All-Star Snubs – National League

As I sat in my recliner gathering information for this article, the song “All Star” by Smashmouth has been going through my head. Particularly the line in the first verse, “she was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an “L” on her forehead.

It’s kind of apropos because today we’re going to take a look at some MLB players who are having good seasons, but didn’t make the cut for the All Star Game on July 17 in Washington, D.C. The 2018 All Star Rosters were announced Sunday evening, and we’ll name a handful of players in each league who lost-out and were snubbed.

National League

Max Muncy (Dodgers) – Where in God’s name did this come from? Muncy had been toiling in obscurity (Okay, Oakland…..) and Triple-A for most of the past three seasons. Muncy has been invaluable for the Dodgers, playing multiple positions and hitting dingers galore. He has 20 HR’s and an OPS of 1.008 in only 68 games. Muncy may turn back into a pumpkin soon, but it’s been a Cinderella story to this point.

Brandon Nimmo (Mets) – Nimmo finds himself left off the NL All-Star Roster, but I think he deserves a spot. He has a dozen home-runs and is 9th in OPS at .886. He also has a knack for getting on base and making good things happen at the right time, but the Mets have collectively been awful most of the year, so it’s easy to overlook this exciting young outfielder.

Corey Dickerson (Pirates) – Dickerson hit 51 home-runs during the two seasons he spent in Tampa, but for some reason the Rays decided to trade him in February to Pittsburgh for a minor leaguer and pitcher Daniel Hudson (who was released a month later). Dickerson is 8th in batting average in the NL, carries an OPS of .805 and plays flawless defense in the outfield. In his 81 games, he’s had two or more hits in 24 of them.

Ben Zobrist (Cubs) – The veteran Zobrist, a three-time All Star, has enjoyed a nice rebound season from 2017, when he struggled to a .232 average. Cubs manager Joe Maddon has spelled the 37 year old Zobrist a little more this year and he seems fresher. His average is .295 on the season and his OBP and OPS are at .389 and .821 respectively.

Junior Guerra (Brewers) – The 33 year old Guerra is enjoying a good season as a member of the Brewers’ rotation, pitching to a 2.79 ERA, striking out almost a hitter per inning and cutting his home-run rate per nine innings by more than half. His record is only 6-5, which indicates lack of run support. Also, Guerra is averaging just over five innings per start, inability to pitch deeper into games can impede a pitcher’s chances of earning wins.

There’s an excellent chance some of these players may end up making the trip to Washington D.C. as an alternate or injury replacement, but as of this writing, these players are on the outside looking in.

In my next entry, we will look at some American League players who were snubbed.