Welcome to the way-way-too-early All-Stars. We're about six months out from the All-Star Game at Globe Life Field in Arlington and, well, we have some time on our hands to dig into some potential rosters.
As always, selecting All-Star rosters is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, with 32-man rosters composed of 20 position players and 12 pitchers (eight starters, four relievers) and one representative needed from each franchise -- and we're trying to predict the fan starters along the way.
We also have a few big-name free agents still unsigned, particularly Cy Young winner Blake Snell and top-10 MVP finisher Cody Bellinger -- although neither were All-Stars last season. I'm not sure I'd pick them anyway: Snell has historically pitched better in the second half and I'm not predicting Bellinger to have a repeat of his 2023 season no matter where he ends up.
One thing to pay attention to: A year ago in this piece, I noted that the best position players in 2022 were older than they had been in a decade, with the average age of the top 30 players via Baseball-Reference WAR the oldest since 2014. That didn't happen in 2023, with the average age of 26.7 the second lowest for the top 30 players in the past decade (trailing only 2019). Only five of the top 30 were in their 30s -- Mookie Betts, Marcus Semien, Freddie Freeman, Yandy Diaz and Jose Ramirez -- compared to 10 in 2022. Let's see if that trend holds in 2024 and if new 30-year-olds like Matt Olson, Corey Seager and Francisco Lindor can repeat their strong 2023 seasons.
Before we dig in, here's a quick self-review from last season: 31 of my 64 players actually made the All-Star team, with a few of those only as injury replacements, so 50% would be a good result. Among last year's less notable All-Stars: Brent Rooker, Whit Merrifield, Austin Hays, Elias Diaz, Geraldo Perdomo, Bryce Elder, Alex Cobb, Josiah Gray, Mitch Keller and Michael Lorenzen. Try this yourself and see how you did come July.