Jemile Weeks happy to be in the All-Star mix

Jemile Weeks was shown the vote totals for American League second basemen. He finished sixth.

For someone hitting .222 in his first full big-league season, Weeks was grateful he received 885,073 votes. Not quite close to Robinson Cano's 5,806,958 or Ian Kinsler's 4,967,247. But considering all circumstances, Weeks was perfectly OK with it.

"That's cool. Just to be in the mix is a good feeling," he said. "I feel I could've done a lot better. This season has been a good learning curve, just the understanding of dealing with the ups and downs. That's a big adjustment for me at this point. I'm not happy about it, but I'll be better down the road because of it. I'll continue to play strong, and good things will come for me."

Last year, Weeks batted .303 with a .340 on-base percentage and 22 steals in 97 games after being called up June 7.

"Coming out of the gate, it was a little different for me," he said. "I didn't get those confidence hits that dropped if you hit it hard or soft. It's been a grind. Now I know how to cope with it, and throughout the rest of the season, it'll be a little bit more of my style of baseball."

Yoenis Céspedes finished 14th among outfielders, Josh Reddick 18th. At all other positions, the top eight were made public, and Weeks was the only A's player ranked.

What about moving up in the fan voting next year?

"Just wait," he said, smiling. "That's all I've got to say."


(sfgate.com)