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Five crowded positions that will produce MLB All-Star snubs
At basically every position, an All-Star hopeful will be watching this year’s festivities from the couch or, preferably, a tropical beach somewhere.
With a bevy of talented options, and every team needing to be represented, there will always be more deserving contenders than spots available in the All-Star Game.
Of course, that tends to be the case annually for pitchers. There simply isn’t enough room for every ace or shutdown reliever to receive one of the 12 pitching spots on each league’s roster.
But even just focusing on the 20 position players — at least two players at every position (six in the outfield), including designated hitter — dwindling down the All-Star field is a daunting task.
At these five spots in particular, be prepared to see some snubs.
(Note: The starters for both leagues as voted on by the fans were announced Thursday.)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Third Base
Starter: Josh Jung
Possible reserves: Matt Chapman, José Ramírez, Isaac Paredes, Alex Bregman, Rafael Devers
Jung will be the first Rangers rookie ever to start an All-Star Game. He leads all AL rookies with 15 home runs, and while he hasn’t flashed the leather quite like some of the other contenders, he has more than held his own at the hot corner. Chapman has slowed down considerably after his blistering start to the year, slashing .203/.279/.339 over his past 50 games to drop his OPS from an otherworldly 1.152 through April down to .801. You have to wonder if recent performance will come back to bite him. It’s quite possible the runner-up in this vote won’t make the team.
The two best offensive players at the position this year have been Ramírez and Paredes. The former has a 142 OPS+, right in line with his previous two All-Star seasons, and has offered a lot more than the latter defensively. By FanGraphs’ WAR (3.1), Ramírez has been the most valuable player at his position this season. By OPS, he has also been the best player at his position. Not far behind, though, is Paredes, whose .366 on-base percentage is the highest mark among all qualified AL third basemen. The Rays deserve to be well-represented here, and Paredes has been a critical cog in their surprising offensive machine.
They won’t all make it, though, and we haven’t even gotten to Devers, who has hit more homers (19) and knocked in more runs (61) than any AL player at the position and is arguably Boston’s likeliest All-Star candidate. Both Ramírez and Devers were All-Stars each of the past two seasons, and both have an argument to be there a third straight year.
Outfield
Starters: Randy Arozarena, Aaron Judge, , Mike Trout
Possible reserves: Yordan Álvarez, Adolis García, Kevin Kiermaier, Luis Robert Jr., Alex Verdugo, Masataka Yoshida, Leody Taveras, Julio Rodríguez, Jarred Kelenic, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander, Daulton Varsho, George Springer, Kyle Tucker, Luke Raley
Álvarez and Judge are both hurt, which likely opens the door here. And, man, there still are a ton of possibilities. Trout, Arozarena and Judge were probably bound for the game regardless of being tabbed starters, despite a drop-off from the typical Troutian stat line (he’s still hitting 31% better than league average).
Robert needs to be in. He has been arguably both the best offensive and defensive outfielder in the American League this year. Rodríguez would be fun to see as the ebullient hometown star, though his numbers are making it difficult to justify. García leads all AL outfielders with 19 homers and has knocked in nine more runs than any outfielder in either league this season. If Devers doesn’t end up an All-Star, that opens the door for either Verdugo (.302/.374/.471) or Yoshida (.297/.371/.465) to assume the honor. Even if Devers does get in, Verdugo’s production is worthy of consideration.
Raley basically never plays against lefties, but the guy has a .901 OPS, a mark that trails only Judge and Álvarez among AL outfielders with at least 200 plate appearances this year. Do you know who has the third-highest wRC+ among qualified AL outfielders? That would be Baltimore’s Hays, who’s slashing .314/.355/.498.
Good luck selecting six (or even seven) from this group.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
First Base
Starter: Freddie Freeman
Possible reserves: Matt Olson, Paul Goldschmidt, LaMonte Wade Jr., Christian Walker, Pete Alonso, Spencer Steer
The finalists for this spot were the man the Braves let walk and the one they chose to replace him. Freeman is having the more exceptional year of the two, or of any NL first baseman, clearing the 300-career homer and 2,000-career hit marks while leading all MLB players at his position in hits (100), doubles (27), average (.317), slugging (.543) and OPS (.938). He was the best choice to start.
At least in the slugging category, Olson (.542) is not far behind. Olson’s 26 home runs lead all MLB players who aren’t named Shohei Ohtani, though his .237 batting average and poor defensive metrics won’t make him a shoo-in, particularly considering the group behind him.
In a nightmare season for the Cardinals, Goldschmidt continues doing his usual thing. He’s hitting 33% better than league average. Alonso, too, is still lifting off for his scuffling squad. His 24 homers comprise nearly a quarter of the Mets’ home run total on the year, though he has not looked quite the same since coming off the injured list with a bone bruise in his wrist. Walker (136 OPS+) and Wade (138 OPS+) are hitting even better than those two, and they’re doing it in ways that are pointing their surprising franchises toward postseason play. And while other rookies are understandably getting the headlines in Cincinnati, Steer’s contributions (12 homers, .852 OPS) shouldn’t go overlooked.
Second Base
Starter: Luis Arráez
Possible reserves: Ozzie Albies, Thairo Estrada, Ketel Marte, Nolan Gorman, Ha-Seong Kim, Nico Hoerner
Arraez’s pursuit of .400 might be the coolest story in baseball this year. The fact that he’s doing this at a time when basically every pitcher throws in the high-90s with the most wicked stuff this game has ever seen, all while playing for a new team and lifting the Marlins toward contention, is all just completely ridiculous and should be grounds for an auto-bid to the All-Star Game. Of course, that did not matter, as he ended up voted in as the starter anyway.
Albies, who lost a tight race in the voting, has had his own nice story this year while bouncing back from a litany of injuries. He leads all NL second basemen with 18 homers, though his offensive production trails that of Arráez (.936 OPS) and Marte (.895), who has been arguably the best hitter in baseball this month. Marte is slashing .329/.452/.635 with more walks (18) than strikeouts (15) in June, playing his part in keeping the upstart D-backs atop the NL West.
John Smoltz on whether Luis Arráez could hit .400
Gorman seemed to be the only positive story for St. Louis through the first couple months of the year, finishing May with a .915 OPS, though his production has tailed off considerably in June. It’s been the opposite story for Kim, who has an OPS over 1.000 since the middle of the month and has played elite defense all year. The only second baseman he trails in outs above average is Estrada, whose combination of offensive and defensive production has him worth the same number of wins this year as Arráez (2.8 fWAR).
Outfield
Starters: Ronald Acuña Jr., Mookie Betts, Corbin Carroll
Possible reserves: Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Michael Harris II, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatís Jr., T.J. Friedl, Ian Happ, Lane Thomas, Bryan Reynolds, Brandon Nimmo, Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh, Christian Yelich
Acuña was the first one in as the NL's leading vote-getter, though his selection was a given based on performance. Two worthy options in Betts and Carroll join him in the outfield. After that, Phillies manager Rob Thomson will have his hands full filling out the group.
All-Star update: Padres' Fernando Tatís Jr. should be an All-Star
Remember when people were worried about Soto? Behind Acuña and Carroll, Soto and his teammate Tatís have clearly been the best hitters among NL outfielders this year. Soto’s .421 on-base percentage trails only Arráez (.447) for the highest mark in the league, while Tatís has been on fire lately with 12 doubles and six homers in June. Yelich is enjoying a productive bounce-back season and has easily been the best hitter in Milwaukee’s subpar lineup.
If Thomson wants to get one of his guys in, Castellanos (127 wRC+) and Marsh (124 wRC+) both have cases. Also keep an eye on Thomas, who might be the best hitter you haven’t heard about this year. He has a .998 OPS this month in Washington and is hitting 39% better than league average on the season.
Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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