All-Star voting for the 2019 Major League Baseball season is underway, and so far, there is a player currently that is being drastically underrated by the voting populace. Anthony Rendon, Washington Nationals third baseman, is currently ranked fifth in total votes acquired amongst National League third baseman, according to MLB.com. On June 18th, he was currently behind other All-Star caliber players such as Nolan Arenado (COL), Kris Bryant (CHI), Josh Donaldson (ATL), and Justin Turner (LAD). However, from a statistical perspective, a case can be made that Rendon should be leading the All-Star voting amongst his contemporaries and has been a top ten player at his position over the last five baseball seasons.
As of June 21st, Anthony Rendon ranks first in Major League Baseball in several major statistical categories amongst third basemen. He is ahead of All-Star caliber players such as Alex Bregman, Kris Bryant, and Nolan Arenado in a myriad of areas. According to FanGraphs, Rendon ranks second in batting average (0.314), first in on-base percentage (0.407), first in slugging percentage (0.655), first in on-base plus slugging (1.062), first in weighted on-base average (0.430), first in gross production average (0.347), and fifth in walk rate (12.00%).
In the totality of his career, one could argue that Rendon has been a top ten offensive player at his position over the last five full baseball seasons (2014 to 2018). Despite his production, he has not been voted to an All-Star team. According to FanGraphs, from 2014 to 2018, he is fifth amongst third basemen in batting average (0.288), sixth in on-base percentage (0.365), tenth in slugging percentage (0.479), seventh in on-base plus slugging (0.844), sixth in weighted on-base average (0.362), sixth in gross production average (0.284) and eighth in walk rate (10.30%).
From a data standpoint, Anthony Rendon is one of the most offensively productive players at the third base position in professional baseball this year and in years prior. Yet he has not been elected to an All-Star game. Statistically speaking, the Nationals third baseman has had a highly productive trajectory throughout his major league career.
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