On Sunday night, Major League Baseball announced the 64 (as of right now) All-Stars that will be playing next Tuesday night at Marlins Park in Miami. And while many deserving players (including nearly all of the starters – great job to the fans this year) made the game, many others didn’t.
(for reference, here are the rosters for both teams and the ten players included in the Final Vote, two of whom were included in this list)
Here are the six most egregious snubs for this year’s All-Star Game, with the knowledge that most of these guys will eventually make it anyway as replacements for injured players.
Chris Archer, Rays. I had to do about five takes just to make sure Archer wasn’t an All-Star. Yup – he’s not there. Archer’s win-loss record is just 6-5 and his 3.92 ERA doesn’t exactly raise your eyebrows, but he’s still second in the AL with 131 strikeouts. He’s also one of MLB’s most charismatic players, and adding him to the game wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing. Yet, here we are.
Aaron Hicks, Yankees. The Yankees have five All-Stars, so it’s not as if their fanbase is going to be outraged about Hicks not going to Miami. But he deserved it, arguably more than Dellin Betances or Starlin Castro. In 60 games this year, Hicks is hitting .290/.398/.515 with ten homers and seven steals, ranking sixth among AL outfielders in fWAR at 2.7 (behind five All-Stars, one of which is starting DH Corey Dickerson). Hicks could’ve been named and immediately replaced on the roster, since he was placed on the DL last Sunday and wouldn’t have played in the game anyway.
Logan Morrison, Rays. I promise I didn’t mean to pick two Rays as snubs, but Morrison is having a legitimately good year at first base. He’s slashing .256/.364/.581 with 24 homers, the most among all American League first basemen. Morrison didn’t make the team because of the “one player per team” rule – fellow first basemen Yonder Alonso and Justin Smoak were the sole representatives from their teams and were voted in by the players and fans, respectively, and only one position player (Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles, another player as the only representative from his team) was chosen by the Commissioner’s office to fill out the roster.
Morrison is one of two players on this list that’s on the Final Vote.
Jimmy Nelson, Brewers. You may not know the name Jimmy Nelson, and that’s alright. The Brewers got their token All-Star in closer Corey Knebel (a deserving choice, as far as relievers go), but Nelson is having a great year and deserves some recognition. He’s actually sixth among all NL pitchers in fWAR at 2.5, pitching to a 3.43 ERA with 104 strikeouts and just 25 walks in 97 innings. But alas, the numbers crunch claimed him too – Knebel was the Commissioner’s pick as the token Brewer, while Brad Hand and Pat Neshek made the team as the lone reps of the Padres and Phillies.
In fact, the only starting pitcher chosen by the Commissoner’s office was Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals, whose stats across the board are quite similar to Nelson’s…only better in nearly every category.
Felipe Rivero, Pirates. Rivero was even more of a numbers crunch victim than Nelson, given that he’s a reliever (and one that hasn’t been the closer all season, either). Wade Davis, Greg Holland, and Kenley Jansen were all deservedly voted in by the players, and Hand, Knebel, and Neshek were chosen by the Commissioner’s office as sole reps. The lone Pirate was infielder Josh Harrison, in the midst of another strong season, and in another year, Rivero would have looked like a slam dunk choice. Over 44 innings, Rivero has struck out 49, walked only ten, and pitched to a sterling 0.82 ERA on the season (that’s just four earned runs, folks).
But hey, if you don’t have a giant save total and your team isn’t completely wretched, there’s a strong chance you’ll get snubbed as a reliever. That’s exactly what happened with Rivero this year.
Justin Turner, Dodgers. Jake Lamb is having a great year, and deservedly claimed the second third base spot in the National League. But Justin Turner is leading baseball with a .388 batting average (albeit just without enough plate appearances to qualify), and he was relegated to the Final Vote, along with fellow third basemen Kris Bryant and Anthony Rendon. It’s a bit ridiculous that a player leading all three triple slash categories at his position in his league isn’t an immediate All-Star, but given his missed time at the start of the year, it makes some sense.
