Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts annoyed by All-Star snub

Xander Bogaerts hasn’t received much support from fans on the All-Star ballot and the Boston Red Sox shortstop is annoyed by the lack of recognition.

Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts knows he’s worthy of being called an All-Star and he’s baffled as to why those involved in the selection process don’t seem to agree.

Bogaerts has emerged as one of the best young shortstops in baseball over the last handful of years yet he has only one All-Star appearance on his resume, which came back in 2016. He took a step back the following season so if Bogaerts is being honest with himself, he didn’t deserve to make consecutive appearances.

Last year was a different story. Bogaerts entered the break with a solid .284 batting average and 16 home runs. He was second among American League shortstops with 64 RBI and third with a .889 OPS. Those are All-Star caliber numbers yet Bogaerts found himself left out when rosters were announced. Manny Machado was voted in by the fans as the starter and Francisco Lindor was selected as a backup.

Machado and Lindor were both worthy options who were ahead of Bogaerts in most offensive categories and the gap widens when you factor in defense. Xander was simply a victim of a roster crunch when the AL selected only two options from a deep pool of talented shortstops.

His exclusion from this year’s All-Star Game would be more egregious. Bogaerts enters the day hitting .300 with a career-high .923 OPS. He leads AL shortstops with 43 walks, 23 doubles, 48 RBI and 56 runs scored. His .386 wOBA and 140 wRC+ trail only Minnesota’s Jorge Polanco at the position and he ranks at the top with a 3.4 WAR, per FanGraphs.

Despite ranking at or near the top of nearly every category at his position, Bogaerts currently sits a distant sixth in fan voting for the All-Star Game. Only the top three shortstops will move on to the next round of fan voting to determine the starter. You can build a case for someone else earning the starting role but Bogaerts needs to at least be in the conversation.

The lack of recognition for this honor isn’t lost on Bogaerts, who told WEEI’s Rob Bradford that he’s getting annoyed that he keeps getting passed over for a spot on the All-Star team.

"“These past few years every time I’ve come up just short even though my numbers have been up there or better than most of the guys,” said Bogaerts. “It’s just so weird. I just miss out when in my opinion I should have been there. I just feel like it’s a routine, every year the same thing. It’s kind of getting annoying. But I don’t know what to do.”"

His ranking on the fan ballots won’t necessarily prevent Bogaerts from making the team. He can still be selected as a reserve by his fellow players and the Commissioner’s Office, both of whom tend to have more reliable opinions on who is worthy of being an All-Star.