The annual All-Star snub debate is almost as fun as the game itself. It’s as typical as arguing why a 1-loss college football team was kept out of the College Football Playoff. The Indians have two players that could have been All-Stars this season but were left off the roster by the players and American League manager Ned Yost: Cody Allen and Corey Kluber.
To begin, Kluber is the defending American League Cy Young award winner and should deserve merit when compared with pitchers with similar stats. Despite a 3-9 record, Kluber is among the American League leaders in FIP, xFIP, WAR and K/9. In fact, he ranks higher in these four stats than most of the pitchers that were chosen instead of him. Only Chris Sale and Chris Archer rank above him in K/9 and xFIP and Sale in WAR and FIP. Both Archer and Sale deserve to pitch in the game but the fact that Kluber has similar Fielding Independent Pitching numbers and is the reigning Cy Young should have earned him a spot.
Of course, we cannot expect those that choose the reserves to judge a pitchers qualification using his FIP. Managers and players make decisions on the traditional stats and eye test while fighting with the constraint of choosing at least one player from each team. Kluber would probably rank higher than Archer and Sale in the traditional stats if it not for his .341 BABIP which ranks 45th best in the American League while the other two are in the top 20.
While picking several true relievers for the roster, Indians’ closer and the hottest reliever in baseball, Cody Allen, was also left off the roster. Among American League relievers he is second in strike outs (57) and K/9 (14.66) and third in FIP (1.74) and fWAR (1.2). Allen currently has a 28-game streak with at least one strikeout per outing which is tied for 10th on list for longest such streaks in Major League Baseball history among relievers. Former Indian Vinnie Pestano held the Indians relief record with 23 games in a row (2011-12) with one or more strikeout in which Kluber broke on Friday night in Pittsburgh. To look at the bigger picture, Allen’s last 16 appearances have recorded these numbers: 16 2/3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 BB, 30 K (51% of all batters faced).
While the fans won’t want to hear it, it looks like Yost went more strategic in his thinking, with seven true relievers on his 13-man pitching staff. Personally, I think starters are more deserving All-Stars than relievers — Scott Kazmir and Yovani Gallardo both have 2.56 ERAs and Clay Buchholz has a 3.27 ERA and 2.55 FIP and has been pitching well of late — but Yost probably likes the idea of running out a bunch of hard-throwing relievers in the late innings. Indeed, with Kelvin Herrera, Dellin Betances, Wade Davis and Brian Boxberger, you have four hard-throwing righties, plus Zach Britton and Glenn Perkins from the left side. Angels closer Huston Street and Allen, as deserving as Herrera or Boxberger, apparently doesn’t throw hard enough for Yost’s taste. You can’t necessarily fault Yost for the strategy; after all, the game does determine World Series home-field advantage.
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