By the numbers: The all-star candidacy of Jesus Aguilar (and why he should totally make the NL team)
Based on the basic numbers alone, Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar has the strongest resume of the five "Final Vote" nominees looking for the final spot on the National League all-star roster. His .306 average, 22 homers and 63 RBIs are far and away the best numbers of the group (and his 245 at-bats are second-fewest).
But Aguilar will still need every vote he can get to defeat Brandon Belt of San Francisco, Matt Carpenter of St. Louis, Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Trea Turner of Washington. Three of those four play in front of fan bases known for voting in droves, and the fourth (Turner) plays for a fan base sure to be galvanized given that the All-Star Game is in their town this year.
And Muncy has the added benefit of playing for the manager (Dave Roberts) who will oversee the NL All-Star Team this year, meaning if a vacancy opens up on the roster because of injury or other reason, Muncy may get the nod.
Take a look at a deeper by-the-numbers dive into Aguilar's candidacy.
.633 slugging percentage
Aguilar's league-leading slugging percentage would be the second-best in franchise history for a full season (behind Ryan Braun's extraordinary rookie season at .634). That would be the highest slugging percentage among qualified batters of any NL player not named to the All-Star team since Larry Walker in 2002. It would be the highest of any non-All Star since Travis Hafner of Cleveland was snubbed in 2006.
22 bombs
The home run total is tied for both the league lead and the 10th-most first-half big flies in Brewers history (with eight games to go). Prince Fielder holds the highest first-half slugging percentage in Brewers history at .620, so if Aguilar stays hot, that number will be his.
12 homers with two strikes
That's tied with Aaron Judge for most in the Majors. Honestly, how is this possible?
He's qualified for all the big honors
The number of plate appearances required for a Brewers player to qualify for the batting title through Sunday is 279, a number Aguilar reached on the dot. He was a part-time player through most of the season's first month, which might be the only thing working against him -- especially considering MLB players voted at least 10 days before the all-star teams were announced.
1.004 OPS on the road
Jesus Aguilar doesn't just hit well at Miller Park. This is not a Kirk Nieuwenhuis situation.
The Brewers have 54 wins
Through Sunday, the Brewers still have the most victories in the National League. That has historically counted for something. Bring the Brewers their all-stars!
160 wRC+ (yes, we're getting fancy)
His wRC+ is second in the National League behind Eugenio Suarez of the Reds. That's a stat which measures a player's total offensive value and is adjusted for league and park effects. If we're being fair (and we really aren't interested in being fair), Max Muncy has a 173 wRC+, but he hasn't had enough plate appearances to qualify.
Only 18 percent of Final Vote non-winners make the All-Star Game
Because I know what you're thinking: the players who don't win might still get added as players drop out or get hurt. But it's not all that common, especially for position players (as all Final Vote nominees are).
Let's slightly discredit Muncy for a second (no hard feelings, OK?)
Muncy, whose numbers are also silly good, has a 31.3 percentage of home runs per fly ball. That's really, really high. His highest entering the year in either the majors or minors was 13.8 percent last year, so he's theoretically due for some regression.
He's been amazing yes, but he's also been a little bit lucky. Aguilar, by comparison, has seen an uptick in home runs per fly balls, but he's also launching more fly balls and fewer ground balls than pretty much everyone, and his hard-contact rate is up.
Dude is driving in runs
Oh you don't like sabermetric stats? Well fine, let's play both sides of the fence. Aguilar has 63 RBIs. That's third in baseball. It's a full 21 better than second-best among those on the Final Vote. Even your grandpa should be voting for Aguilar.
His glove is pretty solid, too
He's not changing the world with his glove, but he's not hurting, either, for those (say, national TV personalities) who mistakenly think his defense is sub-standard. Fangraphs ranks his defensive-runs-saved third among NL first basemen, with three runs saved.