Giants Sending Four to All-Star Game

It's been a while since the Giants had three starters in an All-Star game, but that's exactly what they'll have next week at the annual mid-summer classic in Kansas City.

Posey Led NL in Votes

Pablo Sandoval was voted in as the starting 3rd basemen, Buster Posey as the starting catcher and Melky Cabrera as a starting outfielder. Those names really shouldn't surprise anyone, as they were at the top of the voting at their respective positions for a while now, but the one that does kind of surprise me is Pablo Sandoval. He's been solid when he's been out there, but to miss a month in the first half and still get voted in takes some help on the fans behalf. Melky was leading the league in hitting for a good portion of the first half and certainly deserved the nod, so it was good to see the fans show up late and help get him in. Buster has been the leading catcher for the NL since balloting opened up (finishing with an NL-high 7.6M votes) so he'll be attending his first career All-Star game as a starter. The big surprise to me though, was that Tony LaRussa didn't pick any other Giants pitchers to join Matt Cain. Matty became very much a potential starter for the NL after his perfect game last month, but I'd say both Bumgarner and Vogelsong were deserving as well as Sergio Romo and possibly even Santiago Casilla.

The All-Star selections really capped off what was a positive week for the Giants as an organization. They overtook the Dodgers for the NL West lead, they finished the week off strongly vs. the Reds after a couple bad losses on Friday and Saturday and will head into a series some people are calling the NL Championship

Gustavo Cabrera

preview between them and the Washington Nationals. The team also made some personnel moves that will bring more depth and talent to their lower minor league ranks. Although the Giants haven't yet confirmed either deal, it's been reported that they've inked two top-20 international prospects, including #1-ranked Gustavo Cabrera. I heard a little bit about Cabrera after he won the RBI World Series MVP in 2011, and the 16 year-old outfielder looks legit. Scouts have drawn comparisons between he and Justin Upton and believe he'll be an impact player at the big league level by his early 20's. At 16 years old, he'll have plenty of time to figure out baseball in the states. The Giants also got themselves the #11-ranked Nathanael Javier, a 16 year-old third basemen who's said to not only posses skills but uncanny baseball smarts for a kid his age. Two big signings for a team thin on impact youngsters in their minor league system.