The rosters for the 2023 All-Star Game are complete -- at least for now.
Sixty-four players were recognized when the selections for the Midsummer Classic were announced on ESPN on Sunday evening. That set of 64 standouts is assuredly temporary. By the time injury substitutions are made, along with allowances for unavailable pitchers, the number of players who can stake a claim to All-Stardom will swell to somewhere between 70 and 80, if this season is as typical as years past.
But, for the time being, players have been honored and others have been left out, a status that carries the unnecessarily negative label of "snub," which sounds like something out of a Victorian-era novel. ("I say, did you see me snub that chap?")
All in all, the selections were reasonable, and the ones that don't seem that great tend to fall under the umbrella of circumstance -- because you have to have so many relievers and catchers and such, and every team gets a representative no matter how many games it has lost.
To judge the selections, I had to pick my own teams first. I do this every season, and I am always reminded that it's harder than you think it would be. It's one thing to flag the 32 best first-half performers in each league. But it's quite another to satisfy the actual requirements that the rosters carry. It's a puzzle.
In the end, I matched the actual rosters on 45 of the 64 selections, 24 in the American League and 21 in the National League. Whether or not you consider that to be a high level of disagreement depends on what your standard is. The good thing is that, either way, we have some differences to discuss.
American League
Biggest snub: Wander Franco, Tampa Bay Rays
The competition for the infield bench spots on the AL roster was fierce, especially since three of the four starting spots went to Josh Jung, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers. Still, I have Franco as the AL's second-best infielder this season behind Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez. He has been the best player on the league's best team. He leads all AL infielders in both versions of WAR and rates behind Ramirez in my system only because the latter leads the majors in win probability added.
The Rays ended up with just three selections despite their first-half rampage, which feels light. Yandy Diaz is a deserving starter at first base, as is Randy Arozarena in the outfield. Shane McClanahan was picked for the pitching staff, though he just went on the injured list with a back issue and will almost certainly have to be replaced.
Franco has a .286/.347/.463 slash line in addition to 26 stolen bases and elite overall baserunning metrics. He ranks second among all players in defensive runs saved. I get that he drew some bad press when the Rays sat him for a couple of games. I get that the Rays are known for winning with top-to-bottom contributions rather than superstar impact. But Franco has produced, and as one of the game's most-hyped recent prospects -- one who has lived up to the hype so far -- it's not like he's anonymous. This is a miss.
Second-biggest snub: Matt Chapman, Toronto Blue Jays
Again, picking the AL's reserve infield was tough. Chapman was probably a slightly more deserving pick than Jung to start, but the fans picked Jung. Ramirez is a no-brainer, so the players and MLB were left with the choice of overloading on third basemen or balancing out the roster, which is what happened.
Chapman probably was outflanked by his own infield teammates in Toronto, all three of whom are headed to Seattle. Bo Bichette is a no-brainer pick as a reserve. Meanwhile, the perennially overlooked Whit Merrifield is having a nice season -- it's good to see him recognized -- and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is one of the game's brightest young stars. His first half hasn't been peak-level by his standards, but it's been good. Name recognition probably should play a role because this is, after all, just an All-Star Game with no actual competitive stakes.
Still, superior performance ought to hold some sway as well. Bichette has produced at a near MVP level for much of the first half, so he belongs on the roster. But Chapman has outproduced Merrifield and Guerrero, putting up a 140 OPS+ while providing top-shelf third-base glovework. He just plays the wrong position.
Again, putting these rosters together is tough. Chapman wasn't snubbed so much as he got lost in the numbers game. So the best we can do for him is call him a snub and let that serve as recognition for a fine first half.
A few other thoughts
1. The Seattle Mariners got just one player, and MLB went to the pitching staff to find him. It just picked the wrong hurler, as I would have taken George Kirby over the higher-profile Luis Castillo. Granted, Castillo has a better ERA, but Kirby's underlying metrics have been better. Just to cite one, Kirby has thrown 101 innings so far, during which he has walked just nine batters. Nine! The guy is a surgeon.
2. It was great to see Baltimore Orioles reliever Yennier Cano's name on the roster. Cano has been one of baseball's most valuable relievers this season. He came out of nowhere to do it, too, as an age-29 rookie. His numbers jab you in the eye: 1.12 ERA, zero homers allowed against 149 batters faced. Yet he's not Baltimore's closer, as fellow All-Star Felix Bautista holds down that role. You wouldn't expect an old, out-of-nowhere setup reliever to win so much support, but this just shows how dominant Cano has been. Even better: It was the players who voted him in.
3. I have railed a couple of times on how fans missed the boat on Luis Robert Jr., who didn't land in the top 20 of the Phase 1 voting process despite posting one of the 10 or so best seasons of any player in the league so far in 2023. Robert made the AL roster as the Chicago White Sox's default pick, but he was picked by the league office. The players, apparently, overlooked Robert as well.
National League
Biggest snub: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
This is about Tatis, but first, I'm going to digress.
There were only six NL outfielders selected, while nine infielders made the cut. Apparently, this was to accommodate every active infielder with some current or past association to the Atlanta Braves. The entire starting Atlanta infield is headed to Seattle -- Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia and Austin Riley -- along with former Braves Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson.
In addition, Pete Alonso made it as the lone Met on the roster (who would have predicted that three months ago?), though it's questionable that he really deserves a spot. Yes, he hits the ball far, but I'm kind of over the .200-ish hitter who hits a lot of homers, and Alonso doesn't even draw that many walks. The default Met could have been outfielder Brandon Nimmo, which would have better balanced the roster.
And while we are at it, we could have Tatis on the roster instead of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. or Nick Castellanos, though the latter is the Philadelphia Phillies' only pick. (Perhaps Zack Wheeler could have been tabbed for the pitching staff instead.)
Yes, I know Tatis did a bad thing. He's doing everything a player can do to make up for lost time as quickly as possible. Just to compare him to teammate and fellow San Diego outfielder Juan Soto: Tatis is tied with him in bWAR even though he has played 20 fewer games. He really hasn't missed a beat. His power-speed combination remains elite, and he hasn't just made a successful full-time transition to the outfield, he has done so while posting off-the-charts defensive numbers.
Wouldn't the All-Star Game have been the perfect vehicle for reminding a national audience that Tatis is still one of baseball's brightest young stars?
Second-biggest snub: Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks
Marte is one of baseball's most underrated players. As the Diamondbacks have struggled in past seasons, this is perhaps understandable -- but Arizona has been one of this season's emergent teams and best stories. Emergent teams have emergent players, and the Snakes certainly have their share of those in Corbin Carroll, Gurriel, Geraldo Perdomo and others.
But how about recognizing the guy who's been doing it all along?
Sorry, folks, but Marte is having a better season than Albies and it's not all that close. Marte's slash line is better, he has gotten on base more, created more runs and used fewer outs. As they have comparable defensive and baserunning metrics, the bats are the decider here. Both play for first-place teams, as well.
Albies has hit a few more homers, and that appears to have earned him the nod. I disagree.
A few other thoughts
1. The Phillies (Castellanos) and Mets (Alonso) have two All-Stars between them. The Marlins have two on their own (Luis Arraez, Jorge Soler) and they arguably could have had a pitcher or two. It's been a topsy-turvy season.
2. Are we already overlooking Paul Goldschmidt again? Goldy's numbers are down from his 2022 MVP season, but he's still producing at an All-Star level. Fellow Cardinal Nolan Arenado was voted in as a starter, and St. Louis probably doesn't deserve more than one All-Star given its lackluster first half. But it's still weird to see a reigning MVP putting up another nice season left off the roster.
3. It's a debatable and tough choice, but I had Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich on my roster. The "I'm gonna hit 50 homers this season" version of the 2018 MVP is probably gone for good. He's a different kind of player now. He has had a sneaky-good season for the contending Brewers, with a .370 OBP, 18 steals and better defensive numbers than he's posted in years. He is on track for 30-plus doubles and around 20 homers. It's not MVP-caliber stuff, but Yelich is still a good player.