NL All-Stars 2015: Starting Roster and Top Snubs

Voters turned out in droves this year to support their favorite players in the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. In fact, according to MLB's communications department, the 620 million votes cast this year were a new record.

In addition to the record turnout, the group deserves credit for nailing the voting process on the National League side of things. The fans managed to reward the best player in the NL to this point in the season—Bryce Harper—with the most votes for any NL player in the history of the fan vote.

Nearly the entire group of players selected are deserving, and finding "snubs" is far more difficult with this group than it was for the American League team. That said, two players have legitimate gripes about their exclusions, and both are looking up in the standings at one player who, well, probably doesn't deserve to be there.

Before we talk snubs though, let's take a look at position players who will—mostly—take the field in Cincinnati, Ohio.

National League Starters

Position	Player	Team	Votes
C	Buster Posey	San Francisco Giants	9,909,668
1B	Paul Goldschmidt	Arizona Diamondbacks	9,119,375
2B	Dee Gordon	Miami Marlins	7,574,750
3B	Todd Frazier	Cincinnati Reds	9,233,686
SS	Jhonny Peralta	St. Louis Cardinals	8,478,474
OF	Bryce Harper	Washington Nationals	13,864,950
OF	Giancarlo Stanton	Miami Marlins	7,036,537
OF	Matt Holliday	St. Louis Cardinals	6,362,653

In addition to making sure they got the best player the most votes, the fans rewarded arguably the best player at each position with a justifiable spot in the NL's starting lineup.

Rarely do we say that a group of fans "nailed" their vote for an All-Star Game, but this year, aside from one spot—we'll talk about that soon enough—the fans were spot-on.

Moving on to the other outfielders, it's impossible to find fault in the fact that Giancarlo Stanton received enough votes to earn a spot in the NL's starting lineup. The 25-year-old slugger leads all of baseball in home runs, and his 158 OPS+ and 67 RBI are downright gaudy.

His injury came just a week ago, and aside from dropping him from the ballot completely, there was nothing that could have been done to keep him from earning a starting spot—in fact, he probably deserves it anyway, despite the hamate fracture.

Truthfully, there's only one spot to point to where the fans "snubbed" a more deserving player: in the outfield.

Matt Holliday has no business making the All-Star Team, let alone being voted in as a starter.

The 35-year-old and now seven-time All-Star outfielder hasn't suited up for the Red Birds since June 8, and, unlike Stanton, whose numbers merit inclusion on the roster despite an injury, Holliday wasn't having a great season to begin with. Aside from a strong .417 OBP, Holliday was having a rather mundane season, with just 14 extra-base hits and 26 RBI through 52 games and 178 at-bats.

Top Snubs

Behind Holliday in the polls, two rather notable snubs were that of Joc Pederson and a more under-the-radar option, A.J. Pollock.

Pollock, the Diamondbacks starting center fielder, has had an outstanding first half, posting a .303/.346/.464 batting line, while his 10 home runs and 18 stolen bases make him a 20-40 candidate.

Beyond that, the 27-year-old has tallied 38 RBI, despite hitting first or second in just over 90 percent of his plate appearances, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Pollock has flashed outstanding speed on the basepaths, and while he isn't as prolific a bag-swiper as Dee Gordon or Billy Hamilton, the Connecticut native has carved out a nice niche for himself, ranking fourth in the category among qualified NL outfielders.

On top of that, Pollock's defensive contributions make him one of the league's more well-rounded players. Take a look at where Pollock ranks among qualified NL outfielders by advanced defensive metrics:

Metric	DRS	UZR/150	RZR	OOZ
NL Ranking	t-1st	4th	9th	5th

Top-five defensive outfielder? Check. Well-rounded offensive game? Check. NL All-Star... maybe? Pollock is arguably the next-best player available to take one of the two spots that will be vacated by Stanton and Holliday, so his status as a snub could be short-lived.

That brings us to Pederson, who looks like a shoo-in to replace one of those two injured starters.

Pederson's play this season is certainly deserving of starting consideration, and while the fan vote kept him from assuming that position right away, the injury bug could help open the door.

Either way, Pederson got ripped off. The rookie center fielder is pounding the ball this year, and while his status as a three-true-outcomes player may be a bit frustrating—he strikes out a lot—Pederson's numbers are arguably as good as any NL outfielder not named Harper or Stanton.

Through 82 games, the 23-year-old boasts a strong .234/.372/.504 batting line with 20 home runs, 38 RBI, 45 runs scored and a 98-56 K/BB ratio. Scoff at the .234 batting average all you want—OK, a little scoffing is fair—but Pederson knows how to get on base, and when he makes contact, he generally hits really, really hard.

So how does Pederson compare to other NL outfielders?

Well, forget about the batting average, and you have a player who, among qualified outfielders, ranks third in home runs, seventh in runs scored, third in ISO, fifth in OBP, third in slugging percentage, fourth in wRC+ and tied for third (with A.J. Pollock) in fWAR, according to FanGraphs.

Oh, and those categories where Pederson ranks third: Guess who he ranks behind? You guessed it: Harper and Stanton.

If you're willing to look beyond the batting average and 98 strikeouts—98 is a lot, Joc—then you've got a player who is, by the numbers, one of the top outfielders in the NL. Somehow, that top outfielder managed just a seventh-place showing in the voting, behind the likes of Jay Bruce and Nori Aoki.

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