An injury to Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts should open the door for New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor to make his way onto the 2024 National League All-Star team — but the fact that he was not there initially is one of the more egregious snubs of MLB’s Midsummer Classic selection process.
Lindor has yet to be named an All-Star as a member of the Mets despite being not just one of the top players at his position in the game, but one of the best players in the National League this year.
Batting .248 with a .759 OPS, 15 home runs, 26 doubles, and 16 stolen bases, Lindor is one of the premier offensive shortstops in the game. His fielding is also at the top of the majors with his outs above average (OAA) ranking in the 98th percentile, per Baseball Savant.
Put it all together and it makes him one of the most valuable players in baseball. His fWAR of 3.6 is tied for ninth-best in all of Major League Baseball. Yet he is the only one of the top 24 players on that fWAR list to not be named to the All-Star Game.
Should one decide to point solely at his offensive numbers, it is important to note that Lindor has been one of the most consistent hitters in baseball since May 18 when he was moved into the lead-off spot full-time. Over his last 45 games, he is batting .296 with an .877 OPS, eight home runs, 24 RBI, and 18 doubles.
It is understandable that Lindor was not named a starter. The fans vote on that, making it nothing more than a popularity contest which, at least to this writer, takes a certain amount of shine away from the accomplishment.
The process in which the reserves are selected, however, is supposed to be foolproof. Players around the league along with the commissioner’s office rounds out both the American League and National League rosters.
Whether or not they know how to read statlines or they just do not like Lindor or the team he plays for will forever be unknown. But it is mystifying that a player of Lindor’s caliber continues to get snubbed in this event, which — as stated earlier — continues to diminish this event from what it once was.
Of course, Lindor opted to take the high road when asked about not making it and watching his teammate, Pete Alonso, get the Mets’ lone bid to the All-Star Game.
“That’s not up to me,” he said. “That’s up to the people that actually vote for all of this. I would love to go, but I’m happy for Pete. He definitely deserves it. It’s going to be a great show for him and his family. The All-Star, to me, is the best event of the summer.”
The thing is, Lindor’s production is remarkably better than Alonso’s, who has a 1.1 fWAR which ranks tied for 220th in the majors.
It certainly feels like Alonso was selected just so he could compete in yet another Home Run Derby — which he is participating in to admirably donate funds that will help refurbish baseball fields across the country through the Alonso Foundation should he win (he normally donates his prize funds to charity).
But the fact that MLB chose someone over the likes of Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, who is having a career year at the plate, himself, lacks any sort of substance.
