The rosters for the Major League Baseball All-Star game were announced earlier this week. The American League roster features plenty of repeat All-Stars, great stories, and young talent on the rise. There were also plenty of deserving players not selected due to the roster crunch and managerial decisions.
Here are the American League's biggest All-Star snubs:
The Oakland Athletics acquired Reddick in the Andrew Bailey trade over the winter. While Bailey has yet to log an inning in Boston, Reddick has become one of the American League's leading home run hitters. After spending parts of three seasons with the Red Sox, the 25-year-old Reddick is getting a chance to play every day. Reddick has responded with 19 home runs, 50 runs scored, and a .865 OPS.
Edwin Encarnacion
Encarnacion is having a career year for the Blue Jays. He's started games at first, third, and left field for Toronto, but his best position is DH. Encarnacion's lack of a clearly defined position, coupled with the AL's first base depth, likely kept him off the All-Star squad. Encarnacion has slammed 22 home runs and driven in 55, while providing lineup protection for slugger Jose Bautista.
The selection of Billy Butler as the Royals' lone All-Star representative hurt the chances of making the team for both Encarnacion and Kansas City third baseman Mike Moustakas. In his first full season in the big leagues, the 23-year-old Moustakas has 14 home runs, 43 RBIs, and a .818 OPS.
A.J. Pierzynski
The selection of Mike Napoli as the All-Star game starter behind the plate led to a tough decision for manager Ron Washington. Joe Mauer and his league-best .417 on-base percentage was an obvious choice for the bench, which left Matt Wieters or Pierzynski as the AL's third catcher. Washington went with Wieters, the American League's reigning Gold Glove winner, over Pierzynski.
A season after posting a .317 OBP and striking out 181 times Austin Jackson has rebounded in 2012. He missed time due to injury, which hurt his All-Star chances, but Jackson has been one of the Tigers' best players when healthy. In 58 games, Jackson has scored 47 runs and posted career highs in OBP (.404) and slugging percentage (.524).
*Information gathered from http://www.baseball-reference.com
Dan Soderberg is a Baltimore native and lifelong Orioles fan. You can read some of Dan's other work at http://dadstimeout.tumblr.com/ Follow Dan on Twitter.
