The 2017 MLB season has featured some incredible offensive storylines, with perhaps none as compelling as the power breakouts of rookie sensations Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. As the calendar flips to July and Judge, Bellinger and other great hitters receive their due attention in the All-Star festivities, Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) wants to put some of that spotlight on the best defensive performers of the first half. To do so, I've put together my list of defensive all-stars based on a combination of defensive runs saved (DRS) -- BIS's comprehensive estimate of player defensive value on a scale of runs that he saved or cost his team -- its component statistics and my own opinions as a detailed follower of the sport. I've selected just one player per position, so the following players are truly the best of the best glove men.
First base: Brandon Belt
San Francisco Giants | 8 DRS
So far this season, the Giants have been the second-worst defensive team in baseball. That's a far cry from their third-place finish in DRS from a year ago and one of the biggest reasons why they've tumbled to the second-worst record this season at 31-51. But Brandon Belt's inclusion among the defensive all-stars is not a case of every team needing a representative. Thanks to his exceptional range, Belt leads all first basemen in DRS. If he maintains the pace he is on, he has a chance of earning the odd distinction of saving the most runs of any player on a bottom-two defensive team this decade. Ian Kinsler did that for the 2014 Tigers with 20 runs saved on a team that had minus-61 DRS overall, and no one else on a qualifying team has eclipsed 10 DRS.