Story, Seager lead All-Star hopeful rookies

Rookie Trevor Story and his prolific home runs dominated headlines and became the Majors’ most surprising narrative during the first month of the 2016 season. But is the Rockies’ shortstop deserving of a starring role in the game’s biggest summer showcase — the 2016 All-Star Game presented by MasterCard on July 12 in San Diego?

Last year’s crop of sensational rookies, including All-Star Game participants Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson, ranked among the biggest storylines in 2015. But through these first six weeks of the ’16 season, another round of youngsters are showing that the league’s talent pool should remain fully stocked for years to come.

• Cast your Esurance All-Star ballot for #ASGWorthy players

Here’s an early look at the top first-year players on the 2016 Esurance All-Star Game ballot worthy of your consideration, plus a few more rookies that deserve a hard look for write-in spots:

Trevor Story, Rockies SS

Jose Reyes’ suspension to begin the season created a hole at shortstop for Colorado, but Story proved to be a fantastic fill-in. Sure, there were the 10 home runs in April, tying Jose Abreu’s 2013 record for most in the opening month by a rookie. There was the fact that he became the only player in Major League history to hit seven home runs in his first six games of the season. And don’t forget the hardware: National League Player of the Week to begin the season and the NL Rookie of the Month award for April.

But even though Story has come back to earth a bit in May, hitting just one homer and slugging a more human-like .460 in his first 12 games of the month, consider this: His 87 total bases entering Saturday’s games ranked second behind teammate Nolan Arenado in the NL and 11 more than second-place Aledmys Diaz among NL shortstops. If he keeps up his pace for total bases over a …

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