The race to be the American League second baseman in July's All-Star game should be a no-brainer. One player has clearly separated himself from the field, but it's not Robinson Cano in New York or Dustin Pedroia in Boston. It's not even Ian Kinsler down in Texas. The runaway winner should be Howie Kendrick for the LA Angels.

If you believe that on-base percentage and slugging percentage are the best way to measure offensive production and that zone rating--a metric that reveals range--is the best way to evaluate defense, Kendrick's case becomes self-evident. He leads all AL second baseman in OBP. He's second in slugging by just one point to Cano. His zone rating is the best among contending candidates. The Angel second baseman has been steady, if unspectacular for several years now, and the first part of 2011 has been a banner year.

For those who aren't necessarily sold on the three statistics I outlined, or who aren't convinced Kendrick will keep his strong play going, there's four candidates that deserve a look. Cano's slugging percentage is keyed by 12 home runs, easily tops at this position but his lack of plate discipline has led to a woeful on-base percentage and while his athleticism and his swing are truly wonders to behold, the bottom line says he's a drag on the offense if he isn't hot. Pedroia also has a national reputation that exceeds his production. His who's power--even for extra-base hits--has collapsed, though his batting eye is the opposite of Cano's and 45 walks have kept the Red Sox second baseman at least reasonably productive while he tries to get his bat cranking again. Writing as a Boston fan who watches Pedroia any night the Bruins aren't on in the NHL playoffs, I would say he's an easy to player to love when he's on your team because of his feistiness and leadership, but we can't let that blind us to clear shortcomings on his resume.

We can stay in the AL East to look at Tampa's Ben Zobrist, who is putting together a very nice year with a .342 OBP and a .487 slugging, only five points back of Cano. Zobrist also leads AL second baseman in runs scored and has been a big help to teammate Matt Joyce in keeping the Rays' offense afloat. Finally we come to Texas' Kinsler, who is similar to Pedroia--he draws a lot of walks and keeps himself effective that way, but power has been a real problem.

There's a pretty good group of second baseman in the American League, but only LA's Kendrick is the complete package. He's got a snowball's chance of actually starting in Phoenix, but it won't be because of any on-field shortcoming.

Image from cactuscamps.com

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Dan Flaherty is the editor of the Sports Notebook Family, published through the Real Clear Sports Blog Network, offering daily commentary on baseball . He is the author of The Last New Year's, a book that revisits the historic high points of college football's New Year's Day bowl games.