The Cleveland Indians are in the midst of a very disappointing season. Expected to contend for the top spot in the competitive American League Central, the Tribe has instead limped out to a .463 start that has left them 18 games behind the division-leading Tigers and functionally eliminated them from the playoff race. Despite the team’s misfortune, designated hitter Travis Hafner has been a pleasant bright spot in the middle of the lineup. The 29-year old North Dakotan exemplifies the phrase “country strong,” packing 240 pounds of muscle onto his 6-foot-3 frame, and has consistently terrorized opposing pitchers with an aggressive left-handed swat. Somehow, however, Pronk was left off the 2006 American League All-Star team.

Just how absurd is Hafner’s omission? As of the season’s half-way point, he is perhaps the leading candidate for League MVP. Through Sunday’s games, Hafner leads the AL in OPS (1084) and ranks second in on-base average (.453) and slugging average (.631), fourth in runs batted in (66) and runs scored (61), and tied for fourth in home runs (22). Even when adjusting his production for position and ballpark, his numbers come out sparkling: Hafner leads all of baseball in Value Over Replacement Player (47.5) and tops the Junior Circuit in Equivalent Average (.355), bested only by Albert Pujols for the Major League lead (and even then by only a single point).

Hafner has no defensive value; he’s played only four games at first-base this season after spending just seven innings there in 2005. With a glove on his left hand, Hafner is out-of-position. His base-running, too, is poor: he hasn’t even attempted a steal and he won’t go first-to-third with any regularity. Still, Hafner is arguably the best hitter in the American League. He’s created more runs overall and more runs per game than any other ALer and he’s even been productive in the clutch, hitting .347 with a 1307 OPS with runners in scoring position and .323/1133 in close-and-late situations. And this isn’t the first time Hafner has been one of the league’s best players: he entered the season with a .293/.388/.556 line in 391 career games and has finished first in adjusted OPS+ in the American League each of the last two seasons.

Armed with a piece of lumber, Hafner is as dominating a force as anyone in baseball.

And he’s not on the All-Star team.

I don’t get it, either.