New York Yankees: Didi Gregorius Snubbed of First All-Star Appearance
Not only is 26-year-old New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius exceeding expectations in the Bronx, but he’s also in the middle of a career year.
Entering the Yankees’ final game before the All-Star Break on Sunday afternoon, Gregorius owns an eye-popping .298/.327/.468 slash line with 41 RBI, five stolen bases and a career high 11 home runs.
His defense is as sound as always, so the question I ponder is whether or not Didi Gregorius was snubbed of his first-ever MLB All-Star appearance?
To be fair, compared to 23-year-old Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts and 22-year-old Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor, Didi Gregorius is outclassed.
This season Bogaerts is hitting an incredible .331 with 10 home runs, 55 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Lindor, on the other hand, is averaging .303 with 10 home runs, 44 RBI and 13 stolen bases.
Former New York Yankees utility-man Eduardo Nunez is rostered as a shortstop on the American League All-Star team, and he too is having a better season than Sir Didi Gregorius. In 78 games played for the Twins this season, Nunez is slashing .321/.347/.489 with 12 home runs, 40 RBI and 22 stolen bases.
According to Fangraphs, even Bogaerts’ 4.0 WAR, Lindor’s 3.6 WAR and Nunez’ 1.8 WAR all trump Gregorius’ 1.5 WAR.
So how exactly is Didi Gregorius an All-Star Game snub?
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Well, Eduardo Nunez has appeared in a total of 78 games so far this season, and according to Baseball-Reference.com, he started a total of just 38 games at shortstop. In the other 34 games he predominantly manned the hot corner at third base, but made an occasional start at either second base or DH as well.
That said, MLB should have put things into perspective and rostered Eduardo Nunez as a third-string third base All-Star behind Josh Donaldson and Manny Machado instead of shortstop.
Compared to other potential ‘snubs’ such as Carlos Correa, Marcus Semien, Evan Longoria and Kyle Seager, Didi Gregorius presents a much better case to be an All-Star than any of them.
Of course Gregorius didn’t really help his cause by getting off to a slow start to the season (.224 average through April), but you can’t overlook his .287 average in May, .337 average in June and .364 batting average through the midpoint of July.
I thought perhaps maybe there was hope that MLB would roster Gregorius as a last-minute replacement for Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel when he was placed on the 15-day DL on Saturday, but Blue Jays reliever Aaron Sanchez was named to the All-Star team instead.
Next: MLB Home Run Derby Preview and Predictions
So in the end, because of some poor decision-making by MLB, Didi Gregorius was not only beat out by former Yankee Eduardo Nunez, but he was also snubbed from making his first ever All-Star appearance.
Poor kid.