2012 MLB All Star Voting: Players on Pace to Be Honor's Biggest Snubs

All-Star voting is a popularity contest.

Players that are deserving of the honor are snubbed every single year because they aren’t household names. Thanks to MLB.com, we have an inside look at the AL and NL voting race thus far. Based on the released numbers, here are the players who are on pace to get snubbed.

3. Mark Trumbo, 3B, Los Angeles Angels

Somehow, someway, Trumbo isn’t even in the top five vote-getters for his position. This season, he’s batting an impressive .326, which is good enough for 10^th in the majors and second among third baseman, only behind David Wright. He also has 16 home runs, which is the most out of any third baseman.

The worst part about Trumbo’s snub is that Alex Rodriguez is in fourth place, and he’s batting just .265 with 10 homers and 16 less RBI.

2. Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Why is McCutchen in 10^th place amongst National League outfielders in All-Star voting despite batting .332 and being the leader of a Pirates team that’s four games over .500? Well, because he’s on the Pirates.

Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reported that McCutchen knows that he isn’t going to receive much hype in Pittsburgh. He said:

"

You play for the Pirates and you're not going to get as much attention as somebody who plays for the Yankees or the Rangers. We're at the bottom of the totem pole. We're not on TV all the time. The only time you're going to see us on TV is if [Justin] Verlander almost tosses a no-hitter against us or one of our guys does something incredible.

"

As the only respectable bat on a winning ballclub, McCutchen should be an All-Star.

1. Carlos Ruiz, C, Philadelphia Phillies

Sure, offense isn’t everything, but Ruiz’s offense alone should get him to the All-Star Game. He’s that much better than every other catcher. Ruiz is in the thick of the race for the batting title with an insane .358 average, but he’s third place in voting.

Buster Posey has almost 700,000 more votes than him, but he only bats .294. Ruiz has more home runs, RBI and 19 less strikeouts than Posey. The Phillies catcher deserves more love. 

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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