You could hear the scraped note in Joe Ryan‘s voice, at last, when a columnist who had misunderstood him asked to clarify how All-Star selections seem to be based on more than stats.

“No, no,” said the Twins righthander, certainly a star but not quite an All-Star, yet again. “It’s NOT on stats.”

In other words, while Ryan claimed not to have dived too deeply into his own numbers, he’s aware of them. He feels as though he’s earned his place at next week’s All-Star Game in Georgia, and he’s at a loss to explain or defend himself in the wake of the fact that the game didn’t make room for him.

“Yeah, I mean, another year,” he had said when the subject was first raised, letting listeners feel the gathering weight that had hit him when he was informed that he had missed out again this summer, “but at the same time, it’s not based on stats, so it is what it is. And I’ll leave it there.”

Ryan, 29, has been one of the best first-half pitchers in baseball for each of the last four seasons—especially the last three. Here are his numbers for each of those campaigns, at the All-Star break:

2023: 18 starts, 107 innings, 3.70 ERA, 8-6, 124 strikeouts, 18 walks, .636 opponent OPS

2024: 19 starts, 114 2/3 innings, 3.53 ERA, 6-6, 124 strikeouts, 19 walks, .668 opponent OPS

2025: 18 starts, 104 1/3 innings, 2.76 ERA, 8-4, 116 strikeouts, 21 walks, .589 opponent OPS

As things stand now, Ryan is slated to make one more start before this year’s break, on Saturday against the Pirates. Though the righty didn’t want to make it about himself Sunday, his frustration with the process that has denied him the recognition that he belongs among the game’s elite was palpable. If voters were paying close enough attention, they might even have given him extra credit for bearing up so well in a campaign that has seen his partners at the front end of the Twins rotation (Pablo López and Bailey Ober) felled by injuries. He can’t do much more to earn that status, but so far, it hasn’t been conferred on him.

Nor did he seem especially hopeful when asked whether the possibility of being named as a replacement player due to injuries or unavailability was on his mind.

“I mean, it’s beyond me now, so I have no control over that,” Ryan said. “That’s all, I guess. Just trying to win games.”

Ryan didn’t seek to make the moment about himself, and the team is unanimously happy for Byron Buxton (who was named to the team Sunday). The hurler even went out of his way to mention the support he’s gotten from teammates.

“I mean, I just try to pitch well,” he said. “We’ve had really good defense all year that put me in a really good spot to be considered, so I don’t know.”

In truth, if the Twins were having a better season, Ryan might well have gotten over the hump this time. He’s pitched in and out of trouble at times, but his control is superb, and his strikeout rates have been uniformly impressive over the last few years, especially early in seasons. He’s doing better at keeping the ball in the park in 2025. He just can’t seem to catch the eye of fellow players or coaches, to gain the selection he clearly craves—and arguably deserves.

Ryan was upbeat about his outing Sunday, in which he pitched a solid six innings and kept the Twins in the game to set up a late comeback. Minnesota dropped the final contest of their series against the Rays in 10 innings, but Ryan’s work helped them get that far, and he said the team took some solace in having bounced back enough to push the game into extras.

“I think it’s a good sign whenever you can come back, even if it falls apart,” Ryan said. “Obviously, that’s not what you want, and you want to win the game, and hold that there. Our bullpen’s been really solid, so I think we have that potential to just keep going. We had two really good wins this weekend, so just ride those, and keep playing good baseball. It’ll come together.”

That’s what he’s hoping, now: that he and his team can keep playing good baseball, and it’ll come together. He has to wait another year for the possibility of being named an All-Star, but in the meantime, he can set the goal of pitching a full season without an injury or a prolonged (perhaps injury-driven) period of struggle. He can also keep trying to help his team shake off their bouts of inconsistency and play solid enough baseball throughout the second half to avoid becoming trade deadline sellers—in which case, of course, he might be making next year’s All-Star case in different colors.