25-year old righty swinging outfielder Drew Stubbs is having a solid year for the Reds. He has played in 95 games for the Reds this year and he is 78 of 329 (.237 avg, .712 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 13 homers, 49 RBIs and 18 stolen bases. Stubbs does still have some holes in his swing that he needs to correct as he has whiffed 102 times already this year. Still he is a solid defensive CF who has speed and power and that combo is very hard to find. He has a very bright future for the Reds.

2B Brandon Phillips, 3B Scott Rolen and lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes are all heading to the All-Star Game next week. Phillips has played in 82 games for the Reds this season and he is 103 of 334 (.308 avg, .852 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 11 homers, 28 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Amazingly this will be Phillips’ first All-Star appearance. Scott Rolen will be playing in his sixth All-Star Game next week. He has played in 74 games for the Reds this season and he is 80 of 265 (.302 avg, .945 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 17 homers and 56 RBIs. Rolen also has a very solid glove which likely means he’ll be in the game late for the N.L. 40-year old lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes will be in his first All-Star Team of his long career. He has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) for the Reds this season and he is 3-2 with a 1.09 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. Rhodes has only given up 18 hits in 33 innings this season.

UPDATE: (7/8/2010) - 26-year old lefty swinging 1B Joey Votto has been elected by the fans to the All-Star team with the “Final Vote”. Votto has played in 80 games for the Reds this year and he is 92 of 294 (.313 avg, 1.006 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 21 homers, 59 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. The fans finally got this right as Votto is without a doubt the best player on the Reds.

29-year old righty swinging outfielder Jonny Gomes played in 98 games in 2009 with the Reds in which he was 75 of 281 (.267 avg, .879 OPS)with 39 runs scored, 20 homers and 51 RBIs. He had to think he was going to get a semi-decent offer on the free agent market but it never came. He accepted another minor league deal winning a spot on the Reds this spring. He has played in 63 games for the Reds this season and he is 60 of 205 (.293 avg, .858 OPS) with 28 runs scored, 9 homers and 49 RBIs. If Gomes keeps hitting like he is so far this season the Reds won’t be able to play chicken with him over the winter as some team will give him a good contract. Of course, maybe the Reds will do the right thing and sign him to a contract extension with a nice raise before the season is over.

36-year old righty swinging infielder Miguel Cairo has really been a solid player off the bench for the Reds so far this season. He has played in 32 games for the Reds this year and he is 20 of 71 (.282 avg, .728 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 2 homers, 9 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Cairo’s versatility in the field really helps the Reds’ bench and as long as he keeps hitting they will keep giving him a solid number of ABs. He was a longshot to make the team this spring but he played hard and earned a spot to keep his major league career rolling along.

I remember a lot of “experts” saying last summer that the Reds gave up too much to get 35-year old righty swinging 3B Scott Rolen. But he appears to be all the way back this season as his power has returned. He has played in 36 games for the Reds this season and he is 37 of 127 (.291 avg, .909 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 8 homers and 23 RBIs. Rolen’s all around game is giving the Reds a huge boost right now and he is part of the reason that they are in first place in the N.L. Central. Rolen has 7 Gold Gloves in his career and he has whacked more than 30 homers 3 times and he has driven in at least 100 runs 5 times. If Rolen can stay healthy enough to play in 140+ games he might add to those numbers in 2010.