MLB All-Star Roster 2019: Top Snubs After Final Voting Results

The final rosters for the 2019 All-Star Game have been set, which means it's time to look at the most egregious omissions from the list of 64 players.

As a result of Major League Baseball's insistence on every team having at least one representative, squeezing in every deserving player becomes a nearly impossible task. Another problem is positional depth—for example, it can be hard to reward five shortstops from one league who are all worthy of taking part in the Midsummer Classic.

As everyone continues to pore over the American League and National League stars who will do battle for supremacy in Cleveland on July 9, here are the players most deserving of a spot on the team who wound up on the outside.

American League

Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston Red Sox: .299/.392/.532, 15 HR, 55 RBI, 3.7 fWAR

Marcus Semien, SS, Oakland Athletics: .272/.352/.435, 11 HR, 42 RBI, 3.0 fWAR

Trey Mancini, 1B/OF, Baltimore Orioles: .302/.358/.548, 17 HR, 40 RBI, 1.7 fWAR

Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

Xander Bogaerts has to be wondering what more he could have done to make the AL All-Star team.

The Boston Red Sox shortstop ranks second in the league with 3.7 WAR—Mike Trout leads MLB with 5.2. He ranks first at the position with a .392 on-base percentage, second with a .532 slugging percentage and 15 homers.

Only two shortstops were selected to the AL squad—Jorge Polanco of the Minnesota Twins and Francisco Lindor of the Cleveland Indians. Polanco was voted in as the starter and has a .905 OPS for one of the best teams in MLB.

Lindor is having another strong season with a .293/.352/.500 slash line and 12 homers despite missing the first 20 games with an ankle injury. He's also going to be the face of All-Star week in his home ballpark and is one of the sport's great ambassadors, so it's difficult to say he doesn't belong.

There's still no reason that Bogaerts shouldn't have cracked the squad in a reserve role.

Sticking at shortstop, Marcus Semien of the Oakland Athletics is another unfortunate victim of AL snubbing. Among players who have played a majority of their games this season at the position, he ranks second in wins above replacement and runs scored (55).

Semien has also developed into one of the best defensive players in MLB. He leads all AL shortstops in defensive value (10.5) and is second in defensive runs saved (six).

On the subject of every team needing one representative, how does Trey Mancini not get the nod for the Baltimore Orioles? John Means has had a fine season in the starting rotation with a 2.50 ERA, but his 75.2 innings isn't even enough for him to qualify for the ERA title.

Mancini is the one of the few reasons to watch Baltimore games right now. The 27-year-old also adds versatility off the bench because he can play first base and either corner outfield position.

National League

Max Muncy, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers: .281/.383/.550, 20 HR, 57 RBI, 3.2 WAR

Eduardo Escobar, 3B, Arizona Diamondbacks: .291/.350/.543, 18 HR, 64 RBI, 2.5 WAR

Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, San Diego Padres: .335/.405/.619, 11 HR, 28 RBI, 2.6 WAR

John McCoy/Getty Images

All three of the NL snubs suffer from the same problem previously discussed with Bogaerts and Semien. Max Muncy, Eduardo Escobar and Fernando Tatis Jr. all have outstanding All-Star resumes on their own, but it's not as simple as saying this player deserves to be on the team.

First base in the NL is stacked at the top this year, which led to snubs like Muncy, Rhys Hoskins of the Philadelphia Phillies and Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs. If you put those players on, can you justify leaving off Pete Alonso and Josh Bell with Freddie Freeman already set to start?

Muncy, in particular, has the best resume and reasons to be upset by the result. He ranks second among all qualified NL first basemen with 3.2 wins above replacement, third in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage and homers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been a pleasant surprise in the NL this year. They were expected to be going through a rebuild, yet ended Sunday with a respectable 43-43 record. The team will be well-represented in Cleveland with Ketel Marte starting at second base and Zack Greinke on the pitching staff.

But Escobar has carved out a terrific season worthy of recognition. He is tied with Anthony Rendon, who is the NL's reserve third baseman, with 18 homers, and his 64 RBI rank second at the position behind Nolan Arenado's total.

All of this has been a preamble to the biggest snub of all in either league: San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.

If the argument against Tatis is based on playing time, it can be justified because he missed more than one month with a strained left hamstring and has only played 48 games.

Even by that standard, though, there's no way to look at what Tatis has done when healthy and argue he isn't an All-Star. The 20-year-old would lead all MLB shortstops in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage if he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.

Just as important as Tatis' stats is what he means to MLB. He was one of the two most hyped prospects in the sport coming into the season—Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays being the other—and showed so much during spring training that Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer convinced San Diego's ownership to put the young star on the Opening Day roster.

Tatis is the kind of rare talent MLB needs to showcase in a marketing event like the All-Star Game to help build its foundation for the future.

There will be many Midsummer Classic appearances waiting in the years to come, but this was a missed opportunity for Tatis to share the field with the sport's best players.

Stats and WAR via FanGraphs.com