Goldschmidt carried the Cardinals offense to the playoffs. He had a weighted runs created plus of 146, meaning he was 46% better than an average hitter. No other Cardinal was even close. Goldschmidt's 146 wRC+ was 25 percentage points better than his next-closest teammate, Brad Miller, at 121 (and Miller didn't hit at all down the stretch in September). Besides Goldschmidt, Miller and Harrison Bader (113 wRC+) were the only Cardinals who performed better than league average in 2020. None of the other first basemen on the AllMLB ballot were the best hitter on their team by so wide a margin, or had to hit in a lineup with so few above-average hitters. Goldschmidt was all the Cardinals had.

1. A crazy -- but defensible -- All-MLB Team
By David Adler @_dadler
November 7, 2020
You might think filling out your ballot for the 2020 All-MLB Team presented by CohnReznick
would be easy. Just check off your DJ LeMahieus, your Mike Trouts, your Shane Biebers, your
Jacob deGroms, and you're finished.
Not so fast. Before you vote -- which fans can do right here, once every 24 hours, until 2 p.m.
ET on Friday -- take a good look at the other players on the ballot. There are a lot of
deserving All-MLB candidates that might surprise you.
Here's one All-MLB ballot filled out only with those surprise names. Just like with the real
Nov 4, 2020 · 0:59
Surprising All-MLB contenders
News MLB News
VIDEO SCORES STATS STANDINGS
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2. ballot, we picked one player from each position, with three outfielders, five starting pitchers
and two relievers. It's a crazy -- but defensible -- 2020 All-MLB Team.
First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals
Season stats: .304 AVG, 6 HR, 21 RBIs, 1 SB, .883 OPS
The reason: He carried his team
Goldschmidt carried the Cardinals offense to the playoffs. He had a weighted runs created
plus of 146, meaning he was 46% better than an average hitter. No other Cardinal was even
close. Goldschmidt's 146 wRC+ was 25 percentage points better than his next-closest
teammate, Brad Miller, at 121 (and Miller didn't hit at all down the stretch in September).
Besides Goldschmidt, Miller and Harrison Bader (113 wRC+) were the only Cardinals who
performed better than league average in 2020. None of the other first basemen on the All-
MLB ballot were the best hitter on their team by so wide a margin, or had to hit in a lineup
with so few above-average hitters. Goldschmidt was all the Cardinals had.
Second base: Jake Cronenworth, Padres
Season stats: .285 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBIs, 3 SB, .831 OPS
The reason: Elite contact quality
The Padres' out-of-nowhere NL Rookie of the Year contender had elite contact quality.
Statcast takes the exit velocity and launch angle of every ball a player hits to generate an
expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and overall expected wOBA
(weighted on-base average, which is like on-base percentage but gives more credit for things
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3. like home runs than singles). Cronenworth? He had a .324 xBA, .541 xSLG and .383 xwOBA.
His xwOBA was the best among second basemen -- yes, better than LeMahieu (.355) and
Brandon Lowe (.369). Even Cronenworth's xBA was better than the MLB batting champ's
(LeMahieu finished at .315).
Shortstop: David Fletcher, Angels
Season stats: .319 AVG, 3 HR, 18 RBIs, 2 SB, .801 OPS
The reason: Unparalleled contact ability
Fletcher's elite contact ability made him the perfect table-setter for Mike Trout and Anthony
Rendon at the top of the Angels' lineup. He had the lowest swing-and-miss rate in the Major
Leagues -- only 8.6%, meaning he was making contact on more than nine in every 10 swings
he took. Fletcher barely struck out once every 10 plate appearances, a top-five (lowest)
strikeout rate in MLB. All those balls in play produced a .319 batting average for Fletch, third-
best among shortstops behind Trea Turner and Tim Anderson. Oh, and he also had to fill in
for maybe the best defensive shortstop in the world, Andrelton Simmons. Not easy.
Third base: Justin Turner, Dodgers
Season stats: .307 AVG, 4 HR, 23 RBIs, 1 SB, .860 OPS
The reason: He did it all
There were a couple of interesting candidates here -- like Phillies rookie Alec Bohm, who led
third basemen in win probability added -- making real contributions toward his team winning
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4. games. But Turner gave you the best of all worlds: great stat sheet stats, great quality of
contact and great team win contributions. The Dodgers veteran was second among third
basemen in WPA; second in batting average and on-base percentage; and the very best in
Statcast's expected wOBA (.386, ahead of Anthony Rendon, Manny Machado and Gio
Urshela).
Catcher: Austin Nola, Padres
Season stats: .273 AVG, 7 HR, 28 RBIs, .825 OPS
The reason: Stealing strikes for his pitchers
Nola provided strong offense at the catcher position (126 wRC+), which is important by itself,
but the difference-maker was top-tier performance in a critical catcher area: pitch framing.
Nola got 640 called strikes on borderline pitches this season (within a baseball's width of the
edge of the zone), second only to Martín Maldonado. And from the time he arrived in San
Diego on Aug. 31 through the end of the season, Nola took it up a notch. He got a called
strike on 55% of the borderline pitches he caught with the Padres, third-best behind Jason
Castro and Maldonado. Thanks to Nola, no pitching staff stole more strikes on borderline
pitches down the stretch than the Padres -- San Diego vaulted to the top of the framing
leaders only after Nola arrived (the White Sox, with star framer Yasmani Grandal, were next-
best).
DH: Michael Brantley, Astros
Season stats: .300 AVG, 5 HR, 22 RBIs, 2 SB, .840 OPS
The reason: He hit pitchers' nastiest stuff
Brantley is always one of the best bat-to-ball contact hitters in baseball (look no further than
his .346 postseason batting average on the Astros' surprising ALCS run) -- and he stood out
from the other top All-MLB DH candidates in one key area: hitting secondary pitches. That's a
huge skill to have in 2020, with pitchers spinning nastier breaking and offspeed stuff than
ever before and moving away from the traditional fastball-first philosophy. Brantley hit .308
and slugged .538 against breaking and offspeed pitches in 2020, both ranking near the top
of the league. Nelson Cruz and Marcell Ozuna had amazing seasons, but they feasted on
fastballs -- Cruz hit .244 and slugged .411 vs. breaking and offspeed pitches, and Ozuna hit
.255 and slugged .449.
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