6 Players Who Should Have Been All-Stars This Year
Kolten Wong
Of any St. Louis Cardinal, Kolten Wong may be the most deserving to make the All-Star roster, yet he didn't even after another player dropped due to injury. Wong is better (and younger) than the young phenom from Colorado, DJ LeMahieu, though their stats are very similar.
It would be easy to let the idea of Wong missing out on the All-Star game pass if it wasn't for the news of Troy Tulowitzki replacing Dee Gordon on the National League roster. Tulo was close to making the roster as a shortstop, but should he have beaten out Wong for the spot when Gordon went down?
| Player | Team | HR | RBI | SB | wOBA | wRC+ | WAR | nERD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Panik* | Giants | 7 | 33 | 3 | 0.359 | 136 | 3.3 | 1.99 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | Rockies | 10 | 49 | 0 | 0.357 | 112 | 1.2 | 1.6 |
| Dee Gordon* | Marlins | 1 | 22 | 33 | 0.336 | 113 | 2.9 | 1.32 |
| Kolten Wong | Cardinals | 9 | 37 | 10 | 0.338 | 117 | 2.2 | 1.18 |
| DJ LeMahieu* | Rockies | 4 | 35 | 10 | 0.336 | 97 | 1.6 | 1.11 |
Depending on which stat you go by, you could make a good argument for either player. Wong has fewer less home run than Tulowitzki on the season so far and is only slightly behind him in our nERD metric. However, Wong leads Tulo in wOBA and wRC+ and has a full fWAR more than him as well.
Tulowitzki should definitely add some offensive firepower to the middle infield of the National League, though Wong could have done so as well. There are no complaints seeing Tulowitzki compete in the All-Star game, but because it was a second baseman who needed replacing, it's a shame we won't see the young Kolten Wong play an inning or two in this year's All-Star game.
