The All-Star Game rosters are out and the various bodies entrusted with selecting the 32-man rosters for each league -- the fans, the players and the commissioner's office -- did a good job, matching on 52 of the selections from my personal picks.
Top billing has to go to Shohei Ohtani, who becomes the first player selected as both a hitter and pitcher. The fans voted him as the starting designated hitter and the players voted him as one of the top five starting pitchers in the American League. Ohtani leads the majors in home runs -- he hit No. 31 on Sunday -- and is 3-1 with a 3.60 ERA as a pitcher, although that vote took place before his rough outing at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday that saw his ERA rise from 2.58 after he got knocked out in the first inning.
Angels manager Joe Maddon advocated to All-Star skipper Kevin Cash the other day to use Ohtani in both roles during the game, acknowledging the rules might have to be relaxed in order to allow Ohtani to do both.
"Every time he swings the bat it looks like it could be a home run," Maddon said after Ohtani hit two more home runs on Friday. "He has the patience to draw a walk and then is a really aggressive and astute baserunner. And then he pitches. He's always prepared and under control. It's an All-Star performance above and beyond."
The rosters include 34 first-time All-Stars and players from nine different countries and territories. The Red Sox lead the way with five All-Stars -- Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers will start while designated hitter J.D. Martinez and pitchers Matt Barnes and Nathan Eovaldi also made the roster.
Some other quick thoughts:
Biggest missing names: Bryce Harper and Manny Machado
For the second straight All-Star Game (there was no contest in 2020 due to COVID), Harper and Machado failed to make it, meaning both are now 0-for-2 in All-Star Game selections since signing their $300 million contracts prior to the 2019 season.
You can make an argument for either one, but not a strong one. After the fans voted in Ronald Acuna Jr., Nick Castellanos and Jesse Winker as the starting NL outfielders, the players voted in Mookie Betts, Bryan Reynolds and Kyle Schwarber as the outfield reserves, with Schwarber's hamstring strain that he suffered Friday night creating an extra spot to fill. The commissioner's office then named Juan Soto and Chris Taylor as additional outfield reserves. The stats entering Sunday:
Harper: .271/.377/.514, 14 HR, 26 RBI, 40 R, 141 wRC+, 1.8 fWAR
Soto: .279/.399/.433, 9 HR, 37 RBI, 46 R, 128 wRC+, 1.9 fWAR
Taylor: .268/.382/.454, 10 HR, 42 RBI, 59 R, 135 wRC+, 2.3 fWAR
Harper is a big name -- but so is Soto, although in some regards he's having a disappointing season considering his .350/.490/.695 batting line in 2020. Taylor is having the best all-around season of the three and has been a valuable utility player for the Dodgers for years now, so it's nice to see him get some recognition.
I'm OK with Soto making it here ahead of Harper, although I probably would have gone in a different direction with Taylor and gone with Trevor Story of the Rockies. He's not an outfielder, but he has been one of the best players in the game since 2018, and the tiebreaker there is that the game is in Denver. Give the hometown fans a second All-Star (pitcher German Marquez is the lone representative for the Rockies).
As for Machado (who had two home runs and five RBIs Sunday, too late to be considered in the voting), he got caught in a numbers game at third base, where Nolan Arenado is the starter and the players voted Kris Bryant as the backup. In fact, neither Machado nor Justin Turner made it as a reserve as the commissioner's office had to select somebody from the Diamondbacks and third baseman Eduardo Escobar was the lucky winner:
Machado: .264/.346/.482, 15 HR, 57 RBI, 47 R, 125 wRC+, 2.2 fWAR
Turner: .295/.387/.484, 13 HR, 41 RBI, 48 R, 145 wRC+, 2.5 fWAR
Escobar: .249/.296/.472, 18 HR, 54 RBI, , 41 R, 106 wRC+, 1.6 fWAR
The commissioner's office had two extra infield spots to fill and went with Escobar and Brandon Crawford as a third shortstop behind starter Fernando Tatis Jr. and player-elected Trea Turner. Crawford was absolutely the right call given his terrific season, so Story also gets squeezed by the three shortstops ahead of him (although the AL got creative in 2002 and had FIVE shortstops on the roster: Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada and Omar Vizquel).
No Max Scherzer: Scherzer is 7-4 with a 2.10 ERA, so he warrants selection based on merit, let alone as a future Hall of Famer who had been riding a streak of seven straight All-Star appearances (he started the game in 2013, 2017 and 2018). The players voted for the first five starting pitchers and elected Jacob deGrom, Kevin Gausman, Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Yu Darvish, in that order. Comparing Scherzer and Darvish:
Scherzer: 2.10 ERA, 94.1 IP, 59 H, 21 BB, 127 SO, 13 HR, 2.7 fWAR
Darvish: 2.65 ERA, 102 IP, 73 H, 24 BB, 123 SO, 12 HR, 2.6 fWAR
OK, that's a coin flip, and so many NL starters are off to great starts, making it a difficult choice. I have a feeling this came down to timing -- Scherzer was on the IL right when the player voting was concluding and that might have cost him a few votes.
The commissioner's office then selected Zack Wheeler, Trevor Rogers and Marquez. Rogers and Marquez are their team's reps and Wheeler is a deserving choice, a strong second to deGrom in FanGraphs WAR. The choice I disagree with is Alex Reyes getting chosen as a fourth reliever behind the player-elected Craig Kimbrel, Josh Hader and Mark Melancon. Nolan Arenado was already on the team, so you didn't need somebody from the St. Louis Cardinals. Reyes does have 20 saves and a 0.91 ERA, so it's not like he's a bad choice, although he does have 31 walks in 39.2 innings. I just prefer to default to a starting pitcher having a great season as opposed to a reliever.
No Dodgers pitchers: Interesting that no Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers made it. Walker Buehler is most deserving, with an 8-1 record and 2.35 ERA. Again, it speaks to the ridiculous depth among NL starters so far that there wasn't room for Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Freddy Peralta, Joe Musgrove or even Taijuan Walker. Any of them would have made the AL staff. This will be the first year since 2008 that no Dodgers pitcher made the All-Star team.
Biggest National League snub: One of the starting pitchers -- Scherzer or Buehler being the leading candidates given their track record compared to Peralta, Musgrove or Walker. Justin Turner is the leader among NL position players in WAR who didn't make it. The only other one in the top 20 on FanGraphs is Padres outfielder Tommy Pham, who sits at No. 20. Still, no obvious snub given the roster constraints and the deep well of pitching. I just would have liked for Story to make it in front of the hometown fans. At least he's in the Home Run Derby.
Biggest American League snub: Frankly, the AL roster debate is nowhere as interesting as the NL debate. Injuries to Mike Trout and Shane Bieber opened up a couple of extra slots, and Ohtani's dual selection also created an extra opening. So even though the commissioner's office had to select a couple of marginal All-Stars from the Mariners (Yusei Kikuchi) and Tigers (Gregory Soto), there was some flexibility here.
The top position player in FanGraphs WAR left was White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada, 11th in the league with 2.7 WAR, thanks in large part to a .403 OBP. He has just five home runs and ranks behind Devers and Jose Ramirez at third base. The commissioner's office had two extra infield spots and went with Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays and Jared Walsh of the Angels. They both rank just behind Moncada in WAR, but I do like both selections. Walsh is hitting .284/.345/.564 with 20 home runs and 60 RBIs, so has put up some big power numbers.
The top AL pitcher in fWAR who didn't make the team is Tyler Glasnow, but he's injured. As I predicted, Mike Zunino is the only Rays player to make the team. Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt of the A's have good cases, but the commissioner's office went with Kikuchi, Eovaldi and then relievers Soto and Ryan Pressly of the Astros. Eovaldi actually leads in fWAR, so he makes sense, so it came down to Pressly or one of the Oakland starters. Again, I would have gone starter over reliever, but it seems like the commissioner's office felt compelled to go with a fourth reliever for each team. Unfortunately, the players voted in Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, who has completely fallen apart with a 4.71 ERA after Sunday's disastrous outing; he probably rates as the worst All-Star of 2021.