The case for Twins second basemen Brain Dozier as an All-Star is ironclad. His first half of 2015 has been terrific. He leads all of baseball in extra base hits and he leads all American League second basemen in HR, R, RBI, SLG and ISO.
Oh, and if you missed it, he did this on Friday night.
So why isn't Dozier an All-Star? It's simple, the system rejected him.
Major League Baseball fans had two opportunities to vote Dozier in. First, in the "general election" and second, in the Final Vote. They didn't see Dozier as an All-Star either time.
Complaining about Dozier not being on the All-Star team is a complaint both against fans and the system in which All-Stars are selected.
Jason Kipnis is the best second basemen in the AL this year, and it's not even close. The fans didn't vote him in, they voted for Jose Altuve, who is having an off year for Jose Altuve (T-4 in fWAR among AL second basemen). That forced the hand of AL Manager Ned Yost -- he had to take Kipnis.
Yost also had to take a Boston Red Sox player, he took utility man Brock Holt. Holt is a nice player, having a nice year and his All-Star selection is a nice story.
The numbers entering Friday ...
| Name | fWAR | OPS |
| Kipnis | 4.8 | .904 |
| Dozier | 3.2 | .843 |
| Holt | 2.4 | .797 |
| Altuve | 2.2 | .755 |
The issues are two-fold. If we want the deserving players in the All-Star Game, we can't have fans vote. And if we want the deserving players in the All-Star Game, we can't make it mandatory that each team is represented in the game.
Neither of those things is changing anytime soon. In the meantime, players like Brian Dozier will continue to be denied the accolades they deserve.
