The All-Star starting lineups will be announced today, but some of the best players in the first half weren’t on the ballot

The final round of All-Star balloting is closed and they are tallying the votes for the starting lineups for the National and American Leagues as we speak, but while we wait for that announcement (at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN), let’s talk about the final ballot. You are probably scratching your head a bit about some of the names on that ballot. I was too. The fans do a pretty good job, but there are also notable names missing from this ballot. So today I want to take a look at the five biggest position snubs on this year’s final ballot. With any luck, all of these players will make the team once players and coaches have their say.

For the purposes of this article I looked at FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboards by position and league for players so far this season. There may be non-fWAR reasons some other names should pop on theses lists, but this article won’t cover those. Could you use something else? Of course. OPS + and wRC+ are both great proxies for hitting, but they mute out defensive contributions. I chose fWAR to include defensive contributions.

In addition, I’ll be the first to admit this isn’t a new problem. Whenever fans are in charge of voting, the more enthusiastic fanbases in a given year will surge to the top. I wish the North Side of Chicago were experiencing a small fraction of the confidence they have in Canada this year, but alas we’re in Jed’s “not a rebuild” for the foreseeable future and couldn’t really be bothered to turn out that much.

Let’s get to the biggest snubs on this year’s All-Star ballot. To be clear, there weren’t snubs across the board. The voters got catchers, third basemen and the designated hitter right in both leagues, at least according to fWAR.

First base: Both leagues

The ballot at first base has snubs in the AL and the NL. While Paul Goldschmidt is clearly the best MLB player at first base in the first half (he might just be the best player in baseball period, in the first half) after that this ballot gets messy. You can make a case for Ty France on this ballot, but you have to go through José Abreu and Luis Arraez to get there. But that’s a small issue relative to the NL. Let’s take a look at first-base fWAR leaders:

Look, I get it. Pete Alonso hits home runs, the Mets are good and New Yorkers showed up at the polls. But raw home run numbers are the only real justification for putting Alonso on this ballot ahead of Josh Bell or Freddie Freeman.

Outfield: Both leagues are a mess

In the initial balloting phase fans are asked to vote for their top outfielders with the overall top vote getters automatically starting in the All-Star Game. You will get no argument from me that Aaron Judge should start the All-Star Game. He leads all outfielders in both leagues in fWAR and has an almost incomprehensible 30 home runs and 64 RBI with the Yankees just two games past this year’s half-way point. The problem with this ballot is all of the people between Judge and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.:

Giancarlo Stanton, George Springer and Gurriel should not be on this ballot before rookie sensation Julio Rodríguez, who is on pace for a 30/40 season. Nor should they be on the ballot ahead of Byron Buxton or Kyle Tucker. This ballot is basically just NYC and Canada with a nod to Mike Trout and it’s embarrassing given the seasons some of the less well-known players on other teams are having.

Moving over to the NL, Ronald Acuña Jr. is a bit trickier as the top vote-getter, but considering the amount of time he missed at the start of the season and his on-pace numbers, it makes sense. I adapted this leaderboard to include all players with at least 220 plate appearances to ensure Acuña was on it. But the rest of the ballot here is a mess as well — you’ll forgive me for not including the whole list of guys between NL OF fWAR leader Mookie Betts and Atlanta OF Adam Duvall because it would be THIRTY-THREE players long, so just trust me that Duvall and his .206/.272/.376 slash line with a wRC+ of 79 does not belong. In the interest of comparing stats I included the top 20 OF in the NL by fWAR and then added Duvall at the end:

Jeff McNeil is not a snub here, he was on the ballot at second base (where he certainly was snubbed) but after that it’s just a list of dudes who are at home scratching their heads saying “Really? Duvall and Marte? Really?”

Cubs outfielder Ian Happ is among the most notable snubs here. He’s put together the best half season of his career with a .282/.378/.474 slash line and has nothing to show for it. Similarly, former Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber leads the National League in home runs with 27 moonshots, but he did not get the same bump Pete Alonso got at first base.

2B: A Cardinal might be the biggest snub of all

Second base is a hot mess in both leagues, but the player who would have the largest gripe of all probably needs to blame his team for placing him on the ballot at shortstop rather than second. Tommy Edman leads all second basemen in MLB in fWAR and has started more games (45) at second than any other position. However, rather than squaring off against the second base crowd here, he got thrown against the much more difficult shortstop crew. I have to imagine he’ll easily make the final team.

But I have a lot of questions about this part of the ballot even without Tommy Edman in the right spot. Let’s look at the second base fWAR leaderboard:

Look, I love Ozzie Albies. He’s a fun player. He’s also hurt and should not be on this ballot. Similarly, we get it, Canada. You turned out, but Santiago Espinal ahead of Andrés Giménez is also pretty yikes.

SS: Xander Bogaerts was robbed

To be clear, Edman probably should have made the shortstop ballot, but it’s understandable that he didn’t beat out Trea Turner or Dansby Swanson. There are arguments to be made there. There is no coherent argument for Xander Bogaerts not making this final ballot:

I needed to adapt this leaderboard to include all players with 240 plate appearances to ensure Tim Anderson was on it, but even with the time he missed he absolutely has a case to be on this ballot, although it’s notable how great rookie Jeremy Peña has been for the Astros.

Xander, however, leads them all. In just about everything. If you like old school stats he has a higher batting average and on base percentage. If you like new fangled stats he has a higher wRC+ and wOBA.

Tonight we’ll find out who is starting the Midsummer Classic, but I have to admit I’m more excited for Sunday night. That’s when the full rosters are revealed and we’ll find out if some of these snubs are rectified. I’m not sure I can handle a world where Albert Pujols is a 2022 MLB All-Star while Ian Happ is not.