Opinion: Lindor and Nimmo Are Bad Snubs From All-Star Game

The New York Mets have one All-Star in 2023. It’s not surprising considering that the Mets sit at 37-46, 19 games back in the division and nine games back of the wild card.

Bad teams, which is what the Mets have been so far, usually don’t have many All-Stars. With that said, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo both potentially deserve to be on the National League team this season, yet each will be watching from home.

Lindor

While he may not be completely living up to the expectations that come with a 10-year, $341 million contract, he is still an excellent baseball player.

Going into Sunday night’s game when the full rosters were announced, Lindor was hitting .225/.305/.450 with 17 home runs, 19 doubles, 55 RBI, and 49 runs scored. Yes, the batting average isn’t pretty, but he’s still hitting for a ton of power. 

Among MLB shortstops, Lindor has the most homers, RBI, and runs scored. Some of that is situational and depends on his teammates to get on base in front of him and drive him in, but the home runs aren’t. He has two more than Bo Bichette, who leads the American League, and five more than Paul DeJong, who is second in the National League.  

Among National League shortstops, he is tied for second in fWAR at 2.5 with Geraldo Perdomo, who also didn’t make the All-Star team. Perdomo is having a really nice season and definitely deserved consideration, but he has only five home runs and isn’t a qualified hitter. Lindor should get the nod before he does.

Among NL qualified shortstops, Lindor is tied for first in OPS (.755) and wRC+ (109) with Dansby Swanson, who made the team as a reserve. Swanson leads NL shortstops in fWAR, so why isn’t he the starter?

Because Orlando Arcia, who isn’t even a qualified hitter and is sixth in fWAR, won the fan vote. If it was a merit-based system, Swanson would be the starter and Lindor the reserve. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Nimmo

Heading into Sunday, Nimmo was hitting .282/.372/.462 with 12 homers, 40 RBI, and 47 runs scored. His .834 OPS ranks ninth among qualifiers and his wRC+ ranks fifth.

Nimmo’s fWAR ranks sixth among NL outfielders behind Ronald Acuña Jr., Mookie Betts, Corbin Carroll, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis Jr. The first four are deservedly All-Stars. The fifth finished up a PED suspension to begin the year. That doesn’t disqualify him from the All-Star Game, but it is some necessary context.

More importantly, none of those five players are full-time center fielders. Carroll has split time almost evenly between center and right field. Acuña, Betts, and Soto haven’t played center at all. Tatis has just 21 innings there compared to 529 in right.

The other two NL outfield All-Stars, Nick Castellanos and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., haven’t played center, either. Castellanos is the lone Phillies All-Star and is deserving in his own right. Gurriel, however, isn’t the lone Diamondback—Carroll is the starting center fielder. Nimmo has been better than Gurriel basically across the board.

Nimmo is one of the best full-time center fielders in baseball and arguably the best in the NL. Luis Robert Jr. and Mike Trout are superior in the AL, but Carroll doesn’t even play the position every day.

Nimmo’s offensive contributions already stack up with the best corner outfielders in the NL. Corner outfielders naturally hit more in the first place. Don’t be fooled by the one positional grouping for All-Star purposes: center field is a different animal than left or right and needs individual representation. That representation should be Nimmo.

There will be more players named to the All-Star team just as they are every year. Not everyone initially picked is healthy enough to play, and they will need replacements.

Lindor and Nimmo deserve to be on the top of that list.