When Xander Bogaerts was a 16-year-old kid playing baseball down in Aruba, looking up to his idol Derek Jeter, I’m sure he too had dreamed of one day playing in an All-Star game. Well, that dream may soon become real for the 22-year-old shortstop.

In 2009, when Bogaerts was just 16-years-old he was offered a professional contract by the Boston Red Sox, a contract that featured a $410,000 signing bonus.

Cruising through the minor leagues, Bogaerts soon became the talk of the town in Boston when he was ranked the 6th overall prospect in baseball by MLB.com. Entering the 2013 season, it wasn’t expected that Bogaerts would see any time at shortstop that season due to the acquisition of Stephen Drew.

He was brought up though, and good thing he was. Bogaerts exceeded most expectations in the 2013 postseason batting .296 in 12 games eventually helping the Red Sox to their third World Series title in 10 years. He returned to his homeland of Aruba and was treated to a red carpet as well as a parade with the natives lining the streets.

In 2014, he was shuffled back and forth from shortstop to third base, messing up his development and also taking a toll on him offensively. He did, however, manage to hit 12 home runs in 144 games. His average though dropped considerably from what many thought it would be. Bogaerts also showed how you can have awesome plate discipline in Triple-A, but it doesn’t always translate right away into your big-league career.

This year, Bogaerts is excelling in all aspects of his position. On offense and defense, the youngster has the temperament like that of a seasoned veteran. And it’s great. He doesn’t take his at-bats into the field and he certainly doesn’t take his fielding miscues (or lack thereof) into the batters box.

In 56 games this season, Xander is batting .297/.343/.401. Not to mention he has been one of the hottest hitters in the game in the last 30 days batting .352/.383/.466 while posting a 137 wRC+ in that span as well. And, Bogaerts also is getting base hits on pitches all over the strike zone. That shows a huge improvement in his plate discipline and pitch-selection skills over the past season.

On the defensive side, Bogaerts has shown a strong improvement from last year when he posted a Defensive Runs Saved of -9. This year, thanks to his offseason work in Arizona with Dustin Pedroia, and also adjusting his footwork with infield coach Brian Butterfield, Bogaerts has a Defensive Runs Saved of -1.

So why isn’t Bogaerts being talked about as if he’s an All-Star? His numbers show that he is certainly All-Star-Game worthy. The top five vote collectors for the All-Star Game at shortstop are Alcides Escobar, Jose Iglesias, Marcus Semien, Jed Lowrie and Jose Reyes. How does this make sense? I’ll tell you — because for some reason, this year in particular, the All-Star Game is a popularity contest, and it’s not based on skill. What do the numbers say to you? They don’t lie.

If it was based on skill, there wouldn’t be seven Kansas City Royals in the lead to start the All-Star Game this year. Pablo Sandoval wouldn’t be third in the AL third baseman voting. David Ortiz wouldn’t be fourth in the DH voting. And Dustin Pedroia most definitely would not be trailing Omar Infante in the second baseman voting. We will wait and see if Bogaerts has a shot at the All-Star Game this year, but if not, we can then tell that this system is flawed and is not based on skill and skill alone.