This Brewers player is in danger of second-straight All-Star snub after latest voting update

A season ago, Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang looked like a shoo-in for the midseason All-Star Game (ASG). His offseason "quantum leap" resulted in his OPS jumping from .585 during the 2023 season to .731 during the first half of the 2024 season. With only Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks having a better season at the keystone position in the National League, it seemed clear that Turang would serve as the NL's backup second baseman in the Midsummer Classic.

However, when the vote turned to the players, as it does to determine the pitchers and reserve players for each league, San Diego Padres first baseman Arráez was selected as the backup second baseman in the NL. That's right, Arráez, who made just 39 starts at second base in the entirety of the 2024 season, was selected over Turang.

Fast forward to this season, and Turang is matching his first half from 2024. With 18 games still to play before the All-Star break, Turang has one less HR, just eight less RBI, and five more runs scored than he did in the first half of 2024. His slash line of .274/.352/.367 this season is nearly identical to the .277/.341/.390 line that he posted prior to the 2024 ASG. However, despite Turang's impressive follow-up to his breakout first half in 2024, he's nowhere to be found in MLB.com's second ASG voting update.

Brice Turang absent in second 2025 All-Star Game voting update after 2024 snub

While Turang's game hasn't changed, the competition has. As previously stated, Turang's main competition a season ago was essentially just Marte (and a first baseman). However, this year there are several other NL second basemen with a case for the ASG. Unfortunately, one of them happens to wear a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.

Brendan Donovan, the Cardinals' second baseman, is in the midst of his best season in MLB. Despite his HR numbers taking a slight dip this year, Donovan is still slugging a career-best .429 in 2025, thanks in large part to his 21 doubles, which are tied for the third most in the NL (behind Jackson Chourio and Pete Alonso, who each have 22).

However, while Donovan, Marte, and Turang are the most deserving of an All-Star honor this season, three other less-deserving NL second basemen, unsurprisingly from big-market teams, are crowding the early voting leaderboard. Tommy Edman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs, and Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets rank second, third, and fourth, respectively, in MLB.com's second ASG voting update, with Marte in the top spot and Donovan ranking fifth. Annoyingly, both Edman and McNeil aren't true second basemen, with each of them spending a considerable amount of time in the outfield, similar to how Arráez spent much of his time at first base last season.

Regardless of how much time they are actually spending at the keystone position, Turang has still been a better all-around player than Edman and Hoerner, and while McNeil has better power numbers, he missed a sizable chunk of the season on the IL. Additionally, what continues to get overlooked is Turang's defensive ability.

While Wins Above Replacement (WAR) isn't a perfect statistic, it does offer the most comprehensive assessment of a player’s value. And when it comes to bWAR, a statistic that admittedly loves Turang's defensive prowess, Turang ranks better than any other NL second baseman, including Marte. That alone means that Turang's name at least deserves to be in the All-Star conversation, not absent from the NL's top five second base vote getters, as it was in this week's update.

The next few weeks will be imperative to Turang's All-Star chances, but if he continues to do what he's done over the last week (he's posted a slash line of .379/.406/.586 in his last seven games), missing out on this year's ASG would once again feel like a major snub for the Brewers' second baseman.