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.

26-year old righty starting pitcher Edison Volquez has been dominating on a rehab assignment as he gets closer to coming back to the Reds’ starting rotation. Volquez has started 4 games in A+AAA-ball so far this season and he is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA and a 0.58 WHIP. He has only allowed 9 hits in 19 innings this season in the minors while whiffing 15 batters and walking only 2 showing that his stuff is almost all of the way back. Volquez has started 41 games in his first two years with the Reds and he is 21-8 with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. The Reds can’t wait until Volquez is ready to join the starting rotation.

40-year old lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes has been simply amazing for the Cincinnati Reds so far this season. He has pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the Reds this year and he is 2-1 with a 0.28 ERA and a 0.81 WHIP. Rhodes has only given up 15 hits in 32 innings this season while whiffing 30 batters which is pretty darn amazing. Rhodes has now pitched in 101 games (0 starts) in his two years with the Reds and he is 3-2 with a 1.69 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. It looks as if signing Arthur Rhodes two winters ago was a coup for the Reds.

40-year old Arthur Rhodes and 25-year old Danny Herrera are doing great out of the pen for the Reds so far this season. Rhodes just seems to get better with age. He has pitched in 14 games (0 starts) for the Reds this season and he is 1-1 with a 0.69 ERA and a 0.62 WHIP. He has only given up 4 hits in 13 innings this season while whiffing 14 batters showing just how nasty he has been. As long as he stays healthy I see no reason why Rhodes can’t continue pitching very well. Danny Herrera has pitched in 16 games (0 starts) for the Reds this season and he is 0-1 with a 1.74 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. His improvement this season has come in his control as he has walked only 1 batter in 10 1/3 innings this season. If he continues to throw strikes, Herrera is going to have a outstanding year for the Reds.

22-year old righty starting pitcher Mike Leake was the #3 rated prospect of the Reds heading into this season according to Baseball America. He pitched so well in spring training that he didn’t pitch one day in the minors going right from Arizona State University to the Cincinnati Reds pitching mound. He has started 4 games for the Reds so far this season and he is 2-0 with a 3.25 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. His only real issue so far this season has been his control as he has walked 15 batters in 27 2/3 innings pitched this year. It Leake tightens up his control just a tad the Reds might be a surprise team in the N.L. Central this season.