Were these Phillies Snubbed by the MLB All-Star Game?

No two ways around it: the Philadelphia Phillies have been a largely underwhelming team in 2021. It’s not that they don’t have talent, or that they haven’t shown flashes of brilliance, or even had players break half-century-old records. But on the whole, most of their superstars have underperformed, they’ve had some unfortunate injuries, and some of their top prospects have struggled at the major-league level.

Nevertheless, the Phillies will have Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto representing them in the 2021 All-Star Game.

While this is the first time the Phillies have had multiple All-Stars since 2013, there are a few players on the team who might have deserved a reserve nod this year, given their comparable stats to players around the league who did.

Now, to be clear, these Phillies might not exactly be having All-Star-caliber seasons (they’d be reserves, not starters), but the point here is that they might be closer to the caliber than other players who actually made the reserve list, or at least on par.

Let’s take a look at some of those Phillies….

Phillies superstar Bryce Harper Could’ve Been an All-Star

Bryce Harper is having a weird season, but in early June, he was the only Phillie who had a chance to be an All-Star, according to MLB’s fan-vote update.

In late June, he set a new franchise record for consecutive solo home runs, which he has continued to hit; he’s now hit 14 home runs this season, each of them a solo shot, putting him two away from the MLB record set over fifty years ago.

But let’s compare Harper’s and Mookie Betts’ – who is a reserve outfielder for the NL team – this year:

• Mookie Betts (71 games): .248/.361/.456, .817 OPS, 21 doubles, 3 triples, 10 HR, 31 RBI, 7 SB
• Bryce Harper (60 games): .271/.377/.514, .891 OPS, 10 doubles, 0 triples, 14 HR, 26 RBI, 7 SB

Harper has more home runs, a better slash line, and a higher OPS than Betts. They have both stolen seven bases, but Betts has been caught thrice, and Harper has not been caught yet this season. Betts has walked more and struck out less; he has out-hit Harper, and has more than double his doubles (sorry), as well as three triples (Harper has none), but Betts has also played in 71 games to Harper’s 60.

Harper has also outslugged Juan Soto, another NL reserve. The Phillies superstar’s OPS is 60 points higher than that of the Nationals wunderkind. Like Betts, Soto has also played in more games than Harper, but overall, their numbers are close, too. Harper has more homers, Soto has more RBI.

Among NL rightfielders overall, Harper is in the top-10 in runs, hits, doubles, homers, walks, stolen bases. He’s fourth among the qualified NL RF in AVG and OBP, and third in SLG and OPS.

So overall, Harper has largely similar numbers to a few of the NL outfield superstars who have underperformed this season, so maybe none of them deserve to reserve (sorry again), or maybe they all do. Likely, it’s a bit of both.

Phillies fans wanted to see Rhys Hoskins in the All-Star Game

Hoskins is probably the biggest Phillies snub.

Over 81 games this season, Hoskins is hitting .228/.309/.465 with a .744 OPS, 18 home runs, 18 doubles, and 46 RBI.

Among NL first basemen, you can definitely make a case for Hoskins being in the game. He and Max Muncy lead their position with 18 homers apiece, and Hoskins stands alone with 18 doubles. He’s fifth in hits, fourth in runs scored, and tied for third in both RBI and walks.

Hoskins has the most hits on the team (69), but that isn’t saying much in the National League leaderboards; Cincinnati Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos leads the NL with 105 hits. Hoskins is way down the list tied for 29th in the NL with Mookie Betts, Yonathan Daza, Josh Rojas, and Juan Soto. Though technically, if you judged All-Stars solely on the metric of hits, Hoskins should be an All-Star reserve along with Betts and Soto.

So how does he rank on his own team? He leads in home runs, doubles, RBI, and the aforementioned hits. He’s ranked third in walks, behind Andrew McCutchen and Bryce Harper. He also leads his team (and all NL first basemen) with 88 strikeouts, though – one of just three Phillies with 68 or more.

It’s understandable that Phillies fans would want to see Hoskins in the All-Star Game; he’s one of their favorite team’s best players this year, and actually one of the better first basemen in the league. In a season of skyrocketing strikeout numbers and deadened balls, his home run count is impressive.

It’s also easy to blame the Phillies bullpen for the team’s win-loss record. After all, they lead MLB with 22 blown saves. But by comparing a position player to their counterparts on other teams, it’s easy to see who deserves to be an All-Star and who doesn’t.

Ultimately, there’s a big difference between being one of the best players on your under-.500 team, and being an All-Star.