Matt of Matt's Bats: Picking the Nationals' all-time All-Stars

The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is on Tuesday, July 14. At least one representative from each major league team plays for home field advantage in the World Series. Fans vote for the starting nine position players, a players' vote fills in reserves, and then the manager consults with the leagues and picks the pitching staff and remaining bench players. This year's contest is at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

Two Nationals made it in - Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer - and that got me thinking about who are the all-time greatest players for the Nationals at each position to field the Nationals' All-Star team.

Catcher - Ivan Rodriguez: Rodriguez is a future Hall of Famer. He was a 14-time All-Star, won the AL MVP in 1997 and won the National League Championship Series MVP in 2003, guiding the Florida Marlins to the World Series victory. He also won 13 Gold Gloves and seven Silver Sluggers. When Rodriguez filed for free agency after his long career with the Florida Marlins and Texas Rangers, the Nationals signed him for two years. He became a fan favorite to many, especially my younger brother. He played for two years before retiring from baseball as a National. He hit .255 with the Nats and only hit six homers, but he caught important games like Strasburg's debut and most importantly, the first game I saw at Nationals Park. Based on his achievements, I think Rodriguez should get the nod over Wilson Ramos, who is actually a huge Rodriguez fan himself.

First base - Adam Dunn: Dunn slugged for a Nationals team that wasn't very good. In his two-year tenure. He hit .276 and he smacked 76 home runs. Dunn was the bright spot on the 2009 and 2010 Nationals, along with Ryan Zimmerman. I think that he edges out Adam LaRoche for the Nationals franchise firstbaseman. Dunn had the power numbers, and everyone digs the longball.

Second base - Alfonso Soriano: Acquired by the Nats in 2006 from Texas for Brad Wilkerson, Termel Sledge and Armando Galarraga, Soriano had a career year with the Nats in 2006, hitting 46 homers and stealing 41 bases. Although Soriano only played one year at RFK Stadium, he played fantastically. On Sept.16, he became the only major league player ever to hit 40 home runs, steal 40 bases and make 20 outfield assists in a single season. That single season accomplishment earns him a spot on the Nationals All-Star team. (Editor's note: Though Soriano saw substantial action at second base in his long major league career, he never played the position as a National. In his career, Soriano played 1,092 games in the outfield, including 1,096 in left field, and 766 at second base.)

Shortstop- Ian Desmond: Desmond, drafted in the third round by the Montreal Expos 2004, has been the Nationals franchise shortstop even though he has had struggles this year with his offense and defense. In his seven-year career with Washington, he has hit .265 with 98 home runs. He has driven in a whopping 393 runs. He's a three-time Silver Slugger. Desmond, for his play between 2011-2014, is the easy choice for shortstop.

Third base - Ryan Zimmerman: The face of the franchise leads the Nationals in almost every hitting category. He is the franchise leader in runs scored, batting average, hits, extra-base hits, multi-hit games, singles, doubles, walks, RBIs and home runs. He also leads in games played, and has the Nationals' longest hitting streak (30 games). This is an easy choice.

Outfield - Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Brad Wilkerson: Harper has been the star of the Nationals so far in his three-year career. He won the 2012 Rookie of the Year Award and has hit some of the longest and most beautiful home runs into the upper deck. It is no coincidence that his rookie year was the first time the Nats made it to the postseason. Werth, who came to the Nationals in 2011, changed the team from a losing one to a division-winning one. He's best known on the field for hitting a walk-off homerun in Game 4 of the 2012 National League Division Series to keep the Nationals' season alive. His real legacy, I think, is how he led the team off the field and turned them into champions.Finally, I'm reaching far back in Nats history for my third outfielder. Wilkerson was drafted by the Expos (33rd overall in 1998) and made his debut at Olympic Stadium for the Expos. In 2005, he became a highlight of the first-year Nats. He hit for the cycle in the secondgame the Nationals ever played. It was a natural cycle, hitting a single, double, triple and home run in that order. No other Nats player has done it since.

Starting pitcher - Max Scherzer: Scherzer has pitched phenomenally in first half of his first season with Washington. He had a three-game stretch in mid-to-late June when he had a perfect game or no-hitter going into the sixth inning or later. He threw a no-no on June 20, and I think he is going into evolve into a Hall of Fame player. Stephen Strasburg, the 2009 first overall draft selection, and Jordan Zimmermann are also very good pitchers, and it would have been a close call to pick between them if Scherzer had not signed with the Nats this offseason.

Closer - Chad Cordero: Cordero was a great closer for the Nationals from 2005-07. He recorded 113 saves in that period, second in all of baseball to Trevor Hoffman's 131 in that time period. Cordero's only challenger is Drew Storen, the Nats closer from 2012-15. However, based on the numbers in the record books, I'm giving the closer spot to Cordero.

I hope you like my picks. Please tweet to me @MattsBats if there is anyone I missed!

In case you were wondering, here's the ballot I selected for this year's All-Star Game.

Ten-year-old Matt blogs about the Nationals at Matt's Bats. Follow him on Twitter: @MattsBats. He shares his views weekly as part of MASNsports.com's initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.