"Punch A.J." Campaign Underway

Now baseball fans have a chance to show how they really feel about White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzinski. He is one of the five Final Man Candidates for the American League All-Star squad. White Sox fans already have a slogan for the campaign: "Punch A.J." (referring to the punch Cub catcher Michael Barrett gave A.J. during a game on May 20th.)

Pierzinski has tough competition: Travis Hafner of Cleveland, Justin Verlander of the Tigers, Ramon Hernandez of Baltimore and Francisco Liriano of Minnesota. All are worthy candidates. Hafner may be considered the favorite on his numbers alone. But, the AL team already has three power-hitting first basemen -- David Ortiz, Paul Konerko and Jim Thome. Where do you put Hafner? With four strong, dominant relief pitchers and eight starters, do you really need another starter in Verlander or Liriano?

Which brings us to Hernandez and Pierzinski. Both are catchers. Ivan Rodriguez is the starting catcher, but has had occasional back problems. Joe Mauer is the backup. So the AL squad could carry a third catcher. Obviously, I'm more familiar with Pierzinski. He's having an outstanding first half, hitting around .330. Plus, he makes life interesting on the field. You never know what's going to happen with Pierzinski in the game. The All-Star game can get boring sometimes, so a player like A.J. can spice things up a bit.

You can place your vote for the Final Man on MLB.com.