3 biggest Blue Jays snubs from the 2023 All-Star Game

With the finalized rosters for both the American and National Leagues announced this past Sunday, the Toronto Blue Jays will have the distinct honour to send four representatives once again to this year’s Midsummer Classic at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

They unfortunately did not have a starter voted in by the fans this time around, but both Whit Merrifield and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be making their third appearance, while Kevin Gausman and Bo Bichette will be making their second appearance at the 2023 All-Star Game.

The Jays have sent four representatives to each of the past three All-Star Games (including this year), but are still quite far away from their record of seven representatives, set back in 1993 during their World Series championship era with the likes of Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Paul Molitor, John Olerud and others.

One cannot get too greedy, but at the same time, there had been many other Blue Jays that have been having strong seasons so far in 2023 that should have warranted them a spot on the All-Star roster as well. But with the overflow of talent across the league, as well as within the same ballclub, they have been given the short end of the stick unfortunately.

Here, we take a look at the 3 biggest snubs of Blue Jays players that should have made the Midsummer Classic along with the aforementioned four above.

Matt Chapman

For Jays’ third baseman Matt Chapman, his blistering start to the year itself should have gotten him into the All-Star Game easily, had he somehow maintained solid production in the months that followed. In his first month, Chapman hit .384 with a 1.152 OPS, with 17 runs scored, 15 doubles, five home runs and 21 RBI, along with playing strong defence for the Jays. In doing so, he captured both Player of the Week and Player of the Month honours in April.

However, Chapman has struggled a bit in the following two months, with his stats regressing more towards his normal career numbers. Despite that, he has still posted strong numbers across the board, with a .260 batting average, .794 OPS, 42 runs scored, 27 doubles, 11 home runs, 38 RBI, and three stolen bases to boot. Unfortunately, one would have to agree that José Ramírez of the Cleveland Guardians definitely picked it up lately and got the nod over Chapman as the reserve, despite Chapman being one of the finalists in the online fan voting process. Thus, 2019 will remain Chapman’s only year that he has been a part of the All-Star Game in his career.

Kevin Kiermaier

Much could be said about Kevin Kiermaier’s amazing renaissance season so far with the Jays this year. After putting much of his injury woes behind him and leaving the Tampa Bay Rays this past offseason to sign with the Jays, Kiermaier has shown that he was worth every penny the Jays had spent on him. Known for his stellar defence, he actually has supplemented it this year with some surprisingly strong offensive numbers that has helped the ballclub to their winning record to date.

For the season, Kiermaier is hitting .270, with an OPS of .764, with 33 runs scored, 11 doubles, five triples, four home runs, 18 RBI, and 10 stolen bases. If it wasn’t for some minor ailments that arose in the past month or so, he probably would have had even stronger numbers. His performance was so great that the fans have also recognized his excellence and made him a finalist as well in the online voting process. But sadly, similar to the fate of Chapman, Kiermaier didn’t get enough votes during the second phase of voting to secure his spot on the All-Star roster, and was overlooked when the reserve slots were filled.

The good part to it though is Kiermaier can finally get the rest that he truly needs and deserves to restore himself to full health and be ready for the grinds of the stretch run for the Jays.