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Major League Baseball announced Tuesday the rosters for next week’s All-Star Game in San Diego.
The rosters consist of 17 starters voted in by fans — eight in the National League and nine in the American League, because of the designated hitter — with the players voting in five starting pitchers, three relievers and one additional position player in each league. The managers — Terry Collins of the Mets in the National League and Ned Yost of the Royals in the American League — then select nine players and eight players, respectively, to fill out the roster.
The final spot is selected in a vote by the fans, resulting in a 34-man roster for each side.
With that out of the way, here’s a user’s guide to the rosters, with kudos and omissions, oddities and errors. (All stats through Monday.)
What the fans got right: Buster Posey, Giants
Not so much because San Francisco’s Posey is the clear-cut choice as the National League’s starting catcher. (In fact, you could make a strong argument that Washington’s Wilson Ramos, whose .958 on-base-plus-slugging percentage is 154 points higher than Posey’s, deserved the start.) But the important development here is that as of last week, St. Louis’s Yadier Molina led the voting to be the NL’s catcher (albeit by only 5,000 votes). Molina has a well-earned reputation as a superior game-caller and handler of pitchers. But his offensive numbers this year are abysmal — a .259 average with one homer, and his .657 OPS is the worst among the 11 NL catchers with at least 200 plate appearances. Posey’s numbers (.291 average, 10 homers, 48 RBI and 2.7 wins above replacement according to FanGraphs, which is tops among NL catchers) and reputation likely mean he would have been named anyway. The fact that the fans voted him in, and not Molina, means Ramos and Milwaukee’s Matthew Lucroy could deservedly be named as reserves.
What the fans got wrong: Addison Russell, Cubs
The Cubs are struggling over the past week or so, but they have been far and away baseball’s best team, so in some ways their seven all-stars — most of any club — are understandable. The difference: Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant and Dexter Fowler (all voted in by the fans) and pitchers Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester all have good cases. Russell, the Cubs’ shortstop, doesn’t. He is hitting just .238 with a .336 on-base percentage and .392 slugging percentage, meaning his OPS is just 10th among all NL shortstops — behind Pittsburgh’s Jordy Mercer, Asdrubal Cabrera of the Mets and Cincinnati’s Zack Cosart, among others.
Shortstop, of course, could be a position in which defense trumps offense. But while Russell is a superior, sure-handed defender, San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford and others rate above him in advanced defensive metrics such as defensive runs saved and ultimate zone rating. Russell is an exceptional talent who will be an all-star many times in the future. He shouldn’t have been this year, and his inclusion meant it was tough for Crawford or rookies Aledmys Diaz of St. Louis or Trevor Story of Colorado to make the team.
Feel best for: Wilson Ramos, Nationals; Ian Desmond, Rangers
Some home-cooking? Sure. But if there’s another all-star who has been kidnapped and held hostage in his home country who underwent offseason Lasik surgery to clear up his vision after posting a career-low .229 average and .616 OPS — and then had his grandfather die early in the season — well, I don’t know who that is. So welcome to the NL team for the first time, Ramos.
And if there’s another all-star who went into his walk year expecting to break out, only to struggle so severely at the plate and in the field that you wondered whether he would ever be himself again, then was forced to sign a one-year, $8 million contract when it once seemed likely he’d make more than $100 million — and had to switch positions, from shortstop to outfield? Can’t find anyone like that, other than Desmond.
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