The Mets Who Are The Most Deserving Of An All-Star Appearance

All-Star balloting for the 2024 MLB All-Star game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas is well underway. The full All-Star teams are not set to be revealed until Sunday, July 7 at 5:30 pm ET on ESPN. Despite the Mets not fairing well in the first phase of the All-Star balloting, which players from the orange and blue do indeed deserve a nod the most?

Francisco Lindor

Francisco Lindor‘s slow starts are well-known. This trend was once again evident to begin the 2024 season and, luckily, as he does every season, Lindor has figured it out and is emerging as one of the most valuable players in the National League.

As of Saturday, Lindor’s 2.9 fWAR not only leads the Mets, but is the sixth-highest mark in all of the National League. Despite the subpar start to the season, his .735 OPS is well-above this year’s league average of .704. Lindor is also on-pace for over 25 home runs, over 100 runs scored, and 0ver 25 stolen bases. Not to mention, he ranks in the league’s 98th percentile in outs above average (OAA).

As he compares to his National League shortstop peers, Lindor only trails Willy Adames of the Milwaukee Brewers in fWAR (by 0.1 WAR). According to both OAA and defensive WAR metrics, Lindor has comfortably been the National League’s top defensive shortstop. Of all the Mets on this list, Lindor, even if not in a starting role, deserves to be named to his first All-Star game as a Metropolitan.

Brandon Nimmo

For a while there, Brandon Nimmo owned the unfortunate crown of the most unlucky player in baseball. Still, despite some positive regression, Nimmo ranks 25th in the majors in largest difference between actual and expected batting average and 37th in the majors in largest difference between actual and expected wOBA. This among 261 qualified hitters and according to Baseball Savant.

In all, Nimmo’s actual production has resulted in 2.1 fWAR. Among National League left fielders, this rating comes in second only behind the resurgent Jurickson Profar. Nimmo’s 10 home runs rank third on the Mets and his 42 RBIs leads the team. Like Lindor, his OPS is also well above the .704 league average at .779.

Nimmo is a sneaky candidate to make the All-Star game. His production quietly places him among the best left fielders in baseball this season. If he even got a little more luck and performed slightly closer to his expected numbers than he has thus far, a lot more around baseball would be talking about the always strong ninth-year Met.

Pete Alonso

It has been quite an up-and-down start for the Mets’ slugging first baseman. Pete Alonso owns pretty solid statistics and may be on his way to another 40 home run season, however, he is a decent bit off most of his career averages. For reference, the 29-year-old first baseman owns a .798 OPS; his career average OPS sits closer to .900 at .863.

As for how he stacks up to his major-league peers, Alonso’s 1.3 fWAR sits seventh in the National League. A large reason for this is his -7.7 defensive WAR rating. His offensive contributions to his total fWAR ranks him fifth in the National League among first baseball while his total fWAR number does still rank third on the Mets.

Thus far anyways, Alonso really is not having the type of season he usually has. As a result, he finds himself grading further from the top of first baseman in the league than he normally does. Not to mention, when you have two MVP candidates in Bryce Harper and Freddie Freeman playing in the same league as you it is hard for an All-Star spot to be had. For those reasons, it appears the Mets have other candidates that would be more worthy of an All-Star appearance than Alonso.

J.D. Martinez

What a signing J.D. Martinez has been for the Mets. Despite joining the team late, Martinez ranks fourth on the squad in both home runs and RBIs. He has been an absolute game-changer since coming aboard, leading the team in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.

Unfortunately, for Martinez, the designated hitter role has been extremely top heavy in the National League. Specifically, Shohei Ohtani and Marcell Ozuna are both MVP candidates. Not to mention, Martinez got a late start on almost everyone at the top of the National League designated hitter leaderboards.

Regardless of all that, even though the 36-year-old got a late start, he has been one of the most valuable players for the Mets this season. He likely won’t be rewarded with a seventh All-Star selection, but, he has been terrific and if he started with the team since Opening Day, a nod as the Mets’ All-Star representative may have made the most sense.

Note, all WAR metrics are courtesy of Fangraphs and are as of before play on Saturday. 

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