Trea Turner: All-MLB Team slight?

Major League Baseball released its 2020 All-MLB Team rosters, which included a first team and second team.

Surprising nobody, outfielder Juan Soto was selected to the first team, but he was the only Washington Nationals’ player on the list. As my eyes fell over the second team, a lingering thought persisted: “Where’s Trea Turner?”

The second team’s shortstop was Los Angeles Dodger Corey Seager.

While Seager put together a very good year (151 wRC+, .943 OPS, and 1.9 fWAR), Turner’s numbers largely top that of his NL West division counterpart.

Through 59 games, Turner touted a 157 wRC+, a .982 OPS, and 2.7 fWAR, besting Seager in each category. Turner also carried a higher BABIP (.353) to Seager’s .309. The only major number of interest for Seager was that his 15 home runs were three more than Turner’s 12.

The glaring difference in the year that each player had? One shortstop was on a competitive team, while the other wasn’t. I’m unsure if this train of thought factored into the decision-making process, but given the parameters of who wins MVP — and how part of the argument so often involves whether a player’s team is in contention, even though it should always be given to Mike Trout — it wouldn’t surprise me if close calls went the way of the competitive team’s player.

As I said up top, Seager had a respectable year. It’s just that Turner’s was better — at least offensively. But even by DRS, neither player was very good, with Turner (-7) and Seager (-2) both falling below average.

At the end of the day, this type of recognition matter much. It’s a nice acknowledgement of a player’s ability, but I’m sure most of these guys will tell you they aren’t very interested in individual honors — whether or not that’s true is another story. Regardless, as far as worthy recipients go, Turner got snubbed.