Which Pittsburgh Pirates were Snubbed from the All-Star Game?

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Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /

Pittsburgh Pirates Who Have No Case

Though Josh Harrison was doing well in initial fan voting, thanks largely to a hot start to the season, he tumbled down in the standings as he cooled off. Harrison has significantly lower numbers in all the popular traditional and advanced stats. As a note, I included Matt Carpenter with second basemen because it is his primary position, though he was listed simply as an Infielder on the All-Star roster. Placed in a group with the three selections, Daniel Murphy, Matt Carpenter, and starter Ben Zobrist, Harrison is the only one with an OPS below .700 (.691) and with less than ten home runs (3). He also has a wOBA under .300 (.297) and a wRC+ under 100 (86).

John Jaso

While Jaso is a favorite of this site and has done well in his transition to first base, he simply is not All-Star material. Jaso only comes close to any of the three selections (starter Anthony Rizzo, Paul Goldschmidt, and Wil Myers) in OBP where his .354 is only .003 below Wil Myers’ .357 OBP. Like Harrison, lack of power is what primarily separates him from those selected for the All-Star team. All of the first base selections have at least 15 home runs compared with only four for Jaso.

Andrew McCutchen

This is of course the biggest disappointment and surprise for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. McCutchen will miss the All-Star Game for the first time since 2010, his second season in the Majors. This is of course thanks to what is so far his worst performing season of his career.

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His stats are generally below that of all of the selected outfield All-Stars. Though his OBP is above that of Adam Duvall of the Reds (.311 vs. .290) his wOBA (.307) and wRC+ (92) are lower than all of those selected. Despite this, McCutchen’s star power and name recognition were enough for him to do reasonably well in the fan voting, but not enough to get selected.

Almost all of the Pitching Staff

Pitching has of course been terrible this season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, particularly the rotation and middle relief. Even Gerrit Cole, had he not missed a significant period of time lately due to injury, would not have merited inclusion this season. Not all the bullpen has been terrible though, as the lone representative did come from the bullpen and a couple more will be discussed on the next page.

Next: Pirates with a Tenuous Case

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