Starters for the 2022 All-Star Game have been revealed
(Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, two of the greatest right-handed hitters in baseball history, Image credit: MLB)
Major League Baseball along with ESPN announced that “baseball’s brightest stars are headed to Hollywood. The 2022 MLB All-Star Game is set for July 19 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the day after the Home Run Derby.” So, which players from your team will be starting and representing the American and National Leagues?
Trout Earns 10th Career All-Star Selection, Ninth Start; Machado Edges Out Arenado in Closest Race Across Phase 2; Anderson, Chisholm Jr., Kirk, Pederson Among First-Time Starters; Anderson, Chisholm Jr., Devers, Ohtani, Stanton Earn Starts Over Phase 1 Leaders; Fourteen Major League Clubs, Including Eight Different NL Clubs, Represented Among Starting Position Players; Remainder of Rosters to be Announced Sunday on ESPN at 5:30 p.m. (ET)
American League leading vote-getter Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees will be joined in the AL All-Star starting lineup by Los Angeles Angels stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, while standouts Mookie Betts and Trea Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers will start for the National League alongside leading vote-getter Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves in the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game presented on Tuesday, July 19th at Dodger Stadium. The 2022 AL and NL All-Star starters were unveiled Fridy evening on ESPN during the “2022 Chevrolet MLB All-Star Starters Reveal” following the conclusion of Phase 2 voting.
The second phase of voting featured the top two vote-getters at each position (and the next four outfielders following Judge/Acuña Jr.) in each League based on vote totals from Phase 1, which ran from June 8th-30th. During Phase 2, which began on Tuesday afternoon at 12:00 p.m., fans had a four-day window to submit their votes for the starting position players at the 2022 Midsummer Classic.
Judge, who leads the Majors with 30 home runs on the season, is making his fourth career All-Star selection, including his fourth starting assignment in the last five All-Star Games. The California native becomes the eighth player in Yankees history to earn at least four fan elections, joining Hall of Famer Derek Jeter (9), Hall of Famer Dave Winfield (7), Alex Rodriguez (6), Hall of Famer Wade Boggs (4), Robinson Canó (4), Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson (4) and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson (4). The 2017 AL Rookie of the Year is the third player in franchise history to reach 30 home runs prior to the Midsummer Classic, joining Roger Maris (33 in 1961) and Alex Rodriguez (30 in 2007). Judge is joined in the AL outfield by Trout, who earned his 10th career Midsummer Classic selection and ninth fan-elected start. The three-time AL MVP, who has 23 homers and 48 RBI on the season, becomes the eighth player in AL history to earn nine fan elections with a single Club, joining Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr. (BAL, 17), George Brett (KC, 11), Ken Griffey Jr. (SEA, 10), Rod Carew (MIN, 9), Derek Jeter (NYY, 9) and Iván Rodríguez (TEX, 9), as well as Ichiro Suzuki (SEA, 9). Trout is just four runs shy of matching Garret Anderson (1,024) for the most runs scored in franchise history. Judge’s Yankees teammate Giancarlo Stanton rounds out the starting AL outfield, claiming his fifth career All-Star nod and his first in the AL after joining New York in 2018. Stanton, who edged out George Springer of the Toronto Blue Jays by a narrow margin in the second phase of voting, has 21 homers and 54 RBI this season, and has reached base safely in 43 of his last 54 contests. A fan-elected starter in 2015 with Miami, Stanton joins his teammate Judge as the first pair of Yankees outfielders to earn fan-elected starts together since Hall of Famers Winfield and Henderson in 1988.
Ohtani, the reigning AL MVP, will make his second consecutive Midsummer Classic appearance and second straight start at designated hitter after narrowly topping Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros, who was the leader at the position after Phase 1. Ohtani, who has 18 homers, 53 RBI and 10 stolen bases on the season, becomes the first AL designated hitter to earn consecutive fan elections since Nelson Cruz in 2014-15. The 28-year-old two-way star set a career-best with eight RBI on June 21st, marking the most by a Japanese-born player in a single game in Major League history. Ohtani also started the 2021 Midsummer Classic on the mound and became the first-ever two-way All-Star, a feat he could duplicate when the balance of All-Star rosters is announced on Sunday.
Behind the plate, Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk will make his All-Star Game debut, becoming the first-ever Jays catcher to win a fan election. The 23-year-old native of Mexico, who outpaced Yankees catcher Jose Trevino in Phase 2, is hitting .312 on the season with 10 homers and 33 RBI, and he ranks second in the AL with a .623 slugging percentage and 1.063 OPS since May 23rd. Kirk is joined in the AL starting lineup by his Blue Jays teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who earned his second consecutive fan-elected start at first base, topping Ty France of the Seattle Mariners in the Finalist Phase. The reigning Ted Williams All-Star Game MVP becomes the first AL first baseman with consecutive fan elections since Miguel Cabrera in 2014-15. Guerrero Jr. has produced a career-best 15-game hitting streak this season (May 2nd-18th), and on May 14th became the youngest player in Major League history to go 4-for-4 with three homers and four extra-base hits in a single game.
Rounding out the AL starting infield is second baseman Jose Altuve of the Astros, shortstop Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox and third baseman Rafael Devers of the Boston Red Sox. Altuve, an All-Star for the eighth time in his career and now a five-time fan-elected starter, beat out Santiago Espinal of the Blue Jays. The 2017 AL MVP, who earned fan elections in four consecutive seasons from 2015-18, has 17 homers and 15 doubles on the campaign. The Venezuela native, who played in his 1,500th career game on Sunday (seventh all-time in franchise history), is the first player in Astros history to reach five fan elections. Altuve is joined up the middle by Anderson, who claimed his first career starting assignment and second All-Star selection overall. Anderson eclipsed Phase 1 leader Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays to win the election, becoming the first-ever White Sox shortstop to earn the fan election. The 2019 AL batting champion is hitting .313 on the season, and he is now the fifth straight different AL shortstop to garner the starting nod, following Carlos Correa (2017), Manny Machado (2018), Jorge Polanco (2019) and Xander Bogaerts (2021). Anderson is just four home runs shy of becoming the fourth player in White Sox history to record 100 homers and 100 stolen bases, joining Hall of Famer Minnie Minoso, Alexei Ramirez and Ray Durham. Devers collects his second consecutive fan election and All-Star selection, beating out José Ramírez of the Cleveland Guardians. The 25-year-old Dominican Republic native, who leads the Majors with 106 hits and is tied for the AL lead with 27 doubles, becomes the first Red Sox third baseman to earn consecutive fan elections since Boggs won the first six of his 10 straight fan elections from 1987-92. Devers, who also has 19 homers and 51 RBI on the season, has reached base safely in an AL-best 72 games this season, while ranking third in multi-hit games.
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2022 American League All-Star Starters
C
Alejandro Kirk
Blue Jays
.312, 10 HR, 33 RBI, 12 2B, 40 R, .890 OPS
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1B
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Blue Jays
.268, 19 HR, 54 RBI, 13 2B, 45 R, .841 OPS
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2B
Jose Altuve
Astros
.280, 17 HR, 32 RBI, 15 2B, 44 R, .907 OPS
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3B
Rafael Devers
Red Sox
.330, 19 HR, 51 RBI, 27 2B, 59 R, .986 OPS
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SS
Tim Anderson
White Sox
.313, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 10 2B, 34 R, 10 SB, .774 OPS
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OF
Aaron Judge
Yankees
.287, 30 HR, 64 RBI, 13 2B, 65 R, .993 OPS
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OF
Mike Trout
Angels
.265, 23 HR, 48 RBI, 17 2B, 53 R, .967 OPS
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OF
Giancarlo Stanton
Yankees
.237, 21 HR, 54 RBI, 5 2B, 33 R, .833 OPS
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DH
Shohei Ohtani
Angels
.257, 18 HR, 53 RBI, 15 2B, 48 R, 10 SB, .833 OPS
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In the NL, Acuña Jr. earns his third straight All-Star selection and starting nod. The 24-year-old native of Venezuela, who has seven homers and 17 stolen bases on the season, becomes the fifth player in Braves history with three fan elections, joining Hall of Famer Hank Aaron (5), Dale Murphy (5), Hall of Famer Chipper Jones (4) and former teammate Freddie Freeman (3). The 2018 NL Rookie of the Year is joined in the outfield by Betts and Joc Pederson of the San Francisco Giants. Betts, who has 20 homers, 45 RBI and 15 doubles on the season, is an All-Star for the sixth consecutive time. The fan election marks the third of his career, including his first in the NL after joining the Dodgers in 2020. The 2018 AL MVP, who previously earned starting assignments in the AL with the Red Sox in 2016 and 2018, hit 12 homers during the month of May, tying Hall of Famer Roy Campanella for the most in a single month of May in Dodgers history. Pederson, who has 17 homers and 41 RBI in his first season with the Giants, becomes an All-Star for the second time in his career while picking up his first fan election after outpacing Starling Marte of the New York Mets and Adam Duvall of the Braves. His 17 homers are the third-most of his career in the first half of the season, behind 20 first-half homers in both 2015 and 2019. After spending the first seven seasons of his career in a Dodgers uniform, Pederson becomes just the fifth different Giants outfielder to receive a fan election, joining Hall of Famer Willie Mays (1970-71), Kevin Mitchell (1989-90), Barry Bonds (1995-96, 1998, 2000-04, 2007) and Melky Cabrera (2012).
Betts is joined in the NL starting lineup by fellow Dodger Trea Turner, who edged out Atlanta’s Dansby Swanson in the second phase of voting to claim his second All-Star selection and first fan-elected start. Turner, who is hitting .305 with 59 RBI, 21 doubles and 16 stolen bases on the season, becomes just the second Dodgers shortstop to win a fan election, joining Bill Russell (1980). In addition, Turner is the eighth consecutive different NL shortstop to win a fan election, following Troy Tulowitzki (2014), Jhonny Peralta (2015), Addison Russell (2016), Zack Cozart (2017), Brandon Crawford (2018), Javier Báez (2019) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (2021). Turner has recorded a hit in 69 of his 82 games played this season, and owns two hitting streaks of at least 20 games in 134 games with the Dodgers since 2021.
Joining Turner across the NL infield is first baseman Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the Miami Marlins and third baseman Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres. Goldschmidt, who leads the NL with 105 hits, 61 runs scored, a .342 batting average, a .427 on-base percentage, a .619 slugging percentage and a 1.046 OPS, beat out Pete Alonso of the Mets in the Finalist Phase to claim his eighth All-Star selection and third career starting assignment (also 2014-15). The 34-year-old veteran becomes the first Cardinals first baseman to win a fan election since Albert Pujols (2009-10), and he is the first NL first baseman to earn a start at the position for two different teams since Fred McGriff (SD – 1992, ATL – 1995-96). Goldschmidt is eight RBI shy of 1,000 for his career and one home run away from his 300th career round tripper, which would make him just the 40th player in Major League history with at least 300 homers and 140 stolen bases. Chisholm Jr., who has 14 home runs and 45 RBI on the season, claims his first career All-Star selection after overcoming Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies, who led NL second basemen during the initial phase of voting. The 24-year-old, who is currently on the Injured List, becomes the first-ever player born in the Bahamas to earn an All-Star selection, and he is just the sixth Marlins player in franchise history to secure a fan election, joining Hanley Ramirez (three), as well as Dee Strange-Gordon, Marcell Ozuna, Gary Sheffield and Stanton (one each). Machado becomes an All-Star for the sixth time in his career, while picking up his third starting nod, including his first in the NL. A fan-elected starter in the AL in 2016 and 2018 with Baltimore, Machado narrowly defeated Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals in the tightest race of the Finalist Phase. Machado, who turned 30 years old on Wednesday, is batting .315 on the season with 13 homers, 47 RBI and 19 doubles. He became the 17th player in Major League history with at least 1,500 hits and 250 homers before turning 30, and he joins Graig Nettles (1985) and Ken Caminiti (1997) as the only Padres third basemen to win a fan election.
Rounding out the NL starting lineup is designated hitter Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies and catcher Willson Contreras of the Chicago Cubs. Harper, who topped Willson’s brother William Contreras of the Braves during the second phase of voting, is an All-Star for the seventh time in his career and a fan-elected starter for the sixth time (also 2013, 2015-18). The reigning NL MVP becomes the first-ever fan-elected designated hitter in the NL, and is the first Phillies player to win a fan election since Chase Utley in 2014. The 29-year-old Harper, who is batting .318 on the season with 15 homers, 48 RBI and 21 doubles, is currently on the Injured List after suffering a fractured left thumb nearly two weeks ago. Contreras picks up his third All-Star selection and third starting nod (also 2018-19) after topping Travis d’Arnaud of the Braves in the Finalist Phase. The 30-year-old native of Venezuela, who has 13 homers and 35 RBI on the season, becomes the fourth player in Cubs history with at least three fan elections, joining Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg (9), Sammy Sosa (5) and Hall of Famer Andre Dawson (4). Contreras now has six career seasons with at least 10 home runs, matching Jody Davis for the second-most in franchise history behind Gabby Hartnett’s 12.
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2022 National League All-Star Starters
C
Willson Contreras
Cubs
.274, 13 HR, 35 RBI, 17 2B, 46 R, .890 OPS
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1B
Paul Goldschmidt
Cardinals
.342, 19 HR, 65 RBI, 28 2B, 61 R, 1.045 OPS
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2B
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Marlins
.254, 14 HR, 45 RBI, 10 2B, 39 R, 12 SB, .860 OPS
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3B
Manny Machado
Padres
.315, 13 HR, 47 RBI, 19 2B, 50 R, .920 OPS
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SS
Trea Turner
Dodgers
.305, 11 HR, 59 RBI, 21 2B, 43 R, 16 SB, .837 OPS
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OF
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Braves
.272, 7 HR, 19 RBI, 9 2B, 34 R, 17 SB, .792 OPS
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OF
Mookie Betts
Dodgers
.277, 20 HR, 45 RBI, 15 2B, 58 R, .914 OPS
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OF
Joc Pederson
Giants
.264, 17 HR, 41 RBI, 10 2B, 34 R, .882 OPS
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DH
Bryce Harper
Phillies
.318, 15 HR, 48 RBI, 21 2B, 49 R, .985 OPS
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Overall, 14 Major League Clubs are represented among the 18 fan-elected starters, including eight in the NL and six in the AL. The AL and NL starters combine for eight internationally-born players (44.4%), spanning five countries and territories outside the 50 United States, while 13 of the 18 come from diverse backgrounds (72.2%). The Blue Jays, Angels, Yankees and Dodgers lead the way with two All-Star starters apiece.
The pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 24 for both the NL and the AL – will be determined through a combination of “Player Ballot” choices and selections made by the Commissioner’s Office. Earlier today, MLB announced that legendary hitters Albert Pujols of the Cardinals and Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers will be active at the 2022 Midsummer Classic. The balance of the All-Star rosters will be announced at 5:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, July 10th during the 2022 Chevrolet MLB All-Star Selection Show on ESPN.
Fans will once again have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. During the Midsummer Classic, fans can vote exclusively at MLB.com and the 30 Club sites – online or via their mobile devices – with the 2022 All-Star Game MLB.com MVP Vote, and their collective voice will represent 20 percent of the official vote determining this year’s recipient of the Arch Ward Trophy.
The 92nd Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 180 countries. FOX Deportes will provide Spanish language coverage in the United States. ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game, while Univision will provide Spanish language coverage on radio. MLB Network, MLB.com and SiriusXM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information about MLB All-Star Week, including ticket information and updates, please visit www.allstargame.com and follow @MLB and @AllStarGame on social media.
(Source: MLB)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
