4 Cardinals cruelly spurned from the All-Star Game in the past decade

2022: Tommy Edman

Fans are granted the privilege to vote for the position players who will appear at the All-Star Game, and though each player's stats are presented on the screen when someone goes to vote, many fans will make their pick based on name recognition. That's likely one reason that Tommy Edman was nowhere to be found on the list of All-Stars in 2022.

Through July 5, when the All-Star teams were revealed, Edman led the National League in WAR, defensive WAR and runs scored. He finished 2022 leading the league in range factor per nine innings as a second baseman. But with a relatively nondescript .263 batting average and seven home runs, voters who just took a quick glance at his stats failed to see the whole picture. Edman was also overshadowed on his team by the MVP-caliber performances of Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado.

Edman was undoubtedly more valuable in 2022 than Jake Cronenworth, a San Diego Padres second baseman who made the All-Star team despite hitting only .241 in the first half with an OPS of .729, marginally higher than Edman's .716. Cronenworth's defense was also far inferior to Edman's, making Edman's omission from the 2022 All-Star game a true head-scratcher.