2 KC Royals All-Star snubs that seemed all but shoo-ins to make the cut

The Kansas City Royals will definitely be represented at this year's All-Star game, with Bobby Witt Jr. and Kris Bubic being named American League All-Star team on Sunday. This is Witt's second consecutive All-Star selection, but this will be Bubic's first trip.

Those selections were well-deserved as both have done their part to carry the lineup and pitching staff respectively. That being said, there are two names that I can't help but think about when it comes to Royals All-Star snubs: Maikel Garcia and Carlos Estevez.

Maikel Garcia misses All-Star game nod despite stellar breakout season with KC Royals

The Royals needed Maikel Garcia to produce this season after not meeting expectations in 2024. The 25-year-old third basemen has bounced back with the breakout season the Royals were always hoping for.

Garcia is hitting .303 with a 129 wRC+ and .160 ISO. He's ninth in the league in doubles, eighth in hits, and 8th in batting average.

He's set himself apart as one of the toughest guys to get out in the league; his 13.8 K% ranks him in the top 20 of the MLB, yet among those players, only four have a higher ISO than Garcia.

The most frustrating aspect of Garcia's snub is who got in ahead of him. It was expected that the Guardians José Ramírez would be named the starter, but there was growing optimism that the players and coaches would vote for Garcia.

Instead, Alex Bregman (who hasn't touched the field since May 23rd due to being on the IL) and Kansas City "fan-favorite" Jazz Chisholm Jr. were selected. Talk about a slap to the face.

Bregman has been a great player for almost a decade and was having an all-star-worthy season before he was sidelined with an injury.

The Chisholm selection is surely tough to stomach for Royals fans, given the history of tension between him and Garcia. As you can imagine, Royals fans did not take kindly to him being a key reason as to why Garcia was omitted.

Chisholm and Garcia were involved in a play earlier this season where Chisholm felt Garcia tagged him too hard when he was attempting to steal third.

Even if you’re willing to put that behind you, Maikel Garcia is statistically having a better year than Chisholm as well.

Chisholm has the edge in the power department due in part to playing his home games at Yankee Stadium with that short porch in right field (he has 11 home runs at home, just four on the road), but Maikel has him beat in every other category.

You can make the argument that Chisholm's WAR is essentially the same as Garcia's with Chisholm missing 28 games in May due to a right oblique strain. It's a fine argument to make, however I don't need WAR to tell me what my eyes are clearly seeing.

At the end of the day, the All-Star vote isn't about who the better player is. It's about who had the best first half of the season and rewarding those players. Maikel Garcia certainly deserved a spot on the roster.

KC Royals closer and AL saves leader Carlos Estévez didn’t make the cut

J.J. Picollo has been criticized for not finding an outfield bat in the offseason, and rightfully so. He does deserve credit for having a great "Plan B."

Estévez has delivered as the Royals' closer, with 24 saves and a 2.13 ERA over 38 innings. He's been one of the league's most reliable closers, but like Maikel Garcia, he wasn't chosen on the player's ballot that determines the All-Star reserves.

Josh Hader from the Houston Astros, Andrés Muñoz from the Seattle Mariners, and old friend Aroldis Chapman got the nod as closers for the American League over Estévez.

While Estévez has more saves than all of them except Hader, he is lacking in the other important pitching metrics. All three have a lower ERA than Estévez and a higher K/9 rate than he does.

Still, 24 saves on a sub-.500 team is impressive on its own. Estévez has influenced winning in a less-than-ideal environment compared to his counterparts.

And it should be noted that multiple insiders and thought the Royals closer would make the cut, with The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal including him on his All-Star roster predictions last week, and MLB.com's Anne Rogers thinking Estevez "really had a shot at being [an] All-Star".

Beggars can't be choosers, though; it was always going to be a hard sell for the Royals to have more than a couple of All-Stars with their underwhelming team record. I believe Estévez and Garcia should receive the first call if anyone is unable to play due to injury.