MLB All-Star Voting Snubs: Byron Buxton, James Wood Lead Biggest Snubs

The first phase of voting for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game ends Thursday at noon ET. And you know what that means.

Outrage!

Multiple players who are having a great first half are likely to be left off the final phase of balloting. People will be mad when they find out. The outrage probably won’t compare to other outrages once the election ends July 2, but emotions will run high on social media.

The question is: Based on MLB’s most recent update, where should the public’s coming outrage most appropriately be focused? One player in each league appears to have a bigger beef brewing than others. Let’s look at those cases, plus a handful of lesser beefs.

American League: Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins outfielder

Buxton is on pace to have his best season at age 31 after spending a great deal of his 20s injured. In 60 games entering Tuesday night, he was batting .280/.347/.565 with 17 home runs and 13 stolen bases, and had played one of the best center fields in the league. Buxton is third in the AL among all players in OPS, fifth in homers and is in the top 10 in multiple additional categories. He’s having a better season than any AL outfielder aside from Aaron Judge.

As of the most recent MLB voting update, Buxton was 10th among outfielders. With Judge appearing certain to be named a starter Thursday because he’s the AL’s overall vote leader, Buxton needs to jump four spots to reach the top five and the finals. Are Twins fans outraged enough to get him there? Because they haven’t been voting for Buxton enough to this point — which, in itself, is outrageous.

National League: James Wood, Washington Nationals outfielder

The rebuild from trading Juan Soto isn’t going great overall for the Nationals, who were 13 games under .500 entering play. But that’s not Wood’s fault. He’s already one of the best hitters in the league at age 22, batting .284/.379/.569 with 22 home runs and 61 RBIs. Wood is third in the NL among all players in OPS, and third among NL outfielders in WAR at FanGraphs.

And yet, Wood stands ninth among NL outfielders in the voting, and needs to jump three spots to reach the finals. One of the players ahead of him is Arizona Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll, who just went on the injured list because of a fractured hand — so there’s a possible opening. It also would be helpful if fans just stopped voting for Teoscar Hernández, who does not deserve to be second. Still, the outfield is a tough crowd to crack. It’s stacked high and deep. No matter — Wood should be among the top six.

Those are the biggest beefs. What about the lesser beefs?

Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves first baseman

Olson (.253/.359/.477, 15 HR) leads all at his position in fWAR (narrowly), but is seventh in voting and appears to have no chance to oust Freddie Freeman or Pete Alonso. Olson’s beef, aside from Braves fan apathy, is that only two players can make the finals at first base.

Jonathan Aranda, Tampa Bay Rays first baseman

Aranda (.325/.411/.486, 8 HR) is hanging with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. atop the fWAR leaderboard for AL first basemen. But he was about 240,000 votes behind second-place vote-getter Paul Goldschmidt, who is less deserving.

Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies shortstop

The fWAR leader among NL shortstops, Turner (.300/.357/.450, 9 HR, 19 SB) is fourth in voting. He needs to jump two players — Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts and Elly De La Cruz — to make the finals. Good luck.

Brendan Donovan, St. Louis Cardinals second baseman

Donovan (.307/.375/.437) is clearly no worse than the second-best second baseman in the NL behind Ketel Marte. But he’s in fifth in voting and needs a 200% increase to jump three spots. Best Fans in Baseball, activate!

Jeremy Peña, Houston Astros shortstop

Peña (.326/.380/.493, 11 HR, 15 doubles) came in virtually tied with Bobby Witt Jr. in fWAR among AL shortstops. Rookie Jacob Wilson is having a slightly better season at the plate, and only Witt is having a significantly better season in the field. Peña needs to jump one of them to reach the finals.

Isaac Paredes, Tampa Bay Rays third baseman

Paredes is second (narrowly) among AL third basemen in fWAR but is fifth in voting. It doesn’t really matter because José Ramírez should — and likely will — win the vote in the end. This beef is a technicality, but it’s always better to be technically correct.

Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants, and Eugenio Suárez, Arizona Diamondbacks third basemen

Both are having better seasons than second-place vote-getter Max Muncy. But, as with the AL side at third base, Manny Machado is likely to win the election — and probably should.