Fixing the 2024 MLB All-Star Game

The MLB All-Star game is tonight and it is sure to be a good one! Just like any other year there has been a great deal of discussion regarding deserving players who were snubbed and players who made the team but may not necessarily have the stats to back it up. In today's article I will cover both of those groups by discussing the less deserving players first, and the players that I believe should have been selected in their place.

We will start off with a few National League positions players that were questionably selected to serve as reserves by their fellow players. Unfortunately the first player from this group is one of my favorite guys to watch, Luis Arraez. As much as I will enjoy seeing him play in his third All-Star game he is not as deserving as other infielders in the National League. Arraez is undoubtedly one of the best contact hitters in recent memory. While he has been solid in 2024, the majority of his stats are actually down from 2022 and 2023, including average, OBP, OPS and walk rate. Meaning that he is hitting and getting on base less than he did in his two previous All-Star seasons. I believe that the more deserving middle infielder to be Fransisco Lindor, who has been playing extremely well after getting off to a slow start. Lindor, who has not been selected to an All-Star team since 2019, is currently slashing .253/.321/.455 with a 123 OPS+ and 16 home runs while playing great defense.

Next up on the list is Lindor’s Mets teammate Pete Alonso. Similar to Luis Arraez, Alonso has not been elite in the category with which he has made his name. Alonso currently sits outside the top 5 in home runs in the national league with 18 and a below average batting average of .238. His slash line is less impressive than the aforementioned Lindor while contributing less on defense as well. Obviously Alonso is an All-Star weekend mainstay due to his consistently great performances in the Home Run Derby, but his participation should have been limited to that event this year. In place of Alonso the rightful reserve at first base is Christian Walker from the reigning national league champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Walker is having a monster first half, and is outperforming Alonso in nearly every aspect of the game, including his 22 home runs. Walker’s slash line is an impressive .265/.338/.507 with an OPS of .845. Obviously the Mets must have a representative at the Mid-Summer Classic, but as we have discussed, Lindor is the more deserving Met which makes the Alonso selection all the more questionable.

With the most glaring mistakes on the National League side out of the way, we can turn our attention to the American League roster. The AL roster is virtually perfect in terms of the starting lineup and the reserve position players. It is the American League pitching staff that I have some issues with, namely Cole Ragans and Clay Holmes. Ragans has had an excellent first half and is sitting at second in the league in strikeouts but is carrying a 3.28 ERA and a 5-6 record. When looking at these numbers alone I would say that Ragans is probably a deserving All-Star, especially due to his elite strikeout numbers. However, when looking at his credentials side-by-side with Ronel Blanco, you begin to see my issue with Ragans being on the squad. Blanco is fourth in the MLB in ERA and has anchored the Houston rotation through a number of injuries and arguably has kept the Astros in the playoff mix. On top of that, Blanco twirled the only no-hitter of the year and major performances like that should absolutely count for something when we discuss All-Star worthy players.

Rounding us out is Clay Holmes, who is in my opinion the biggest mistake on either of the squads. He is the closer on an elite team, but he is in no way an elite closer. Currently he has 21 saves, which is good for 7th in the MLB. However, when comparing his numbers to other closers in the top-10 of that category you can see that he is a step below the rest. His ERA is 9th in that group, while his WHIP is dead last. The only category he leads in is blown saves with a league leading 6. I am calling some Yankees bias here, because I don't see his numbers adding up to All-Star worthy. Instead I would have given this spot to Kenley Jansen of the rival Red Sox. Jansen is immediately behind Holmes in saves with 19, while his stats in virtually every other category are better. Just to throw a few of those stats out for you, Jansen leads Holmes in ERA, WHIP, WAR, K/9, and has yet to give up a home run on the season. On top of this, Jansen is in the tail end of what will very likely be a Hall of Fame Career and he deserves to be in the spotlight while he is still playing at a high level.

John Siebels is the owner of Springhill Sports Cards, he collects and sells sports cards on Ebay, you can find him on Instagram and his Ebay store here