Despite waiting patiently as the updated All-Star votes came in, there once again was no sign of A's shortstop Marcus Semien.
The finalists for the 2019 All-Star Game have been announced. It's an election format that took place during a three-week period and no love for the thriving shortstop.
But why?
Well, it's not because the fanbase is lacking -- that's for sure. I talked to former A's player turned MLB Network analyst Eric Byrnes about it last week and he agreed.
"I know the A's have a very passionate fanbase and when they're prompted to come out and you know to vote in full force, they do, specifically I think the very first year in All-Star voting when they let the fans vote, I was on the All-Star ballot -- this was like 2003 and I think I finished to maybe [Jason] Varitek or [Jason] Giambi," Byrnes told NBC Sports California.
"Giambi was with the Yankees at the time and Varitek was with the Red Sox so I don't think it's so much of an A's thing I think right now it's about American League shortstops being really good."
And really good they are indeed.
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Jorge Polanco got the second-most amount of votes among AL shortstops and he's dominating at the plate slashing .325/.386/.549 with 11 homers and 38 RBI. Carlos Correa led the votes at their respective position. So when it comes to the theory of Semien "getting hosed in Oakland," Byrnes isn't buying it.
"If you look at Polanco -- that's the Minnesota Twins, that's a smaller market too."
Nonetheless, Byrnes agrees Semien is a good player that is deserving of the recognition.
"Do I think he's overlooked a bit? Yeah -- 100 percent," he said. "This is a player that's been around for a while and he's starting to come into his own which is great and I know his on-base percentage is way up there this year -- defensively he's been a lot better."
There are 17 teams represented in the All-Star voting finals -- none of which are the A's.
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Semien, as of this article, is slashing .282/.366/.447 with 10 home runs and 38 RBI. As Byrnes said, his defense has improved drastically with the assistance of former A's coach Ron Washington -- and he's nowhere to be seen. And as of Thursday, he wasn't even breaking the top 10 in his own category.
Countless -- well, a few articles have been written asking why he, along with the names of Anthony Rendon or Daniel Vogelbach are missing during these votes. Sure, Cody Bellinger and Mike Trout are deserved of the top spots in each of the leagues they belong to -- but spread the love man.
