Does Bryce Harper Deserve to be an All-Star?

Bryce Harper has become one of the most likable players in baseball, but that does not mean he is a star just yet.  Last season he was selected to the All-Star Game as an injury replacement, and this season he will be making another appearance, but this time it is as a starter.

This was a huge surprise, since Harper has missed 31 games due to injury, and when healthy, has struggled to produce at the plate.  In his limited amounts of at-bats (178), he is only hitting .281 with 13 home runs and 29 RBIs.

Bryce Harper is going to be one of the biggest stars in the game, and a fixture in the All-Star Game for years, but right now is not his time.  With Carlos Gomez and Michael Cuddyer both having career years and producing at an incredibly high level, Harper does not deserve to be starting in the All-Star Game.

Should Bryce Harper be starting in the All-Star Game? Leave your thoughts below.  

MLB: Best No. 1 Draft Pick in the Last 20 Years

Over the last 20 years there has been hundreds of great players to reach the MLB, but only a few of them have been fortunate to be drafted number one overall.  Being drafted number one does not guarantee a player instant success, but over the last 20 years there has been a hand full of players who have lived up to expectations and are now stars in the show.

David Price, Joe Mauer, Josh Hamilton, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Upton, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper are all former number one overall draft selections, and they have had outstanding careers so far.  None of these players have been good enough to be known as the best player drafted number one overall in the last 20 years because that honor goes to Alex Rodriguez.

With the first overall pick in 1993 the Seattle Mariners took the highly talent shortstop straight out of high school.  This was a great pick by the Mariners, even though he only played seven seasons for the their franchise.  Once Alex Rodriguez hangs up the cleats he will go down as one of the best players to ever play the game.  He has won an enormous amount of hardware while putting up video game numbers throughout his 19-year career.  In his career he has posted a .300 average while accumulating 2,901 hits, 647 home runs and 1,950 RBIs.

Alex Rodriguez, even though he has admitted to using steroid, has been one of the best players in the last two decades.  Whether or not A-Rod makes the Hall of Fame is a different question, but Seattle made the right chose by selecting him with their number one overall pick in 1993.

Bryce Harper is Not Selected to the All-Star Game

Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper will not be participating in the All-Star Game this year.  He had the opportunity to be voted in by the fans for the final roster spot, but the fans voted in David Freese instead.  It is a good thing that Bryce Harper wasn't voted onto the All-Star team because he didn't deserve to be considered an All-Star.  Bryce Harper is a good young player who will be a star in the MLB someday, but this season he is only putting up average stats.  

Through 60 games this season, Harper has an average of .283 with eight home runs, 25 RBI's, and an on-base percentage of .355.  Matt Holliday, who is having a great, All-Star caliber season, didn't even make the team, and he is batting .318 with 14 home runs, 56 RBI's, and an on-base percentage of .397.  Michael Bourn also didn't make the team and he is also having a great season.  He is batting .307 with 7 home runs, 32 RBI's, an on-base percentage of .360, and he has 23 stolen bases, which is second best in the National League.  Even though Holliday and Bourn have played in around 20 more games than Harper they still have had better and more productive seasons.  Both these players are huge reasons for their teams success, and if they didn't make the N.L. All-Star roster, Bryce Harper definitely didn't deserve to make the team.  It would have been very fun and exciting to see Harper in the All-Star Game, but there were other veteran players who deserved to be on the N.L. All-Star team before him.

Please follow me on Twitter @DanTheMan4295