ASG Worthy? Giancarlo Stanton

The Yankees will be sending 6 representatives to the 2022 Midsummer Classic. This week, we're going to see if each player is worthy to go.

The History of All-Star Selections/Voting:

Starting in 1933, outside of a few instances (1945 and 2020), the All-Star Game has been a yearly occurrence at about the halfway point during the MLB season. In the early years, the All-Star teams were quite small (18 players in 1933. 20 from 1934-1938, 25 from 1939-1981) and in recent years rules have been implemented that each MLB team must have at least one representative at the game. In 1982, the rosters were expanded to 30 active players then it moved to 32 in 2003, 33 in 2009, and has been at 34 since 2010.

Alongside roster changes and expansions, the league has also had many different solutions to how a player makes the All-Star team. In the first two years, the fans voted for the 18 starters- including the starting pitcher- while the rest of the roster was compiled by the manager. This changed from 1934-1946 where the full roster was selected by the manager of the team. In 1947 fans were allowed to vote again for the starting 8 (no pitchers)...which was then stopped after Cincinnati Reds fans "stuffed the ballot" in 1957. It then became a decision by the managers and MLB again through 1969. In 1970 fan voting came back for the starting 8, though from then until 2003, the managers solely selected the back-up players. In 2003 the players were also given a voice in the voting process for the non-starters. The final voting changes occurred from 2002 to 2018 where fans had a vote for the final player on the roster, and a new rule for 2022 (and going forward) where the commissioner of the MLB is allowed to make a "legacy selection" for the All-Star Game. (This year the selected legacy players are Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera.)

All-Star Flubs and Snubs:

Now, with a history that is nearly 90 years going and the many many changes to team sizes, selection processes, and even positions to vote/select for (the outfield used to be separated by specific position), there should be an expectation that there are some players who snuck their way onto the team and others who should've been slam-dunk choices.

Take 2015 for example. The Kansas City Royals rallied their troops and got shortstop Alcides Escobar elected as the starting shortstop for the All-Star Game. By that time in the season, Escobar was hitting to a respectable .290/.327/.372/.700 quadruple slash and as a glove-first player with a 98 OPS+ it was not seen as out of the picture. However, at that same point in the season Xander Bogaerts (who didn't make the team at all) was hitting to a .304/.338/.411/.750 quadruple slash. (To put it into perspective, that .050 difference in OPS is the same between 2022 Giancarlo Stanton and 2022 Eugenio Suarez.)

Also to that point, let's highlight 2022 All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and non-all-star Ty France. Vladito is hitting to a .266/.346/.483/.829 quadruple slash with 19 home runs and 54 RBI's while France is hitting to a .306/.379/.460/.840 quadruple slash with 10 home runs and 45 RBI's. Are they comparable? Yes. However, did fan voting for a Toronto Blue Jay help elevated Guerrero over a more deserving player? Also, yes.

All that being said, let's see if the 6 Yankees 2022 All-Star Game selections are worthwhile.

The 2022 Statistics of Giancarlo Stanton:

A right calf strain that kept Stanton out for 10 days in late-May/early-June has really been the only negative when looking at Giancarlo Stanton's 2022 season. Even while dealing with that, Stanton- who was a 4-time All-Star and an MVP in Miami- has now, after 5 seasons, finally become an All-Star for the New York Yankees. At this point in the year, Giancarlo Stanton is hitting to the following line: (Key: Leads MLB, Leads AL Outfielders)

.236/.320/.512 (.831 OPS/136 OPS+/133 wRC+), 22 Home Runs, 56 RBI's, +1.2 bWAR/+1.4 fWAR

Across qualified American League outfielders (by Fangraphs), Giancarlo Stanton has the:

22nd best Batting Average (Andrew Benintendi leads at .317)
16th best On-Base Percentage (Andrew Benintendi leads at .389)
4th in Slugging Percentage (Aaron Judge leads at .610)
5th in On-Base Plus Slugging (Aaron Judge leads at .971)
4th in OPS+ (Aaron Judge leads at 174)
6th in wRC+ (Aaron Judge leads at 169)
4th in Home Runs (Aaron Judge leads at 30)
3rd in RBI's (Aaron Judge leads at 65)

(Note: Rankings don't count Yordan Alvarez, who has played more DH- 41 games- than outfield- 33 games- this year. At that same note, Stanton has played an equal amount of outfield and DH this year- both 34 games.)

As an outfielder who was voted onto the team, Giancarlo Stanton does have the statistics this year (and the prior resume) to make his selection not outside of being earned. Now, one could very easily argue that Stanton has not been the 3rd best American League outfielder (behind Judge and Mike Trout) while pointing to players like Kyle Tucker, Byron Buxton, George Springer, and even somebody like Andrew Benintendi or Julio Rodriguez. Coincidentally, all of those 5 players made the American League All-Star team...just as the back-ups/reserves.

For this reason, it's pretty clear that Giancarlo Stanton is deserving of being an American League All-Star this season. There are very few- if any- outfielders in the American League who are getting "snubbed" this year for a spot on the All-Star team, and if there is a notable snub, that players "should've been spot" is definitely not being held captive by Stanton.

So far, after looking at the two starters for the New York Yankees, they are 2 for 2 with deserving players. (We talked about Aaron Judge yesterday, which you can find here.)