MLB All-Star Game: Were the Arizona Diamondbacks Snubbed?

The MLB All-Star Game is less than a week away, and surprisingly the Diamondbacks are only two games behind the Giants for first place in the division, and among the top-half of teams in all of baseball. They are now among the 2011 season’s version of overachieving teams.

Led by their revamped bullpen and a closer who for the first two months of the season was nearly perfect, they defied media, fan and even front office expectations. Coming into the season a .500 record would have been the most anyone could ask for. As the second half starts the bar has been raised to win the NL West title.

Despite the meager expectations in April and the fact that they are probably about the 12th-best team in baseball, there is shock and dismay that Justin Upton is the only representative at the Diamondback hosted All-Star Game.   

While the story of the Diamondbacks is nice, and the do have some decent players, no one on their team, not even Upton, is a true star. Not to say that there aren’t a lot of quality players on the roster; but the star power isn’t there.

When your team’s payroll is 25th out of 30 teams, that’s often going to be the case. Combine that with playing in the lukewarm Phoenix market that is largely ignored by the rest of the country, one All-Star is as much as a reasonable person could expect.

Upton is the Diamondbacks' best hitter. While he’s in the top-10 in the National League for OPS, he ranks 20th in batting average. Some notably unnotable players who have higher batting averages than he does are Seth Smith of the Rockies, Jamey Carroll of the Dodgers, Daniel Murphy of the Mets and Darwin Barney of the Cubs.

The pitching is the same story. Ian Kennedy has been great so far and was selected among the five players eligible for the final fan vote, even though he was never going to realistically win. Didn’t he deserve to go?  Kennedy is ranked 20th in the National League for ERA. Shaun Marcum, Dustin Moseley and Jeff Karstens each have a better ERA than Kennedy does.

Kennedy and Upton are both very good players, and the Diamondbacks are lucky to have them. They’re just not national household names worthy of outrage if they aren’t selected for the All-Star Game or the home run derby.

All the strife is probably for naught anyway, as there’s a very good chance that Kennedy will be on the All-Star roster as an injury replacement, or replace a pitcher who starts on Sunday. As for Arizona’s most prominent native sons, Paul Konerko and Andre Ethier, they both found their ways on to the All-Star rosters as well.

So all’s well that ends well. The Diamondbacks will likely have two representatives and the local products will be there, too.

Now the Valley just has to brace for the incessant complaining about the heat that’s sure to be the national media’s favorite topic for the next five days.