We all already know that voting for the All-Star game after a month is silly, but if Major League Baseball is going to make us do it, we might as well make the right decision. In the case of 2016 starting shortstops, the right decision is clearly Francisco Lindor. There are a few other Cleveland Indians players who have a case to make, as well, but no one as clear the Tribe's own smiling shortstop.
To this point in the season, the only shortstop even close is the Boston Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts. In his 113 plate appearances this season, Bogaerts is slashing .304/.372/.431, good for a wRC+ of 126. Thanks to his defense, which is currently rated at 4.0 fWAR, he leads all American League shortstops in fWAR at 1.4. Just behind him, at 1.1, is Lindor.
Lindor has been better than Bogaerts across the board, offensively. He has a better walk rate (Bogaerts: 8.8%, Lindor: 9.9%), a better wRC+ (Bogaerts: 126, Lindor: 133), and two home runs to Bogaerts lone homer. His slash is marginally better as well at .315/.380/.438 and he only has one fewer stolen base. The only thing worse at is his strikeout rate; his 18.8 percent whiff rate is still one of the best among AL shortstops, and only 3.3 percent worse than Bogaerts.
After Lindor and Bogaerts, there is a pretty steep drop, looking solely at fWAR. JJ Hardy comes in third with 0.8 FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement, but most of that comes from defense. His .244/.291/.410 slash is never going to get him into an All-Star game, right or wrong. The next closest player to having a legitimate shot at making the cut at shortstop is Carlos Correa.
Correa probably has the edge in name recognition, having narrowly won the American League Rookie of the Year Award last season; he also hits more home runs -- we all know that chicks (and more importantly, voters) dig the long ball. But he has also struck out in 24.3 percent of his at-bats, and he has cost his team six runs so far this season, according to Defensive Runs Saved.
Also, keep in mind that all of this is only 2016. If you want a full year's worth of data to go on, that would mean including the second half of 2015 when Francisco Lindor was arguably the best player in baseball. The only players to edge out Lindor in fWAR in the second half of 2015 were Joey Votto (5.1) and Josh Donaldson (4.6). Neither of them was even close in terms of defensive value, and Lindor struck out less than both of them. As a rookie, mind you.
But let's be honest. Most voters probably do not care about wRC+ or DRS or any other three-letter acronym for important statistics -- they like highlight reels. That is perfectly fine; I enjoy digging into the numbers of baseball but if someone wants to zone out and watch some awesome, borderline-superhuman things happen every night, that's fine too.
Well, how about this?
Or this?
Maybe this?
How about some of this?
This doing anything for ya?
Another one.
I can do this all day (just like Lindor makes these plays all day).
Here's a video of Francisco Lindor messing up just kidding he's still amazing.
I'm gonna be honest, when I started this post I did not know there were this many highlights, I'm running out of ways to introduce them.
You really gonna vote Xander Boegarts over this? Didn't think so.
Lindor fell asleep in the middle of this play and still completed it, nbd.
I'm not even halfway through April yet.
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
You want personality in your All-Star game? Boom.
To exercise your right as a baseball fan, and to help ensure the right decision is made, be sure to vote at Progressive Field when you go to games AND on Indians.com/vote.