It is a fact of life that with every All-Star Game in every sport. There will be snubs. Players whose seasons merit inclusion in an exhibition of the game’s finest are told that they are not worthy enough to do so. Misrepresentative fan voting (thankfully Omar Infante is out) coupled with league rules stating that each team needs a player in the game makes baseball’s All-Star Game the most snub-laden of them all. Even the league’s Final Vote gimmick doesn’t right all the wrongs. Here are the six ballplayers who have the biggest gripes for their lack of participation in Cincinnati’s festivities. We’ve gone with three for each league for brevity’s sake.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Xander Bogaerts, SS (Boston Red Sox)
Bogaerts in on the Final Vote ballot, but it shouldn’t even have come to that. In a season mired by organizational inconsistency, Bogaerts has been rock solid. The 22-year old is hitting .304 with 40 RBI while being shuffled throughout the lineup on a seemingly nightly basis. The one thing that has remained constant for the first time in his career is his position on the diamond: shortstop. He has improved markedly defensively with just five errors in 365 chances at the epicenter of the infield. Strangely, AL manager Ned Yost went with Brock Holt to be the Boston representative instead of Bogaerts. Holt has been good in 2015, but Bogaerts has been better at a much tougher position.
David Robertson, RP (Chicago White Sox) & Joakim Soria, RP (Detroit Tigers)
It would be irresponsible to say that there was a bias on the part of Ned Yost against his rivals in the American League Central. But you have to bring up such ridiculous theories when both Robertson and Soria are left at home in favor of Yost’s own man Kelvin Herrera and a second Oriole reliever in Darren O’Day. Herrera and O’Day are having nice seasons in their own right, but their inclusion on the roster cheapens the dominant campaigns of both Wade Davis and Dellin Betances. Middle relievers should have to be overwhelmingly overwhelming to make an All-Star team. On the other hand, Soria and Robertson’s dual snubbing downplays their contributions to their team’s success.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Troy Tulowitzki, SS (Colorado Rockies)
Tulo’s absence from the roster made so little sense that the MLB offices had to put him on the Final Vote ballot even though the team is short one pitcher. The rest of that ballot is pitchers, two of whom we’ll get to shortly. Colorado may be horrible, but they’d be a whole lot worse if Tulowitzki was the injured mess he’s been the last several seasons. Instead, he’s hitting a team high .320 with 9 home runs and 45 RBI. He still possesses a gold glove at short, even though that has been overshadowed in recent times by the sparkling play of All-Star Nolan Arenado to his right. It is a tough ask to put three players from a last place team on an All-Star squad (2B DJ LeMahieu joins Arenado on the roster) but looking the other way on a season like Tulo’s for that reason makes it less of a game for the fans and more for the manager.
Johnny Cueto, SP (Reds) & Clayton Kershaw, SP (Dodgers)
How these guys have to battle through the Final Vote process to make the All-Star team is a joke. Kershaw is the reigning league MVP. While Zack Greinke is having an astounding year and Kershaw is below his lofty standards, #22 remains one of the league’s best. He’s #1 in strikeouts and second only to Max Scherzer in NL starting pitcher WAR according to Fangraphs. Johnny Cueto showed last night against Scherzer and the Nationals why he should be in the game in his home stadium as well. A 2 hit shutout with 11 strikeouts for the Reds ace was quite the statement heading into the break. It was his third 10+ K game of 2015 as he lowered his ERA to 2.61. The thing that is seemingly hurting these two gentlemen are their win-loss record. Kershaw is 5-6 and Cueto is 6-5. It seems those who say wins is no longer looked at in the baseball community should tell that to these two guys as barring injury at least one of them won’t be playing on July 14th at the Great American Ball Park.
Agree with these snub picks? Do you think there are players with an even bigger shout for inclusion? Leave a comment below!