Phillies: Was Odubel Herrera snubbed from his second All-Star Game?

While the Phillies got their one All-Star in Aaron Nola, should they have had two? There may be a case that Odubel Herrera was snubbed from the roster.

After a dominating start to the year, Aaron Nola was named a National League All-Star as the Phillies‘ lone representative. However, should another Phillie, Odubel Herrera, have been an All-Star?

Herrera is off to a great start to this year even after suffering a significant slump once his on-base streak ended earlier this year. In 84 games prior to Sunday, he had a .280/.333/.470 line with 15 home runs, 51 runs batted in, and four stolen bases. The center fielder has seen a major power surge, already tying his career high in home runs and needs to drive in just six more runs to set a career high.

Before his slump hit, Herrera was an early contender for the MVP award. Even after hitting a wall, he still received decent support in the All-Star Vote, ranking 11th with 664,335 votes in the latest update July 2. Of course, he was still way behind the votes needed to get him to Washington.

Of course, there was a decent chance Herrera could make it as a reserve. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as Milwaukee’s Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich and Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon were selected as the NL’s reserve outfielders.

However, if you look below, Herrera’s numbers are very close to both Yelich’s and Blackmon’s this season:

Name	Team	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	WAR
Lorenzo Cain	Brewers	72	312	8	48	26	16	0.291	0.394	0.438	0.366	128	3.4
Christian Yelich	Brewers	73	313	11	54	35	10	0.282	0.358	0.458	0.353	119	2.1
Odubel Herrera	Phillies	84	361	15	44	51	4	0.280	0.333	0.470	0.346	116	1.7
Charlie Blackmon	Rockies	84	376	16	65	39	5	0.276	0.348	0.469	0.352	106	0.5

The player that Herrera has the best argument against would be Blackmon. Herrera has the edge in RBI, batting average, slugging percentage, wRC+, and fWAR this season. Blackmon holds a slight edge in other stats, but as a whole, they rank very closely to one another.

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Blackmon may have received the edge in the player’s ballot due to the fact that he has a better track record and is more well-known in the league. Up until this year, Herrera has been playing on a bad team and hasn’t had one particularly outstanding year.

Also giving Blackmon the advantage is that the players submitted their ballots weeks ago (Thanks Justin Verlander!) At that time, Herrera was only starting to emerge from his late-May/eary-June slump and his numbers were likely much worse than the reserves selected.

The league-selected reserve spots went to Paul Goldschmidt, Scooter Gennett, and J.T. Realmuto. Realmuto got priority as a catcher and the lone Marlin, while Goldschmidt and Gennett simply are better than Herrera at this point in the season.

When looking at the finalists for the NL Final Vote, which is decided by fans over the next few days, Herrera doesn’t really stack up with any of them either:

Name	Team	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	WAR
Trea Turner	Nationals	88	398	11	54	37	22	0.282	0.359	0.425	0.342	113	3.2
Max Muncy	Dodgers	66	244	20	39	38	2	0.270	0.410	0.617	0.428	175	3.1
Brandon Belt	Giants	74	313	13	39	41	2	0.296	0.387	0.504	0.378	142	2.7
Matt Carpenter	Cardinals	83	355	16	52	38	0	0.256	0.363	0.502	0.368	133	2.6
Jesus Aguilar	Brewers	78	275	20	42	59	0	0.303	0.364	0.610	0.405	153	2.4
Odubel Herrera	Phillies	84	361	15	44	51	4	0.280	0.333	0.470	0.346	116	1.7

Next: 5 things from Phillies series win over Pirates

Ultimately, I can see why Herrera was left off the roster, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Perhaps he becomes a replacement for another player if they get injured or opt out. Either way, he is having a very successful season, whether or not he gets to be an All-Star.

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