Just about a month from now, the American and National Leagues will send their best and brightest to San Diego's Petco Park for MLB's 87th All-Star Game.
Unsurprisingly, fan voting has become nothing more than a popularity contest. In some cases, it's about how many votes fans can stuff into a virtual ballot box for members of their favorite team (we're looking at you, Kansas City).
That tends to work against players who aren't well-known commodities. Yet their lack of name recognition or popularity doesn't make them any less deserving of a spot in July 12's Midsummer Classic. After all, the whole idea behind what used to be the game's grandest exhibition was to highlight—and celebrate—the most impressive performers of the regular season's first half, regardless of whether they're household names.
Here, we'll look at 10 surprising All-Star candidates—one pitcher and four position players from each league. Players we consider to be surprises you may not, and vice versa. Like the voting itself, there's no perfect system when it comes to the All-Star Game.
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