or fellow centerfielder Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
     In the months of May and June, Morse was arguably the hottest guys in the majors after taking over at first base for the Nats after Adam LaRoche went down for the season, Morse hit .337 with 14 round-trippers and 37 RBI. At the beginning of the hot streak, Morse's OPS was at .521 going into his May 2 game against the San Francisco Giants. After the Nats played the Orioles in the "Battle of the Beltway", Morse's OPS (on-base-plus slugging) was at .924, an increase of over 400 points.
     A lot of people were outraged at McCutchen being snubbed from the team, especially with the likes of Hunter Pence and Justin Upton being selected in front of him to satisfy the rule that all teams have to be represented by at least one player. McCutchen's batting average/ home run/ RBI line is .291/12/48 to go along with 15 steals, which is better than Victorino's .303/9/34 and 13, although Victorino had one stint on the 15 day disabled list and won't even be available to play as he is hurt again with a thumb injury. His spot is being taken by Andre Ethier (.313/7/42) from the financially-unstable Dodgers, and other than being inferior to both in batting average, I'd take McCutchen over both of them. What surprises me is that although most people that know what they're talking about placed McCutchen as the top All-Star snub before the FInal Vote ballots were created, McCutchen was passed over in favor of Victorino, Ethier, Todd Helton, Morse, and Ian Kennedy (listed in order of Final Vote standings).
     If I had to choose either Morse or McCutchen for the ASG, I'd go with Morse. Personally, I think Morse's stats are slightly better than McCutchen's, and Morse can play almost any position in the field, which would make him more appealing to manager Bruce Bochy. So to wrap it up, I would pick the final player on the All-Star team in this order: Michael Morse, Andrew McCutchen, Shane Victorino, Andre Ethier.