NFL Tickets
I come here today to air a grievance.
I’m not one to take the MLB All-Star Game seriously. In the grand scheme of things, it’s lost a lot of appeal for me as I’ve gotten older. I can’t honestly remember the last time I watched more than a couple innings of the Midsummer Classic.
With that said, the most recent fan voting numbers were released a couple days ago, and there isn’t a single Cleveland Indians player noted in any of the position races. Normally, I could care less about this. Sure, the team is currently riding an 11-game winning streak, has one of the league’s best rotations and has the second-best run differential in the majors. Still, I’m not going to gripe about nobody noticing this yet.
However, it’s where Tribe superstar Francisco Lindor is in the race for shortstop that has me astounded. Despite being one of the most exciting players in baseball, a stud both in the field and at the plate, Lindor isn’t even in the top five in All-Star voting.
It goes without saying that this is wrong in every sense of the word.
Before we dive into Lindor’s stats, let’s take a look at who’s currently in the top five. Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox is currently running away with the ballot, pulling in over two million votes. Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar is in second, followed by Troy Tulowitzki (Toronto Blue Jays), Elvis Andrus (Texas Rangers) and Carlos Correa (Houston Astros).
Now, I’m not going to challenge Bogaerts’ place in first, as he leads all AL shortstops in batting average, hits and RBIs. When it comes to how the rest of these guys stack up against Lindor, that’s where there’s an issue.
For the season, Lindor is batting .312, has 39 RBIs and 91 hits. He’s good for at least two or three highlight reel plays per week in the field. Calling him Cleveland’s best player is almost an understatement.
Again, despite this, his name is nowhere to be found in All-Star voting.
It’s not there despite the fact he has more hits than everyone in the top five outside of Bogaerts. The same can be said for batting average. When it comes to RBIs, Lindor has tallied more than all but Bogaerts and Correa.
The story remains the same in defense. Lindor has a better fielding percentage, less errors and a better DWAR than everyone beating him in votes.
It all adds up to create genuine confusion about the omission of Lindor’s name from this list. Sure, this is all fan-voting, which almost always generates controversy. Heck, Tulowitzki is blowing Lindor out of the water in votes and he’s batting just .216 this year.
Still, the Indians shortstop is one of the best young players in the game, but you’d never guess it based on the All-Star ballot.
One would assume Lindor will still find his way on to the AL roster, as it’s tough to believe players and managers are just as oblivious to his accolades as the fans are. Based on how he’s played since joining the big leagues last summer, this likely would be Lindor’s first of many All-Star appearances.
Regardless, how his name is nowhere to be found in All-Star voting is beyond me. Lindor is having an incredible season, and those who are voting for other players simply don’t know what they’re missing.
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