4 Twins players who were inexcusably snubbed from MLB All-Star roster
Carlos Correa is the only Twins player heading to the All-Star Game, which makes this year's snubs sting even more.
The MLB All-Star rosters were officially revealed on Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately only one Minnesota Twins player will be making the trip.
Carlos Correa very deservingly was named to the third All-Star Game of his career, and his first since joining the Twins. He'll be the lone representative in Arlington, though, as no other player from Minnesota was honored.
A total of 13 players from the AL Central were named to the All-Star team this year, with Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan being the only ones elected as starters. That means 10 other players were added as pitchers or reserves in addition to Correa, but none of his Twins teammates were deemed worthy enough of inclusion.
For a few guys, the snub is particularly frustrating and insulting.
4 Twins players who were snubbed from MLB All-Star roster
Griffin Jax, RP
Coming into the season the Twins bullpen was considered the strongest part of the roster. While that has signifcantly changed in the time since, one pitcher has stood above the rest. Griffin Jax isn't just the best pitcher in Minnesota's bullpen, he's one of the best relief pitchers in the entire league.
Griffin Jax, K'ing the Side. pic.twitter.com/eM0X8TMV6u
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 4, 2024
His 1.93 ERA ranks in the Top 10 for all of baseball, while he has a better FIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio than Emmanuel Clase.
That being said, Cleveland's closer is undeniably good, so if there's an argument to be made it's that Jax deserved to get in over someone like Clay Holmes.
So far this season Jax has posted a 0.94 WHIP, boasts a 1.2 WAR, and 1.10 Win Probability Added -- all of which rank higher than Holmes. He's also been the Twins most reliable reliever, building on a strong season last year to become the anchor of the bullpen. Arguments can be made for a handful of Twins players who were snubbed, but none feel as egregious as Jax being left off the roster.
Joe Ryan, SP
It's been a rough year for Twins starting pitching, which is pretty upsetting considering how big of a strength it was last year. The roles seem to be reversed as its the offense that is getting let down by pitching rather than the other way around, with Joe Ryan switching places with Pablo Lopez as the team's best starter.
Joe Ryan's 2Ks in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/Oo7KpmgCU8
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 6, 2024
Lopez has struggled all season to tap back into the Cy Young worthy magic he had last season. While he didn't finish as high as Sonny Gray, Lopez managed to snag some votes, but his game this year is a far cry from what we're used to.
Ryan, meanwhile, has slowly developed into an ace for Minnesota. He has a Top 15 ERA in the American League while his 0.97 WHIP is the same as Garrett Crochet, who will be starting the All-Star Game next week.
It's less about who Ryan should have bumped off the roster than it is about how little respect he got for the season he's having. He ranks right alongside Logan Gilbert, Tarik Skubal, and Seth Lugo in many pitching categories but seems to have been an afterthought when it came to honoring first half accomplishments.
If anything, it's a reminder of how great he's been, and how strong the Twins pitching staff will be once Lopez levels out in the second half.
Jose Miranda, 3B
Recency bias colors this snub, but it's hard to deny how great Jose Miranda has been this year. Not only that, but the way he's completely redeemed himself after a brutal season in 2023 is something that should have helped his All-Star narrative.
There's no nice way to put it: Miranda was abysmal last season. He hit .211/.263/.303 in 40 games and lost his starting job halfway through the year. He was supposed to be in the mix as the team's everyday third baseman but his downfall coincided with the emergence of Royce Lewis, which seemed like a nail in his coffin.
Rather than pack it in, Miranda worked his way back to the Twins roster and into a meaningful role moving forward.
Jose Miranda joins Johnny Kling (1902), Pinky Higgins (1938) and Walt Dropo (1952) as the only @MLB players to record a hit in 12 straight at-bats. pic.twitter.com/pw529FQkr4
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) July 6, 2024
His historic hitting heater -- that he's still on -- is the extreme end of his resurgence, but Miranda's offense has been an important part of Minnesota's attack all season. Since the start of his streak, Miranda is batting .687 with a 1.767 OPS, but he's hitting .340/.386/.545 since the start of May when it was clear he was a regular part of the lineup.
Getting an All-Star nod wouldn't have just been a coronation, it would have been well-deserved.
Willi Castro, UT
Much like Griffin Jax, who also lacks national attention, Willi Castro has quietly become one of the best players on the Twins roster this season.
He's slashing .272/.359/.441, which is the second-highest mark of his career and we're only halfway through the season. Castro's offense has been a revelation for Minnesota this year, but he's also played all over the field and truly embodied the spirit of the old piranha days of the 2000s.
There's been a reliablity to Castro's glove that has made him an important piece of the defensive alignment, which in comination with his hot bat has made him incredibly valuable to the way the team was able to turn things around starting in May. Over the last month Castro is hitting 306/.409/.500 with a .909 OPS and has firmly become Minnesota's leadoff hitter.
Not many could have predicted this sort of thing before the season, as Castro has been one of the best surprise stars of the season so far for the Twins.
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