Snubbed: Byron Buxton and Luis Arraez Deserved All-Star Starts

[Cody Christie]

Major League Baseball recently announced the starters for the 2022 MLB All-Star Game. Two Twins players deserved to be among the starting nine, and here's how they stack up.

 

With the All-Star Game approaching, the Twins are a division leader with multiple players leading the offensive charge. However, no Minnesota players were among the starters selected by the fans. This might not be a surprise as a popularity-style contest selects the starters, with players more well-known on the national stage getting the recognition. Still, an argument can be made for the Twins to have multiple starters.

ESPN's Jeff Passan released his list of players he believes should start the All-Star Game, and two Twins make the cut. Byron Buxton gets the outfield start over New York's Giancarlo Stanton on his ballot. At first base, he has Luis Arraez making the start instead of Toronto's Vladamir Guerrero Jr. So, how do these players compare through the season's first half?

Buxton vs. Stanton
Stanton had yet to be elected to an All-Star Game since leaving Miami following the 2017 season. During that stretch, he has averaged a 134 OPS+, but injuries have slowed him down in previous seasons. New York is dominating the American League, and Stanton has been a key cog in their offensive machine. Entering play on Sunday, Stanton was hitting .232/.317/.500 (.817) including a 131 OPS+ and 21 home runs. According to FanGraphs, Stanton ranks 17th among AL outfielders in WAR, but he has accumulated little value on the defensive side. 

Minnesota seems to have found a combination of rest that keeps Buxton healthy enough to stay off the injured list. Through his first 66 games, he is hitting .215/.293/.543 (.836) with a 136 OPS+ and 22 home runs. The situations where his home runs have taken place aren't included in those numbers. Fifteen of his 22 home runs came when the Twins were tied or within one run either way of their opponent. Buxton also offers a significant defensive upgrade over Stanton while ranking ten spots higher on the AL outfield WAR leaderboard. 

Arraez vs. Guerrero Jr. 
Guerrero Jr. is coming off a season where he finished runner-up for the AL MVP, which factors into fan voting. So far in 2022, Guerrero Jr. has played in a league-high 85 games while hitting .269/.350/.489 (.839) with a 135 OPS+ and 33 extra-base hits. Among AL first basemen, he currently ranks fourth in fWAR behind Jose Abreu (2.5 WAR), Arraez (2.5 WAR), and Ty France (2.1 WAR). Toronto currently sits in fourth place in the AL East, but they are four games over .500.

It has been a joy to watch Arraez this season, and he has started getting some of the national attention he deserves. He leads baseball in batting average (.355) and on-base percentage (.426) while also showing more power than expected with 20 extra-base hits. Baseball Reference ranks him as the ninth-best position player according to WAR, and his Offensive WAR ranks seventh. Arraez deserved to start more than any other Twins player.

Both of these snubs will likely be remedied when the All-Star reserves are announced on Sunday night. Still, the Twins can argue that both players deserved to be honored with a start in Los Angeles. 

Do you think Buxton and Arraez were snubbed from being starters? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

 

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[Blyleven2011]

As stated the recognition goes to the more high profile teams from the strong east and west coast teams that get more attention ...

Yes the Midwest teams  almost always get snubbed ....

Arraez definitely is one player the fans would love to watch in Los Angeles  .... 

Buxton is healthy enough but his defense alone is not enough to be a starter , but fans I'm sure would like to see him play on the allstar stage ...

IF NEITHER GET SELECTED AS RESERVES IT IS DEFINITELY A SNUB ....

[dxpavelka]

Buxton might deserve to start over Stanton but Yordan Alvarez blows them both away so that whole argument is pointless.  Also love how baseball stat geeks spend hours telling me how batting average is an outdated stat until it's the main selling point for one of ours.  I'll take lil' Vlad six ways to Sunday.  Both are deserving of reserve spots although, as much as I love Buxton as a player, I can name at least a half a dozen guys more deserving based solely on his games played or lack thereof. 

[Hunter48]

A part time player doesn't deserve to get into the All-Star Game.

[Craig Arko]

I imagine both will be selected as reserves. Buxton should probably rest his knee instead; Arraez must be there.

[ChermesZ]

Toronto should not get any more reps.  A 4th place team only should have minimal representation.

 

[mnfireman]

Agreed on Arraez (and I'm not a big fan of his), not so much on Buxton, BUT the All-Star game is a popularity contest and NY & LA will almost always win that.

Both will probably be named to the team as reserves, but I hope Buxton declines, or the teams whole "we have a plan in place to ensure he stays on the field" becomes a big slap in the face to the fan base (us). 

[mnfireman]

23 minutes ago, Hunter48 said:

A part time player doesn't deserve to get into the All-Star Game.

Which one? Stanton has played 70 games, 33 in the OF. Buxton has played 66 games, 43 in the OF.

[Nine of twelve]

You all should realize that it's extremely unlikely that the ASG starting lineups will include the most deserving players. Fan voting is an incredibly poor method in that regard. As long as that is in place we have to simply accept the results. The voters get who they want the most. Even the selection of reserves is tainted by the 1-player-from-every-team constraint, among other things. In order to make it a game with truly the best players an impartial algorithm based on something akin to WAR or WPA would need be used.

[mikelink45]

As a Twin fan I am very much in favor of Arraez being an all-star, but his versatility creates a problem.  Some still see him as a 2B vs Altuve, others a 1B versus Guerrero and other sluggers.  He did not have a valid  chance and that is okay. 

We all love Buxton, but we are Twins fans.  His BA, his streakiness, and his rest days and DH days reduce his viability as an all-star.  I did not vote for him. I am not a fan of Stanton either, but he is having a good year for the run away Yankees. I would take Tucker from the Astros.

[dxpavelka]

59 minutes ago, ChermesZ said:

Toronto should not get any more reps.  A 4th place team only should have minimal representation.

 

4th place and yet only a game and a half behind the local nine.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Even though he will not be selected to the AS Game this year, there is no SS I would rather have on my team this year than Carlos Correa, 

[ChermesZ]

51 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

4th place and yet only a game and a half behind the local nine.

Totally understand - just quoting ‘experts’ when the twins were in 4th in a strong division.

[old nurse]

It is a popularity contest. Biggest fan base wins. It is hard ti get too upset about the lack of success in a popularity contest as those are the parameters agreed upon

[MMMordabito]

Not a snub unless neither get selected as a reserve. Complete homer title. You can't expect either to get the votes with marginal stats over Yankees and Blue Jays (whole country).

[bean5302]

I don't think Buxton was snubbed ranks #6 in fWAR for outfielders (including Alvarez) and is ranked 4th among Center Fielders.
Judge CF - 4.2 fWAR, 3.7 bWAR
Alvarez - 3.9 fWAR, 4.2 bWAR (voted in as DH. has played about 40% of his games in LF)
Trout CF - 3.7 fWAR, 3.7 bWAR
Rodriguez CF - 3.0 fWAR, 3.5 bWAR
Tucker - 2.7 fWAR, 3.3 bWAR
Buxton CF - 2.5 fWAR, 2.9 bWAR
Cedric Mullins II CF - 2.1 fWAR, 2.6 bWAR

On top of that, you have Cedric Mullins II, who is a center fielder and will probably represent Baltimore as it's only player.

As far as 1B OR 2B, you could make the argument Arraez has been snubbed, but his value has increased significantly lately with him building a lot of WAR from the boost of playing 2B and hitting even better. As a utility infielder, it's hard for Arraez to get the recognition he deserves. Arraez is #2 for both 1B and 2B behind Abreu and Altuve, respectively, but Arraez was well behind several 1B earlier this year. If Arraez was the 2B all year, I'd say he would have been better than Altuve, but Altuve is a household name who is on the path to the Hall of Fame right now.

 

[dxpavelka]

2 hours ago, ChermesZ said:

Totally understand - just quoting ‘experts’ when the twins were in 4th in a strong division.

I'd love to know the last time the Twins were in a division strong enough to be in 4th place at 4 games over .500..

[ChermesZ]

35 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

I'd love to know the last time the Twins were in a division strong enough to be in 4th place at 4 games over .500..

Strong division.  Not 4 games above 500.  
 

They did have at least 2 players that deserved to go and only 1 went.

[mnfireman]

Both named to AL All-Star team!!

[dxpavelka]

1 hour ago, ChermesZ said:

Strong division.  Not 4 games above 500.  
 

They did have at least 2 players that deserved to go and only 1 went.

The comparison was to 4th place Toronto, now 3 games over .500

[ChermesZ]

5 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

The comparison was to 4th place Toronto, now 3 games over .500

I guess agree to disagree.  
edit:  to add context.  
 

1991 would answer your question.
 

[jimbo92107]

Of course it's a snub, but it's an understandable one. Twins are a small market team, and they don't have a Stanton to hit home runs. We thought Sano would be that guy, but he didn't pan out. Prove me wrong, Miguel...

Meanwhile, for Buck and Luis, the usual rec: Have a monster second half, embarrass the judges. 

[dxpavelka]

5 hours ago, ChermesZ said:

I guess agree to disagree.  
edit:  to add context.  
 

1991 would answer your question.
 

THREE all star Twins that year.

[Whitey333]

Yes Aareaz should be a starter.  But for small market reasons we all knew it wasn't going to happen.  As for Buxton?  IMO there is no way he should have been a starter.  He was fortunate to be named a reserve.  He's hitting .215 and an on base perc of around .300.  he has a very high strike out rate.  He's struck out 80 times!!   His part time status makes him undependable and leaves his manager with limited options.  He's a very good player but not worthy of an all star appointment

[Karbo]

I love watching Buxton play, but honestly I hope he declines for health reasons. Give his knee a few days to rest. After all, I don't really think we are seeing more than about 75% healthy Buck out there.

[Otaknam]

They deserve to be reserves. Arraez is playing out of position so that factor into it. And Buxton is not hitting for average, though his HR trajectory is 40 plus. Now if he could ever stay healthy…..

[jimbo92107]

11 hours ago, Karbo said:

I love watching Buxton play, but honestly I hope he declines for health reasons. Give his knee a few days to rest. After all, I don't really think we are seeing more than about 75% healthy Buck out there.

If Buxton can drag himself out there, he'll play. His career has been marred by so many injuries, nobody can say whether he'll ever be an All Star again. We all know he's got the talent, but then he collides with a wall or gets hit by a pitch...

Buxton is built for extreme speed, but he's not built to take a lot of punishment. This is having a pronounced impact on his productivity. One of the best base stealers in the league has attempted just a handful of steals. He gets regular playing days off. He sometimes stops at second base when it looks like he could make it to third. 

On the other hand, he still covers tremendous ground in center field, and few runners challenge his arm. At the plate, when he barrels up a pitch, it goes a long way. Buxton continues to contribute in the main two ways: His bat and his glove help win games. 

[bean5302]

14 hours ago, jimbo92107 said:

If Buxton can drag himself out there, he'll play. His career has been marred by so many injuries, nobody can say whether he'll ever be an All Star again. We all know he's got the talent, but then he collides with a wall or gets hit by a pitch...

Buxton is built for extreme speed, but he's not built to take a lot of punishment. This is having a pronounced impact on his productivity. One of the best base stealers in the league has attempted just a handful of steals. He gets regular playing days off. He sometimes stops at second base when it looks like he could make it to third. 

On the other hand, he still covers tremendous ground in center field, and few runners challenge his arm. At the plate, when he barrels up a pitch, it goes a long way. Buxton continues to contribute in the main two ways: His bat and his glove help win games. 

I think it's more that Buxton is so physically gifted his strength and technique put a strain on his body. Like when Bo Jackson literally pulled his hip out of its socket fighting a tackle... something coaches/trainers told him was impossible.