The Rangers will be sending four position players and a pitcher to the All-Star Game in L.A. Lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton and righty swinging DH Vladimir Guerrero were both voted in by the fans and they were good picks. Hamilton has played in 78 games for the Rangers this year and he is 106 of 313 (.339 avg, 1.001 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 20 homers, 61 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. This will be Hamilton’s 3rd appearance in the All-Star Game. Vladimir Guerrero has played in 77 games this year for the Rangers and he is 98 of 297 (.330 avg, .940 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 18 homers, 70 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. This is Guerrero’s 9th All-Star Game appearance in his outstanding career. 21-year old shortsop Elvis Andrus will be Derek Jeter’s backup in the All-Star Game. Andrus has played in 78 games for the Rangers this season and he is 88 of 305 (.289 avg, .699 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 0 homers, 25 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. This will be Andrus’ first All-Star Game. Ian Kinsler was added to the All-Star Team to replace the injured Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox. Kinsler has played in 58 games for the Rangers this season and he is 64 of 214 (.299 avg, .815 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 3 homers, 26 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. This is the second time Kinsler has made the All-Star Team. Fireballing reliever Neftali Feliz has made his first All-Star Team. He has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) for the Rangers this season and he is 1-2 with 22 saves, a 3.00 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. Feliz has only given up 24 hits while whiffing 40 batters in only 36 innings. This is a pretty good contingent of Rangers heading to the All-Star Game.

27-year old righty swinging 2B Ian Kinsler finished in a tie for 26th with Felix Hernandez for the A.L. MVP Award. Kinsler played in 144 games for the Rangers last season and he was 143 for 566 (.253 avg, .814 OPS) with 101 runs scored, 31 homers, 86 RBIs and 31 stolen bases. He has now played 4 years with the Rangers appearing in 515 games in which he is 556 for 1,990 (.279 avg, .827 OPS) with 364 runs scored, 83 homers, 273 RBIs and 91 stolen bases. The sky is the limit for Kinsler as long as he can just stay healthy and last year showed that when he was a 30/30 man.

33-year old righty swinging 3B Michael Young finished 16th for the A.L. MVP Award. He played in 135 games for the Rangers and he was 174 for 541 (.322 avg, .892 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 22 homers, 68 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Young has now played in 1,351 games in his 10 years with the Rangers and he is 1,662 for 5,501 (.302 avg, .798 OPS) with 819 runs scored, 137 homers, 720 RBIs and 77 stolen bases. Young made a seamless transition to 3B from SS last season and he would have finished much higher in the voting if he wouldn’t have hurt himself late in the year.

Ron Washington did a great job for the Rangers last season leading them to a 87-75 record (53.7%). He has now compiled a 241-245 record (49.6%) in three years with the Rangers. Look for Washington to keep getting a lot of votes for this award as he is doing a great job in Arlington and there is no reason to think that won’t continue.

21-year old righty swinging shortstop Elvis Andrus finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. He played in 145 games for the Rangers last season and he was 128 for 480 (.267 avg, .702 OPS) with 72 runs scored, 6 homers, 40 RBIs and 33 stolen bases. Andrus has a lot of room to grow offensively and he has a outstanding glove so look for him to help the Rangers for a long, long time.