Snubs & Surprises: Who Got Left Behind?
Edition #259
The All-Star game rosters are here, with a lot of surprises and a load of snubs. Some of the selections we’ve seen are so bad that we’re once again considering whether the ASG needs any skill. After all, even as a Dodgers fan myself, I couldn’t bare voting for Teoscar Hernandez with how his play has been this season, yet somehow, he finished as runner-up for a starting outfield position.
So, let’s look at breakout and overlooked stars that didn’t make the ASG this year, or found their way on the bench, and try to explain why, if we can at all.
All-Star Rosters:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters
C: Cal Raleigh (SEA)
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR)
2B: Gleyber Torres (DET)
3B: José Ramírez (CLE)
SS: Jacob Wilson (ATH)
OF: Aaron Judge (NYY)
OF: Riley Greene (DET)
OF: Javier Báez (DET)
DH: Ryan O'Hearn (BAL)
Reserves
C: Alejandro Kirk (TOR)
INF: Jonathan Aranda (TB)
INF: Alex Bregman (BOS)
INF: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (NYY)
INF: Brandon Lowe (TB)
INF: Jeremy Peña (HOU)
INF: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)
OF: Byron Buxton (MIN)
OF: Steven Kwan (CLE)
OF: Julio Rodríguez (SEA)
DH: Brent Rooker (ATH)
Starting pitchers
RHP: Hunter Brown (HOU)
LHP: Kris Bubic (KC)
LHP: Garrett Crochet (BOS)
RHP: Jacob deGrom (TEX)
LHP: Max Fried (NYY)
LHP: Yusei Kikuchi (LAA)
LHP: Tarik Skubal (DET)
RHP: Shane Smith (CWS)
RHP: Bryan Woo (SEA)
Relief pitchers
LHP: Aroldis Chapman (BOS)
LHP: Josh Hader (HOU)
RHP: Andrés Muñoz (SEA)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Starters
C: Will Smith (LAD)
1B: Freddie Freeman (LAD)
2B: Ketel Marte (AZ)
3B: Manny Machado (SD)
SS: Francisco Lindor (NYM)
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr. (ATL)
OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC)
OF: Kyle Tucker (CHC)
DH: Shohei Ohtani (LAD)
Reserves
C: Hunter Goodman (COL)
INF: Pete Alonso (NYM)
INF: Elly De La Cruz (CIN)
INF: Brendan Donovan (STL)
INF: Matt Olson (ATL)
INF: Eugenio Suárez (AZ)
OF: Corbin Carroll (AZ)
OF: Kyle Stowers (MIA)
OF: Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD)
OF: James Wood (WSH)
DH: Kyle Schwarber (PHI)
Starting pitchers
LHP: Matthew Boyd (CHC)
LHP: MacKenzie Gore (WSH)
LHP: Clayton Kershaw (LAD) -- Legend Pick
RHP: Freddy Peralta (MIL)
LHP: Robbie Ray (SF)
LHP: Chris Sale (ATL)
RHP: Paul Skenes (PIT)
RHP: Logan Webb (SF)
RHP: Zack Wheeler (PHI)
RHP: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD)
Relief pitchers
RHP: Jason Adam (SD)
RHP: Edwin Díaz (NYM)
RHP: Randy Rodríguez (SF)
Biggest Starter Snubs (Position by Position)
Cal Raleigh and Will Smith aren’t problems for me. Raleigh shouldn’t be a problem for anyone. He’s going nuts this season. In the National League, I like what Goodman is doing this year, but Will Smith, all around, is really helping the Dodgers.
1st Base
If I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t agree with both. Jonathan Aranda is having an awesome year as he leads all AL 1st basemen in average, OBP, and OPS, and is top 3 in hits and RBIs. On the other hand, Freddie Freeman is awesome. I love him, but guys, we need to give this spot to Pete Alonso. I would put Freeman on the bench and have Alonso start.
2nd Base
Once again, Torres is awesome, but Lowe has been a stud in the first half. 2nd in average, 1st in hits, home runs, and RBIs. The only thing making me second-guess this is the strikeouts, as he’s tied for first in the league, but his offensive production is really up there.
2nd base is really close, but I’m going to switch Ketel Marte and Brendan Donovan. Just looking at strikeouts, we can see that Marte is barely behind Donovan, and he’s played 19 fewer games.
3rd Base & SS
The Jose Ramirez pick is completely fine. I like what he’s done this season. But if this one guy made the roster, I may have changed my mind. I’ll talk about that guy soon, though. Neither am I going to argue with the Manny Machado pick. Good average, doubles. The reason I’m not going to put Eugenio Suarez over him is because, even with all the power we’ve seen from him this season, I’m not happy with his average numbers.
I’m also not going to complain about Jacob Wilson. In fact, I published a huge analysis piece completely looking at Jacob Wilson. Be sure to check it out here!
On the National League side of things, I think Elly has put in a solid enough season so far to be deemed a starter. I’m okay though with the Lindor pick.
Outfield
Aaron Judge obviously deserves to make it. Just like Cal Raleigh, is having a crazy season. I love the Riley Greene pick. He’s having an awesome season.
Then we have Baez. He’s having an awesome revival as well, but I just can’t come to a consensus to take him over Buxton. He’s 3rd in home runs, and it’s Judge and Greene in front of him. He’s also 3rd in stolen bases, and top 10 in average when looking at AL outfielders.
When looking at the NL, hate me all you want here, but I don’t like the Acuna pick. I would rather have James Wood there. The PCA pick is awesome, and so is the Kyle Tucker one. No arguments there.
DH
I can’t agree with the Ryan O’Hearn pick. I’m really trending towards Yandy Diaz for the starter pick. Obviously, Shohei Ohtani has to be the pick.
Reserves Notes
Right off the bat, I’m going to say that Bregman doesn’t deserve to be here. When he played, he did awesome, but he hasn’t played since May 23rd.
Do you know who should be here? Maikel Garcia. He leads AL 3rd basemen in hits, average, OBP, and doubles, and is top 3 in RBIs and total bases. He wasn’t even selected as a reserve.
To the NL, now, I’m not sure what happened to Josh Naylor. He should be there. Maybe even Michael Busch to that matter.
When looking at DH, I’m not the biggest Schwarber guy, but bias aside, I think Sheets should have made it. I’m being dead serious. Good average and power from the guy.
Finally, there’s no way Andy Pages and his awesome season just slid through the cracks like this. He should be here in place of Stowers, although that’s not possible.
No, I don’t want Soto here, however good he’s been the last couple of weeks.
Pitching:
I don’t want to argue with pitching too much. That wasn’t really a fan vote, so that’s not exactly my problem. (I know the reserves aren’t fan vote, too, but I just had to note a couple of things.)
I believe Joe Ryan should be here, in place of Bryan Woo, but it’s really because Woo plays in a more pitcher-friendly ballpark.
I love Kershaw as a legend pick. He deserves it, and he’s done awesome things in his career to get this. I mean, 3,000 strikeouts is nuts.
Home Run Derby:
So far, the ones that have committed are Cal Raleigh, James Wood, and Ronald Acuna Jr.
This is who I hope to see, though.
Cal Raleigh (C1)
Aaron Judge
Riley Greene
Junior Caminero
Shohei Ohtani
Eugenio Suarez
James Wood (C)
Ronald Acuna Jr (C)
Jerseys:
Finally, it’s time to get into jerseys.
The jerseys have always failed to impress me, but this time, I really like them. Good design and color scheme for both the AL and the NL, but I definitely like the NL scheme more. They do better together.
Committed
Replace Bregman with Junior Caminero, then all is right!
Bias aside for me as well, I truly believe both Trea Turner and Christopher Sanchez were snubbed of an All-Star selection. Besides the other obvious snubs like Andy Pages and Makiel Garcia, I would also point out that Ranger Suarez has a 1.99 ERA and a 7-2 record, although I understand record isn't appreciated as much as it used to be.