The Hartford Courant asked me to write a short piece about the competition for the 2009 American League All Star Team at first base. This can also be seen  in today's Courant, sans the last paragraph.

Kevin Youkilis is a clear choice offensively as the starting 1st baseman for the American League in the 2009 All Star Game. His on base percentage, which of the easily calculated stats corresponds most closely with runs scored, is almost 60 points higher than Mark Teixeira’s.  To put that into perspective, in sixty fewer plate appearances Youkilis has reached base only seven fewer times than Teixeira. Teixeira does have 20 home runs to Youkilis’ 14 (more on this later), but Youkilis still has a 20 point advantage in slugging percentage, which makes his OPS (On base plus slugging) almost 80 points higher than Teixeira’s.

Concerning Teixeira’s home runs, 13 of his 20 have come at the launching pad which is the new Yankee Stadium, and these despite 20 fewer plate appearances at home than on the road. The Yankees as a team have hit 21 more home runs at home than on the road in four less games. Certainly a case can be made that Teixeira’s home run total for 2009 is inflated.

Defensively, both Teixeira and Youkilis are outstanding first basemen, although I would give the advantage to Teixeira. This would not, however, be nearly enough to negate the larger discrepancy in the players’ respective offensive contributions for the first half of 2009.

Youkilis should start over Teixeira in the 2009 American League All Star game and, in my opinion, it is not really close. In fact, arguments could be that Russell Branyan, Justin Morneau (especially him), and Miguel Cabrera should all make the AL All Star team ahead of Teixeira.