The MLB All-Star break is vastly approaching and voting for the festivities in Cleveland is underway.
Familiar names pop-up in the recent American League update of superstars that could be selected this time around, but a name remains missing: Marcus Semien.
The A's shortstop has put up a sensational campaign this season slashing .274/.357/.431 with nine home runs and 34 RBI. He accumulated 70 RBI across the entirety of last season so he's well on his way to doubling that come the break. As a matter of fact, he looks to double last year's hits, homers and runs by the time those walk the red carpet in the Rock and Roll Capital of the World.
His defense has also improved drastically thanks to some coaching assistance from Ron Washington. The veteran coach practically rebuilt Semien's confidence.
So why the absentee name?
As far as the AL is concerned, no surprises surround the names of Mike Trout and George Springer -- and Alex Bregman has made a name for himself as one of the more dominant third basemen. And naturally, I can't forget to mention the A's hot corner enthusiast Matt Chapman who will grab anything within a mile radius of him; he's fifth in All-Star voting among AL third basemen for the time being.
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Semien is not even in the top 10 in his respective category. And unfortunately, it could be because those don't view the Green and Gold as one of those ... "sexy" teams.
MLB.com's Will Leitch calls Semien one of the underrated players in the game in a recent article, but compliments him by highlighting the fact that he's "one of the quiet reasons the A's keep being a little better than you think they're going to be."
Oh, and that phenomenal seven days he recently had that earned American League Player of the Week honors:
Marcus Semien receives AL Player of the Week honors on MLB dot com.
He posted a .419 average with two homers, two doubles, nine RBIs and a 1.148 OPS - and hit safely in all seven games for Oakland in the past week.
His first time winning the title.— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) June 10, 2019
But here's another, and important observation he brings up ...
He has fewer votes than Chris Davis. THE CHRIS DAVIS WITH THE "C."
I will not argue with Jorge Polanco leading the way in AL shortstop voting -- the dude is hitting .339 with 10 long balls and a .973 OPS -- he deserves that spot. As does Carlos Correa and Tim Anderson, to name a few ... but, c'mon.
[RELATED: Mark Canha putting together elite stat season]
Voting is not that difficult people -- you literally just have to Google it this year. And if you don't understand, try Googling it. You can also click here to do it -- I've done most of the work for you, the rest is up to you.
Every vote counts, or whatever it is they say.
Semien is not going to be the guy pimping out home runs or telling Madison Bumgarner to go fetch a ball in the ocean -- but he's the perfect candidate to at the very least to be considered.
