Latest All-Star injury replacement sees KC Royals breakout sensation snubbed again

It's been a less than ideal week for Maikel Garcia. After he was snubbed of a reserve spot on the American League All-Star roster on Sunday, the Royals third baseman found himself passed over once again on Tuesday.

With Boston's Alex Bregman still on the shelf with a quad strain, an injury replacement was needed, giving Garcia another shot at finally being rewarded with a well-deserved spot in this year's midsummer classic.

However, Garcia found himself drawing the short straw again, as the league announced that it would be Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero taking Bregman's spot on the roster.

Caminero is having himself a very solid 2025 season, especially from a power perspective, but compared to the breakout season Garcia is having, it's hard not to think the KC Royals breakout sensation was robbed once again.

Latest All-Star injury replacement sees KC Royals' Maikel Garcia snubbed again

The first time around the glaring snub came when Yankees infielder and Royals arch-nemesis Jazz Chisholm Jr. made the cut over Garcia.

Now, when Chisholm has been on the field he's been impressive, but that's the thing, he's played 31 less games than Garcia this season. And as the age old saying goes, the best ability is availability.

By that logic, Bregman, who's played 40 less games than Garcia, should've been passed over as well, but at least there was the opportunity for amends to made here.

Moving to Caminero, as mentioned already, he clears Garcia by a long shot when it comes to the power and run production departments. He has 13 more homers (21 to Garcia's 8), 17 more RBI (57 to Garcia's 40) and a notably higher SLG (.496 to Garcia's .464).

That's where the advantage for the Rays phenom stops though, as Garcia with a .306 AVG, .832 OPS, 129 wRC+ and 2.7 bWAR proves he's clearly the superior all-around option this season to Caminero's .252 AVG, .790 OPS, 116 wRC+ and 1.6 bWAR.

Garcia even appeared to take to X (formerly Twitter) to weigh in on the decision, and he seems to be taking it in stride.

Perhaps the Home Run Derby was what played into the decision to select Caminero. To have an electrifying young power threat on display in the Monday night's showcase would be a big deal for the league. However, Caminero said a few weeks ago that he would participate if he were selected as an All-Star. And he kept his word, committing to the Home Run Derby on Wednesday.

As a highly touted prospect for numerous years, Caminero created some fanfare around himself, much more than Garcia has. Taking this into account, as well as the Derby factor and the fact that the Rays at 49-43 are much better than the 45-48 Royals, the reasoning for his selection makes sense.

However, those factors shouldn't discredit what Garcia has done this season, and that's have a phenomenal breakout season, and more importantly for this argument, a much better all-around season than Garcia has had.