Ryan Vogelsong, From Castoff to All-Star

If you're looking for the perfect comeback story, look no further than Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. To begin the season, the Giants knew they had a cast of All-Star quality pitchers. What they didn't know was Vogelsong would soon be one of them. Since being drafted by San Francisco in the 5th round of the 1998 Major League Draft, the soon-to-be 34 year old right-hander has overcome just about every hardship in the book. After making his debut with the Giants in 2000 as a September call-up, Vogelsong was packaged a year later to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Jason Schmidt among others. Though the deal worked in favor of the Giants who saw Schmidt blossom into a 3-time All-Star, Vogelsong would appear to be on a downward spiral after needing Tommy John Surgery just two starts into his campaign with the Pirates, keeping him out of the bigs until the end of the 2003 season.

Vogelsong would continue to struggle at the Major League level, causing him to pursue his baseball career elsewhere in Japan where he spent three seasons from 2007-2009 before stints in the Minors for the Phillies and Angels. While being hung out to dry on the free-agent market, general manager Brian Sabean of the defending World Series Champion Giants signed Vogelsong to a Minor League deal with an invite to Spring Training where he impressed skipper Bruce Bochy, but was left off the Opening Day roster due to a crowded pitching staff. However, Vogelsong would get his chance less than a month into the season, when Bochy saw his number 4 starter in Barry Zito fall to injury, resulting in a call up which saw Vogelsong fill the void of the former Cy Young Award winner. Little did he know Vogelsong would pitch his way into the rotation for good, despite being four years removed from his last start in the big leagues.

With a disappointing win-loss record of 10-22 and a mediocre ERA of 5.86 to show for after 6 Major League seasons, it would've been nearly impossible for anyone including Vogelsong to predict he'd make the Giants roster with as big of an impact he's made, let alone earn a spot on the All-Star team. After making his season debut on April 28, it wasn't long before the Giants struck gold as the right-hander paved his way to success by making nine consecutive starts where he allowed two runs or fewer to highlight his All-Star campaign. In the midst of his stellar season that's been nothing short of a Cinderella story, Giants manager Bruce Bochy has taken heavy fire lately as many believe his decision to name Vogelsong (6-1) to the All-Star Game was a homer move considering he already has two of his starting pitchers being represented in the Midsummer Classic.

Though his ERA of 2.17 is tops in the NL, he doesn't meet the number of innings pitched required to qualify for the ERA title which is a result of his late-April call-up. While Vogelsong's story of rags to riches alone merits a trip to the Midsummer Classic, arguments could also be made for Atlanta's Tommy Hanson and Pittsburgh's Kevin Correia who coincidentally served under Bruce Bochy as a Giant. The only starter Vogelsong would stand in the way of however, would be Hanson as Correia was a late add to the roster, replacing Philadelphia's Cole Hammels who took the mound on Sunday. And though I do think Hanson was snubbed from the All-Star team, I won't discredit Vogey for all he's done to get here, not to mention Hanson who at the young age of 24 will make multiple cameos in the Midsummer Classic before his career is all said and done. After all, it's unlikely Vogelsong will ever get this opportunity again.

If I'm going to make the argument to defend Vogelsong, I might as well stick up for Bruce Bochy too who fans are making it sound like he's made the only mistake when in fact it's the fans who get the voting wrong time and time again. Who's to judge Bochy's decision when the fans are the ones who vote Derek Jeter and A-Rod in every year regardless if their stats are All-Star worthy or not. It's bad enough that fans have the power to select the starting position players, but if they were in control of who the pitchers are also, it might as well be a Yankee-Phillies game given all the All-Star game really is is a popularity contest. And given the game decides which league gets home-field advantage in the World Series, the smart thing to do would be to outlaw the fan-voting. Besides, Bochy isn't the first All-Star manager to choose a player of his own. Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel did it two years ago when he decided to elect Shane Victorino over Pablo Sandoval who finished the season as the runner-up for the NL batting title behind Florida's Hanley Ramirez.

Also being named to his first ever All-Star team is the aforementioned Giants infielder - Pablo Sandoval who was a late addition to the roster, filling in for the injured Jose Reyes. Similar to Volgelsong, many believe Sandoval isn't deserving of an All-Star appearance due to a month long stint on the disabled list caused by a broken hand. To his credit, Sandoval entered the All-Star break on a 20-game hitting-streak, finishing the first half on a high note. The addition of Sandoval gives the Giants a total of 5 All-Star's (Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson, Ryan Vogelsong and Pablo Sandoval), the club's largest representation since the 1966 season which saw 6 Giants represent the orange and black -- Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylor Perry, Jim Ray Hart and Tom Haller.

One thing is for sure and that's that the orange and black will be well represented this year as Arizona's Chase Field gets set to kick off the 82nd annual MLB All-Star Game on FOX (5 p.m. PST).