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

2016: Seunghwan Oh

Some leeway must be given to fans voting for All-Star hitters since the vast majority of people don't delve deep into the statistics to choose a player. But when a deserving pitcher doesn't receive a chance to make an All-Star team, it's a more curious situation since pitchers are chosen via the players' ballots and the Commissioner's Office. That was the case for Cardinals relief pitcher Seunghwan Oh in 2016, who owned a sparkling 1.59 ERA in the first half but failed to receive the call to San Diego for the All-Star Game.

Oh, who had pitched in Korea and Japan under the nicknames "Stone Buddha" and "The Final Boss," was passed over in favor of bullpen arms such as Jeurys Familia and A.J. Ramos, who held significantly higher ERAs. However, Ramos and Familia had the luxury of being their teams' primary closers in the first half, a role that Oh wasn't given until after the All-Star break. The lack of saves undoubtedly hurt Oh's stock as an All-Star selection.

Oh finished sixth in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2016, but he was unable to repeat his success in 2017, where he had a 4.10 ERA, and he later pitched with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Colorado Rockies before heading back to Korea after the 2019 season.