6 Players Who Should Have Been All-Stars This Year
George Springer
The American League has already had some turnover in the outfield before the weekend was over with Brett Gardner's replacement of Alex Gordon.
Jose Bautista dropped out of the contest as well, and another deserving candidate got a roster spot too -- Brian Dozier. Though he isn't an outfielder, he was another guy who deserved a roster spot after losing out to Mike Moustakas in the final fan vote.
But yes, there is one more outfielder who deserved to be on the American League roster: George Springer.
| Top 10 OF by nERD | Team | HR | RBI | SB | wOBA | wRC+ | WAR | nERD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Trout* | Angels | 26 | 55 | 9 | 0.427 | 184 | 5.6 | 4.46 |
| J.D. Martinez* | Tigers | 25 | 59 | 2 | 0.389 | 150 | 3.7 | 3.01 |
| Brett Gardner* | Yankees | 10 | 42 | 15 | 0.374 | 140 | 2.6 | 2.68 |
| Jose Bautista* | Blue Jays | 17 | 60 | 4 | 0.376 | 141 | 2.6 | 2.63 |
| Lorenzo Cain* | Royals | 8 | 42 | 16 | 0.372 | 140 | 4.0 | 2.52 |
| George Springer | Astros | 13 | 29 | 14 | 0.361 | 133 | 2.7 | 2.09 |
| Alex Gordon* | Royals | 11 | 39 | 1 | 0.370 | 138 | 3.0 | 1.71 |
| Yoenis Cespedes | Tigers | 13 | 51 | 3 | 0.351 | 124 | 3.0 | 1.57 |
| Josh Reddick | Athletics | 11 | 51 | 3 | 0.348 | 126 | 2.2 | 1.48 |
| Adam Jones* | Orioles | 14 | 43 | 3 | 0.349 | 123 | 2.7 | 1.40 |
How Adam Jones ever garnered attention for the All-Star roster will mystify me. Granted, he has a low strikeout rate (14.8%) among qualified outfielders, but he's barely in the top-12 in wRC+ and wOBA. Yoenis Cespedes is playing well but couldn't make it past the stacked fan vote for the American League.
However, George Springer didn't even make it on the fan vote after the initial rosters were set, and he has a better nERD (2.09) than two guys already on the roster (Gordon and Jones) and even Cespedes. Springer also has a higher fWAR than Jones, Gardner and Bautista.
So despite holding the highest fWAR on the Astros and being a top-six outfielder in the American League, Springer will have to wait another season for an attempt to make the All-Star team.
