3 NL Players Not Getting Enough Respect in Early All-Star Voting

With the voting for this year's MLB All-Star Game opening this week, fans have been rushing to their phones or laptops to cast their votes. To no surprise, there are a handful of familiar faces atop the leaderboards during the first round of NL All-Star voting. Catcher Willson Contreras, third baseman Nolan Arenado and shortstop Javier Baez to name a few.

But, there are also a handful of players who aren't getting the votes they deserve in this NL All-Star race. Here are three NL players who simply aren't getting enough respect from voters.

1. Washington Nationals 3B, Anthony Rendon

Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon is having a standout year in the nation's capital this season, making his spot at fifth among third base vote getters surprising. He's batting .316, a career high for the slugger, and he's also accumulated 12 home runs to go along with 43 RBI. Getting ahead of the top two 3Bs in Kris Bryant and Nolan Arenado would be tough, but there's no reason he should be behind Los Angeles Dodgers 3B Justin Turner, who has only hit six home runs and posted just 27 RBI. His placement behind Atlanta Braves 3B Josh Donaldson is equally as surprising. Donaldson has amassed just eight homers and 25 RBI.

2. Philadelphia Phillies Shortstop, Jean Segura

Philadelphia Phillies SS Jean Segura has been the team's most consistent bat this season, posting a .291 batting average with just 30 strikeouts. He's on pace to have about the same output he had a season ago with the Seattle Mariners where he reached his first All-Star game. Yet, he finds himself at fifth in the voting for shortstops. Colorado Rockies SS Trevor Story is one spot ahead of Segura at this point, but his stats don't justify it at all. He has a worse BA than Segura (.285) and he's struck out about 50 more times (78 SO) than the Phillies stug. Los Angeles SS Corey Seager is also ahead of Segura while having inferior numbers. He's batting .270 with 51 strikeouts. The Philly faithful need to cast their votes ASAP, otherwise, its best offensive weapon this season may not get the All-Star nod.

3. St. Louis Cardinals OF, Marcell Ozuna

There's absolutely no reason St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Marcell Ozuna shouldn't be higher in votes. He's currently tied for fifth in the NL in home runs with 17 and he's first in RBI with 54. But still, Ozuna finds himself all the way down at 14th in votes among all NL outfielders. It seems like name recognition may be the only reason he's so far down on the list, as both Melky Cabrera and Bryce Harper are ahead of Ozuna, and both OFs aren't coming close to the production that Ozuna is putting forth. Cabrera has over 30 less RBI (22) than Ozuna and 13 less home runs (4). Harper has about 10 less RBI (45) and six less homers (11). It's blasphemous Ozuna is so low in votes, there's no reason that he shouldn't at least be in the top-10 range.