SAN FRANCISCO -- At the end of April, Brandon Crawford was batting .189. Now he's an All-Star starter.
The hottest stretch of Crawford's career earned him an easy win in the fan vote, and the second All-Star appearance of his career. Crawford will head to Washington D.C. alongside Buster Posey, who lost the fan vote to Chicago's Willson Contreras but was selected by his fellow players. Posey is an All-Star for the sixth time.
Crawford made mechanical adjustments after his rough start and took off, batting .412 with four homers and 21 RBI in May, and .326 with four homers and 14 RBI in June. With a week until the end of the first half, he leads National League shortstops with a .301 average and ranks second in OPS (.847) and RBI (39). Crawford is playing his usual Gold Glove defense, and with 2.5 Wins Above Replacement, he ranks second among NL shortstops and 19th among all position players in the league.
Crawford, 30, was also an All-Star in 2015, which prior to this season ranked as his best offensive year. He got into that game in the bottom of the fifth. This time around, he'll take the field at Nationals Park for the first pitch.
Posey is hitting .287/370/.415 with 18 doubles, five home runs and 27 RBI.
The Giants have hung around .500 throughout the season and the organization did not make a particularly strong push for fan votes, leaving Posey just short of another starting nod. Brandon Belt looked like a lock to make the team at one point, but he missed 13 games after having his appendix removed and others in the league -- most notably Paul Goldschmidt -- caught fire over the past month. Tony Watson took a 1.56 ERA into the day All-Stars were announced, but it is generally very difficult for relievers to make the team when they're not closing games.
