Houston Astros: The case for Evan Gattis to be an All-Star

The usual suspects of Houston Astros players are likely to make the All-Star team. Evan Gattis needs to be included among them!

When you think of Houston Astros All-Stars, names like Craig Biggio and Jose Altuve come very quickly to mind. One name that doesn’t, but should for this year, is Evan Gattis.

Yes fans, you are going to hear me harp on the positives about El Oso Blanco. Similarly, I already do in my fan blog on him, The White Bear Chronicles. But seriously, the time for joking and trolling about the bull-bear needs to be over, and his stats looked at seriously.

The Houston Chronicle reported last night that Gattis became the first player in Astros franchise history to have consecutive games with at least 5 RBI in each game. Additionally, he is hitting .297 over the past 29 games with 12 homers and 34 RBI. He has risen his OPS to near the .800 mark, after finishing April with a .538 in that same category.

As Altuve would say, “He’s pretty good!”

Lumberjack Stump

Because of this, I join many fans in saying that this needs to be the year that Gattis makes his first All-Star Game appearance in 2018. In his now 6th career year, the proverbial “ambush caveman,” as skipper A.J. Hinch calls him, has not made it to the midsummer classic for various reasons.

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Knowingly, some may use the April excuse as a means to not vote for Gattis. While understandable, I still personally find it to be foolish. Gattis has had plenty of hot streaks, to be sure, but none to this effect across his career.

Currently, J.D. Martinez leads the A.L. vote for DH. followed by Giancarlo Stanton, Shohei Ohtani and then Gattis. Fans, I know you all have a love for JD and all of his years here. But let’s be honest, his jersey doesn’t say Astros anymore. Red Sox fans shouldn’t be showing us up in any aspect of baseball, even All-Star voting.

One thing will work in Gattis’ favor: Hinch is the manager for the American League team, being that the Houston Astros won both the league pennant and eventual World Champion. If he should not get enough votes among the fans (AHEM!), heaven forbid, the skip really should consider bringing him on as a managerial invite.

Alternatively, Gattis should, at the very least, be invited by the American League captain to participate in the home run derby. That task falls to the American League player with the most home runs. If that happened today, J.D. Martinez would get the nod.

Next: Brad Hand should be priority number one

All decision makers need to make this happen somehow in 2018. Something has got to give. I told everyone back in April to be civil about Evan Gattis. Sure did pay off, didn’t it?!

#VOTEGATTIS! #VOTEASTROS!

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