For the second time in as many seasons, Pete Crow-Armstrong is an All-Star. While Crow-Armstrong's month of June didn't exactly coincide with when voting for the All-Star game started, likely the primary reason for his snub as a starter, it has become clear over the past month that he was going to make his way to Philadelphia as a reserve for the National League.
Crow-Armstrong's June performance is one that will never be forgotten. The 24-year-old center fielder slashed .381/.468/.781, good for a 234 wRC+, with 11 home runs.
Crow-Armstrong's power is certainly what is going to get the most attention, but for the Cubs and what this means moving forward, his ability to get on base could be the most important. Across his 124 plate appearances last month, Crow-Armstrong walked over 13% of the time. On the season, he's walked 41 times. Last year, he only walked 29 times.
That is the reason why there's more belief that Crow-Armstrong's approach this season is more sustainable than the one he had last season. There's still going to to ebbs and flows to his development as a hitter, but for now, it seems that his floor may be getting higher along the way.
Ben Brown likely would have been an All-Star had he been healthy
It's hard to make a case that there was any other Cubs player deserving of making the All-Star team. The strongest case would have been with Ben Brown, but given he's currently shut down with a neck injury, it would have made little sense for him to be added to the team only to be replaced within the next week.
On the injury front, things remain unchanged in Brown's status. Around the start of August when there's hope that Brown can resume his throwing program. Of course, that leaves a narrow path for his ramp-up, if he's going to be a full strength by the end of the regular season.
The real snub, if we're being honest, if Major League Baseball. There's a handful of occurrences that can be pointed to why the league has failed to grown the game in recent years, and even when some of the changes they've made to play seem to have taken an overall step forward, MLB still finds a way to shoot themselves in the foot.
It was truly bizarre timing of MLB to announce the All-Star rosters the night of summer's biggest holiday. One one would think the goal would have been to get the most eyes on the reveal as possible, but that's expecting MLB to operate with logic, which is often too big of a leap to take.
