2024 MLB All-Star Game: Francisco Lindor, Christian Walker, Cristopher Sanchez among most egregious snubs

The American League and National League teams for the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game have been named . There will be some injury replacements and some pitchers added to replace those who start next Sunday, by rule, but there will still be a few worthy players who were snubbed for the 2024 All-Star Game. As is tradition, let's run through the the players who either should be added to the roster later or have gotten a raw deal.

Presenting the All-Snub Team:

Catcher

Patrick Bailey , Giants . It's no travesty, but Bailey has played well enough to be an All-Star. He's very good behind the plate and provides excellent offense for a catcher (120 OPS+ entering Sunday). With only two catchers on the NL side, the picks were obvious in William Contreras and Will Smith , but Bailey would be next in line and one could argue that each league should take three catchers.

First baseman

Christian Walker , Diamondbacks . The gold standard, defensively, at first base, Walker is also an established power-hitting stud. He hit 36 homers in 2022 and 33 with 103 RBI last season. This year, he's already at 22 homers and 64 RBI. The Diamondbacks were a surprise pennant winner last season and this year have just one All-Star. Walker would be a reasonable selection to give them two.

Second baseman

Brice Turang , Brewers . The youngster is hitting .280 with a .350 on-base percentage and is currently 29 for 34 in stolen base attempts.

Third baseman

Jordan Westburg , Orioles . Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher of a snub is right here. Westburg is hitting .281 with a .506 slugging percentage this season. A true stat-sheet filler, he has 20 doubles, five triples, 14 homers, 49 RBI, 44 runs and six stolen bases.

Shortstop

Francisco Lindor , Mets . The batting average police will jump on this, since Lindor is only hitting .250 -- the league average is .242, by the way -- but he does so much more than that. He's in the top 10 in runs scored and has 25 doubles, 15 homers and 16 steals in addition to playing great defense at short. He's an All-Star-caliber player and has somehow become underrated.

Outfielders

Willi Castro , Twins . He's slashing .271/.357/.438 with 22 doubles, five triples, seven homers, 10 steals and 54 runs.

Anthony Santander , Orioles. Was three All-Stars enough for the Orioles? Westburg and Santander have pretty good arguments that the team deserves more. Sure, there's a low average and on-base percentage, but Santander has 23 homers and 57 RBI, holding down an important lineup spot for arguably the best AL team.

Brandon Nimmo , Mets. Nimmo doesn't hit for a high average, but he's a quality OPS player with the walks and power (136 OPS+ entering Sunday). He has over 50 runs and RBI while also producing 17 doubles, two triples, 13 homers. Oh, and he's eight for eight in steals.

Designated hitter

Brent Rooker , Athletics . It was pretty obvious that the A's were only going to get one All-Star and that would be Mason Miller , but Rooker is worthy of a look. He's hitting .278/.353/.537 with 18 homers and 54 RBI.

Starting pitchers

Ronel Blanco , Astros . Blanco would've been a great story as an All-Star, and he still might be. He only had 58 1/3 career innings heading into this season as a 30-year-old. He was thrust into the Astros' rotation due to injury. In 16 starts this season, Blanco is 8-3 with a 2.53 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and he even threw a no-hitter.

Cristopher Sanchez , Phillies . Through 17 starts, Sanchez is 6-4 with a 2.96 ERA and sports the lowest home run rate in the majors. He's also one of the few pitchers with a shutout.

George Kirby , Mariners . After Sunday's start, Kirby now has a 3.39 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with a sparkling strikeout-to-walk ratio -- he's struck out 109 against only 11 walks in 111 2/3 innings.

Joe Ryan , Twins. Ryan isn't as extreme as Kirby, but he's also a strikeout-to-walk rate machine. In 109 1/3 innings, Ryan has 118 strikeouts and 16 walks. He has a 3.29 ERA and 0.97 WHIP on the season.

Jake Irvin , Nationals . The 6-foot-6 righty is one of the main reasons the Nationals have surprisingly remained on the fringe of the wild-card race. In 18 starts, he's pitched to a 2.80 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.

Relief pitchers

Hunter Gaddis , Guardians . We could also mention Cade Smith and a few others from the vaunted Guardians' bullpen, but we'll stick with Gaddis. In 44 outings, he's pitched to a 1.28 ERA and 0.71 WHIP with 44 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings.

Trevor Megill , Brewers. The older Megill brother deserves a look whenever replacements are named. In 30 appearances, he's put together a 1.59 ERA and 0.99 WHIP while having closed down 18 of his 19 save chances, filling in more than admirably for injured All-Star closer Devin Williams .

Griffin Jax , Twins. Jax has seven saves and 13 holds against three blown saves while sporting a 1.88 ERA and 0.93 WHIP.