Xander Bogaerts
We’ve heard Xander Bogaerts express his annoyance with the All-Star selection process before but the players will have a chance to rectify past mistakes by sending him to the Midsummer Classic this year.
Bogaerts is hitting .298 with a career-high .924 OPS that leads his position and ranks ninth in the league overall. He leads the league with 27 doubles and his 15 home runs puts him on pace for his first 30-homer campaign.
FanGraphs has Bogaerts leading his position with 3.7 WAR and he’s third on Baseball-Reference with 2.9 WAR. He leads AL shortstops with a .385 wOBA and 139 wRC+ this season.
A case can certainly be made that Bogaerts is the best shortstop in the league regardless of what the fans say but if he can’t be the starter then he at least was fortunate that Jorge Polanco is. If the fans voted in Carlos Correa or Gleyber Torres, the players may have been forced to pick between Polanco and Bogaerts for the reserve spot. It would be a toss up for players to pick between them with the decision coming down to which metrics they favor most.
With Polanco locked in as the starter, Bogaerts should be the easy choice to back him up. The AL is loaded with shortstops and may even end up taking three, which would only increase the odds that Xander is included.