3 Blue Jays players with the best chance at making the All-Star Game

The 2023 MLB All-Star Game is nearly upon us, and teams' campaigns to get their hometown heroes elected to the event are running aplenty around social media. Set to take place on July 11 at T-Mobile Park, the home of the Seattle Mariners, it's a bit surprising that we're already nearing that time of the season.

Leading the voting in round 1 was Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, both of whom are now locked into the Midsummer Classic. For Acuña, this will be his fourth All-Star Game while Ohtani will be participating in his third since coming over to the United States prior to the 2018 campaign.

Multiple members of the Toronto Blue Jays' position player group found themselves at or near the top of the charts at their respective positions; including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Matt Chapman, Whit Merrifield, Kevin Kiermaier, George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Brandon Belt.

However, every single MLB team needs to be represented in the game, and each of these Blue Jays making the cut is highy unlikely. It's also worth mentioning that the fan voting is only for position players, so we have no real concept of which pitchers are bound for the game. Looking at the Jays' pitching staff, there are a few hurlers that stand out, but only one is a sure thing to be elected by his peers.

Despite the fact that the Jays did so well early on in the voting, not a single player was chosen to start the All-Star Game on the AL side. There were some second-place finishes, but nobody was able to secure enough votes to automatically earn an ASG election.

With such a strong lineup and a solid roster as a whole, there are a handful of Blue Jays that deserve to represent the club at the All-Star Game. Let's dive in and pick out the top three candidates who we'll likely see in the event in the coming weeks.

3 Blue Jays players with the best chance at making the All-Star Game

Shortstop Bo Bichette

Bo Bichette is as close to a "sure thing" as there is on the Blue Jays' roster. While he is still working to earn the face of the franchise title that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. currently holds, Bichette has been rock solid this year and is all but guaranteed to make the All-Star Game. While he may not be the starting shortstop, he's surely going to make it in a backup capacity at the very least.

Through 81 games this year, Bichette has been an offensive juggernaut for the Jays. He currently tops the charts in the AL for hits with 110 and also has an AL-leading .319 batting average heading into the day. He has 20 doubles and 14 home runs to go along with 48 runs batted in, an .852 OPS and an OPS+ of 136, which would be the highest of his career if the season ended today.

Up against some of the other top (qualified) shortstops in the American League, Bichette is currently first in home runs, runs batted in, batting average, OBP, SLG and wRC+.

We all know what Bichette is capable of doing with a bat in his hands. Time and time again, he comes through in the clutch and blends small-ball in with home runs perfectly. However, what only furthers his value this year in particular is his defense at shortstop, which finally seems to be turning a corner.

Last year, Bichette was one of the very worst defenders in all of baseball. His dWAR sat at -0.8, his Outs Above Average put him in the seventh percentile in the league, and he just did not appear to be comfortable playing this demanding position on a nightly basis. This year, his OAA is up a bit, as he now resides in the 18th percentile and his dWAR is up to 0.7, which is a fairly dramatic increase from the 2022 mark. This is without mentioning that he has seen his Defensive Runs Saved count go from -16 a year ago, to 2 today.

The improvements are noticeable across the board and now that he is able to pair a decent glove with an elite bat, he is surely going to make his way to the All-Star Game for the second time in his career.

Starting pitcher Kevin Gausman

No disrespect to Matt Chapman, who feels like someone who could make the game but as a backup, but Kevin Gausman is a lock to make the All-Star Game thanks to his unreal start to the season.

Gausman and his lethal splitter have been astounding for the Blue Jays so far this year, and he has officially done more than enough to be considered the staff ace. Through 17 outings in 2023, the 32-year-old is 7-4 with a 3.01 ERA, MLB-leading 2.54 FIP and a 136 ERA+. His 139 strikeouts lead all American League pitchers and he has brought his H/9 down considerably from last season, which is shocking given how dominant he was in 2022.

Gausman currently sits in the 93rd percentile in K% and 82nd in BB%, while also inducing swings and misses with the best of them. The aforementioned splitter of his has allowed just a .184 batting average this year and he has barely allowed any hard contact off of it. As a matter of fact, his 12.3 HC% is in the 82nd percentile amongst pitchers around the league, as "average" is all the way at 26%.

As is the case with Bichette and Guerrero, there's a shot that Gausman finds a way to start the All-Star Game for the American League. The fact that he leads the league in both FIP and SIERA suggests that he's done the best job in the league at doing everything he possibly can to keep the opposition off of the scoreboard, which one would think is the biggest indicator of being "worthy" to start the Midsummer Classic.

Shane McClanahan (Rays), Framber Valdez (Astros), Sonny Gray (Twins) or even Shohei Ohtani (Angels) are all other options that could earn the starting nod, but don't count Gausman out just yet.