#ASGWorthy: Rizzo, A-Gon pace NL 1B pack

The season is young — but not so young that we can’t highlight players standing out in the crowd. With the release of the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Ballot, it’s time to start paying attention to who might be worthy of inclusion in the July 12 Midsummer Classic at San Diego’s Petco Park and let your clicks be heard.

As a public service, we’re going to look position by position in each league. We’ll begin today with National League first basemen.

• Cast your Esurance All-Star ballot #ASGWorthy players

The stalwarts

Anthony Rizzo is the heart and soul of that loaded Cubs lineup, and unsurprisingly, he’s delivered in the early going, mashing eight homers and driving in 21 runs (trailing only Bryce Harper in those categories). Adrian Gonzalez continues to age like a fine wine, delivering a .351/.417/.527 slash line so far.

And though Paul Goldschmidt is off to a slower start than you’d expect in terms of his average (.261), he’s still got a .536 SLG (five homers, two doubles and a triple) and is delivering dynamic defense to compile the second-highest FanGraphs-calculated WAR tally (0.7) among NL first basemen.

The fast starters

Chris Carter has delivered on his power reputation in an extreme way for the Brewers, cranking out five homers and a league-high nine doubles. He’s also got a batting average (.295) that is 75 points above his career norm — a figure that might not be sustainable considering his penchant for strikeouts — and the highest OPS among NL first basemen (1.050).

And John Jaso has …

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