Major League Baseball announced the starting lineups for the 2021 All-Star Game this evening. The starting lineups are determined by fan vote. This year’s All-Star Game will take place in Coors Field on Tuesday, July 13. The starting pitchers and reserves will be announced at a later date.
National League
- Catcher: Buster Posey, Giants (7th selection)
- First Base: Freddie Freeman, Braves (5th selection)
- Second Base: Adam Frazier, Pirates (1st selection)
- Third Base: Nolan Arenado, Cardinals (6th selection)
- Shortstop: Fernando Tatís Jr., Padres (1st selection)
- Outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves (2nd selection)
- Outfield: Nick Castellanos, Reds (1st selection)
- Outfield: Jesse Winker, Reds (1st selection)
American League
- Catcher: Salvador Pérez, Royals (7th selection)
- First Base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays (1st selection)
- Second Base: Marcus Semien, Blue Jays (1st selection)
- Third Base: Rafael Devers, Red Sox (1st selection)
- Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox (3rd selection)
- Outfield: Mike Trout, Angels (9th selection)*
- Outfield: Aaron Judge, Yankees (3rd selection)
- Outfield: Teoscar Hernández, Blue Jays (1st selection)
- Designated Hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Angels (1st selection)
*On the 60-day injured list
Don’t understand the Trout selection…is he just going to show up and sit?
Cause even playing half the season he was still better than almost every other outfielder in the AL
No, that’s no correct if you compare the stats
No matter how hurt he his, he’s a fan favorite. And the all star game is nothing but a popularity contest, unfortunately.
Didn’t realize Adam Frazier from a small market city was a fan favorite. Good for him.
Teoscar Hernandez the face of baseball
Now you do
Lou, you know that because Trout is popular, that doesn’t necessarily mean ever other AS is popular, right?
I’ll take Brantley
Interesting. Adolis Garcia says otherwise, arguably the top ROY candidate.
He earned it fro prior years, won’t play but gives manager opportunity to name replacements
He was the best CF in the AL but the pick is more ceremonial. Basically just something to add to his BR page. They’ll use one of the bench outfielders as the starting CF and select an extra guy to make the team
I voted for Trout, but Cedric Mullins was better, longer. He’s already at 4 WAR on pace for an 8-WAR season…for BAL. Trout’s inclusion is more about his brand and lack of AL OF depth.
If the fans wanna see Trout, then that’s it. Too bad he’s hurt.
Hurry up & get this farce over with
He will be replaced.
Fan voting for a reason
Nothing to understand beyond Trout remains the best player of our generation and fans voted him hoping he might be healthy to play. Don’t think twice about it. He can now be replaced by another player.
Should’ve been Adolis Garcia
Shoulda been Mullins
Mullins will be there. Probably start for Trout.
Popularity contest.
I’d rather Sox players rest and just win the 2021 World Series.
@ChiSox_Fan, that sounds like sour grapes, and I’m a White Sox fan, too. I think you could make an argument based on stats for Moncada to start over Devers and for either Rodon or Lynn to be the starting pitcher. But most of the selections I don’t have a particular problem with. Should have been Mullins over Trout and I might have gone with someone other than Teoscar in the last OF spot, but aside from the guys I mentioned, none of the White Sox really deserve to start.
Devers is the best 3B in the AL, it’s not even close. Devers dwarfs Moncada in offence and is has a better dWar too. I don’t think there is a rational person who would agree that Moncada should start over Devers.
Cedric Mullins more than deserves it than trout. Sometimes we are really dumb fans
Lol are you kidding.
Fans are voting for their favourite players, mostly kids, that want to watch their idols.
Mullins is having an amazing year but isn’t a known entity and plays on the worst team in the league. Calling fans dumb says way more about you than anything else
He will be replaced by a healthy player
Teoscar Hernandez over Byron Buxton is a joke
I mean, Buxton’s only played in 27 games.
Kris Bryant beat out by Arenado. Probably the right choice.
Adam Frazier at second base is puzzling. I would have thought Albies would win that battle.
i dunno, Frazier’s numbers look better to me, and swap their teams and the RBI totals might just swap.
Have to disagree. Even with Frazier’s babip inflated BA and OBP, Ozzie is still neck and neck with him in OPS. He’s impacted his team’s success and the game alot more than Frazier, and he’s the better all-around player. Albies has him tripled in steals, and he is the better defender, a GG defender at that..
Fans saw Frazier and his high BA and voted him in. Typical uneducated fans that still only look at BA to determine whether a player is a good hitter or not.
i’m sure your username isn’t in any way impacting your opinion on this matter
When batting ave is scarce, it has more value. You can argue who is the better player, but batting ave is a great indicator of who the better hitter is. You can’t be the better hitter if you don’t hit.
BA is often a poor indicator of who a player is because unlike things like strikeout and walk rates, BA is subject to a lot of factors out of a batter’s control such as luck.
Cosmo-I agree.Ty Cobb was lucky.
What’s you’re point? Are you saying luck DOESN’T exist? Wade Boggs and Rod Carew consistently had high BAs. They never struck out. Batting average has its uses but no one who’s educated themselves at all as to modern baseball fails to understand the flaws in using the stat to predict future results.
“Are you saying luck DOESN’T exist?
Wade Boggs and Rod Carew consistently had high BAs. They never struck out. ”
So you claim something is luck, while also explaining the rational reason a correlation works the way it works, without luck having any impact
It’s almost like the more you make contact with the ball, the more likely your batting average is to be higher. The batting average on balls with no contact is .000
“Luck” essentially indicates if a guy would rather sell out his form and maybe get a weak single, or try to hit the ball with authority with two strikes, even if he may miss some locations. It isn’t luck. It’s basic statistics
Luck and causation/correlation are not mutually exclusive. YES some skill is involved. When Boggs has a high BA he’s mitigating the luck factor by making tons of contact. Even a low BABIP can yield a high BA in that case cuz more balls in play. On the other hand some guys just have one year of a high BA because of luck, ie high BABIP and then regress to the mean. Thus, BA alone is often a terrible indicator of future results. This isn’t a radical or difficult idea to comprehend.
Cosmo-My point is you used the descriptive “poor”.
Ty Cobb would still disagree.So would any knowledgeable baseball fan.
It may not be perfect,and like any statistic it may not be totally reflective for small data bases,but over a period of time luck has little or nothing to do with it.Sorry,Rogers Hornsby voted “no” also.He was another “lucky” hitter whose lifetime average does not reflect how good of a hitter he was.
And predictability?Would you not predict that Wade Boggs and Tony were not going to hit .300 their next year?You cannot intelligently use a small loophole to throw away or demean one of the most important stats in baseball.
Cosmo-My point is your use of the descriptive “poor”.
Luck may have something do with small data bases,but are you still saying that it has to do with lifetime averages,or even yearly averages?
Ty Cobb still says “no”.Rogers Hornsby just said the same thing.
Any knowledgeable baseball observer says “no” also.
As far as predictability,I was right basically every time in predicting that Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn would hit at least 300 the next year.
Real luck involves Kris Davis hitting exactly 247 four years in a row.
Methinks you should rethink your basic premise.
And one of its basic uses is to place players into the Hall of Fame.
I do not think that any of them were lucky to get there.
You’re cherry-picking a bit. Guys with low K rates (and in the case of Carew an uncanny and almost unique ability to hit the ball over the third baseman’s head) and high hard hit rates will have a consistently high BA. Even so, it’s the peripherals that tell us this. But those are not the norm. Usually BA gives a whiff of an idea but is a poor tool for predicting specifics. Usually.
No cherry picking here.
These stats have to pass the smell test.BA has passed that since baseball began.
Just because someone hits 330 over the first half of the year certainly does not mean he will the second half,let alone the next year.
A player could be hurt the next year and affect his batting average.
Just because a rookie comes up hitting 350 and everyone raves about him does not mean that the pitchers will not soon catch up to him.
Even these things though have little to do with luck.
Posters like you are well meaning and knowledgeable about statistics but they are only a tool.The tried and true stats are still very valuable to use.They are just not now the only ones,and are not as universally accurate as thought before.
But in any sort of somewhat small to medium database,luck basically has nothing to do with it.Skill still wins out.
I have a feeling we don’t really disagree much beyond the wording we use. Good hitters have good stats is an over simplification, but not inaccurate. BA can just be a bit wonky at times and it’s true value isn’t known until you also look at OBP but I don’t really disagree with your overall sentiment.
I sensed that you were not just another pretty face.
Many of the posters here say something,often stupid,and stick to it come hell or highwater.
Modern statistical use certainly has its place.The ones you use may be helpful in figuring out what Adam Frazier is worth as far as trade value.
But maybe he has turned the corner and his second half will be as good as the first and he will fulfill what David Freese said about him three years ago in winning the batting title.
Statistics are just another tool.Look at the shifts and how they have affected batting averages,That was due to increased use of statistics.
They have also caused some possible discrepancies for traditional statistics to come to light.A pitcher would have a much higher number of wins pitching for a good team rather than bad ones.But that is common sense anyway.
My point is that generally many of these traditional statistics would even out over time.But maybe not all.
BABIP in ASG voting? cmon.
And Mario Mendoza was just unlucky.
BABIP for future predictions. Certainly not a stat that should factor into all-star selection. I think I convoluted something.
Bryant has been cold as ice for the past month.
Bryant is also dealing with a injury from attempting a diving catch. His side is sore.
Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s been bad.
Arenado .267 .320 .513 .833
Bryant .261 .347 .500 .847
Turner .285 .379 .470 .849
And the winner is…
Frazier is having a monster year on a garbage team, with no protection in the lineup. Albies bats before Freeman or acuna, or in between the 2. Therefore I am more impressed with Fraziers season
He bats after both of them
The point being this has always been a beauty contest weighted towards teams with larger followings and only secondarily about performance. This is one reason why I rarely vote for All Stars. The other is they now require you to disclose personal information before your vote is counted. No thanks to that either.
Adam frazier right now is the best full time 2nd baseman in the league at the plate. His defense is down this year though. If his defense was on par with the past couple years it would be a no doubter. Who knows what it will be at the end of the year.. just right now.
I must admit though i’m a little surprised as well with the much smaller market.
Joew-I think that it was the only thing that Pirate fans had to root for this year.
Kris Bryant was snubbed though. He had a terrible June. Probably why. Contreras got snubbed too though. Best catcher in NL Top 5 in baseball.
how on earth was Contreras even a finalist with those numbers? Narvaez and Smith should have been finalists with Posey.
there was no reason Trout and Buxton should have been fianlists with the amount of time both missed.
It’s a popularity contest. I’m confused by comments expecting 13 year old kids voting to leave out Trout because he’s been injured.
He’ll be replaced I’m sure
Since when are 13 yr old kids watching baseball? Isn’t that the whole reason for Manfred’s tenure thus far?
Baseball fans are famously mostly older gen people and MLB has been desperate to get anyone born after 2000 to pay attention for years now!
Unless you’re also a 13 year old, I can’t understand why you keep going back to that nonsense generalization.
Popularity contests are just as subjective and ridiculous when adults participate
Why are you generalizing? He says before going on to generalize his entire post.
Solid take jabroni.
It is so true. I know of fee kids who watch it like i did in the 80s. If they are good all they realize is they can make millions. Wasn’t so much popularity contest but more people at the time went to games and voted for their players. More attendance more votes. Even as a Yankee fan i did think it was ridiculous the number of Yankees that got on the team every year as non staters. Torre just loaded his players. Took a lot of the excitement away because you wanted to see the players you don’t see often play.
Most voters probably only recognize the names and have no idea.
Your voting determined the finalists
AS game is for the fans even if they aren’t playing
and? shouldn’t the fans want the most deserving players to get the nods?
Mullins got absolutely snubbed. Having a season miles than Teoscar and Trout hasn’t even stepped on the field since May 20. Lineup should be Mullins, Brantley, Judge. this is why fan voting should be banned
Absolutely. Mullins is incredible.
Eh. No one wants to actually watch Mullins over Trout, it’s about stars, that’s who people want to see. It’s a moot point, anyway, since Trout won’t play, so Mullins will probably end up starting anyway.
I hope Mullins takes Trouts place and starts
Judge a starter lol good one.
Anyone who voted Freeman over Muncy will receive their citation and court date in the mail
Freeman, just had some extraordinarily bad luck at the beginning of the season. Heck, even for about the entire first third of the season. Ball after ball he’d hit with some solid exit velocity, right on a line, only for it to be caught and lead to out after out.
I have NEVER seen someone struggle to find a hole, when they’re hitting as well as Freeman was during that prolonged slump.
His counting stats are down for sure, but Freddie has still been ripping balls all year. He’s still the better player over Muncy.
I voted for Muncy over Freeman but he is deserving of starting since he got more votes so he’s the starter. No problem with this one.
Who do you guys think replaces Trout?
mullins
cedric Mullins hopefully.
has to be Ced
Billy Hamilton
Walsh
a cardboard cutout
John Scott
Happy Teo got in, he hasn’t been getting a lot of attention with how Vlad and Semien have been performing but he’s had a really good year.
Mullins and Brantley are far more deserving but good for him regardless
Mullins yes, Brantley hard to say ‘far more’, closer to marginally
Brantley isn’t the greatest outfielder, but anyone hitting .345 deserves to be a starter in the ASG. Everyone’s just a hater.
how is cedric Mullins not a starter? trout should not even be a finalist.
agreed
It’s based on fan votes. You think your average fan leaves Trout off the ballot cuz he’s on the IL?
they should have because of how few games he played. have him on the ballot with no games played or a .200 AVG and he still starts. why is that acceptable?
AL>NL
Freeman over Muncy is crazy.
Mlb uses dominion voting machines
Rudy Giuliani is all over this.
And every other weirdo.
Can’t wait for the press conference outside an S&M club
Hahaha
Popularity contest
If Trout made it so should have Buxton ♂️
Can’t believe the NL starters aren’t all from the Mets!! How can the greatest team in all the land not have 9 starters in the all-star game??? This is a travesty. Amm I right Metsfan22??
At the very least deGrom should be the starting SS, Stroman on the mound, and then McNeil can just fill out the other 6 positions. For DH we’ll use that sense of dread that the season is about to fall apart that many of us Met fans perpetually suffer from. Or something.
Happy Bobby Bonilla Day
The All-Star choices are most popular not best player which is why you end up with some interesting picks. These are the fans picks.
Snub discussion:
Mullins NEEDS to be one of the starters.
Same with Muncy.
Altuve could also easily be the selection over Semien.
Trout will be replaced (even if this is a popularity contest), but Hernandez shouldn’t be a starter. AL outfield should probably be Judge, Mullins, Brantley.
Great chance to showcase a talent like Mullins.
I’d love to hear an argument of why altuve over semien
They’ve had very similar numbers this season. I’m not saying Semien shouldn’t be the choice, but Altuve at the very least has a case. 3 Blue Jays starting the game seems like a bit too much to me as well.
Seamen has never been caught cheating.
I know the popular narrative on this board is “get over it” in regards to the Astros cheating scandal, but face it, Altuve is not the little beloved superstar he once was. He might still be a superstar, I won’t argue he’s a top 3 2B in baseball, and you shouldn’t either, but that whole trash can/buzzer/video taping/blind eye/zero punishment thing, well that’s still out there for most baseball fans.
Why not Altuve over Semien?
Altuve is hitting .287, Semien .291
Altuve has 18 HR’s, Semien has 20
Altuve has 47 RBI’s. Semien has 52
Mullins will replace trout I’d assume
Glad to see Frazier get the nod
You guys new to baseball or something? This lineup is less awful than most years. Yeah, some guys on bad teams always get snubbed, but at least the lineup isn’t a bunch of burned out 37 year olds who used to be good. We’ve seen much worse.
Bad teams? How about the second best record in baseball having no one elected as a starter?
By fangraphs WAR:
C: Zunino/Posey
1B: Vlad/Muncy
2B: Semien/Cronenworth
SS: Bogaerts/Tatis
3B: Devers/Arenado
LF: Canha/Winker
CF: Mullins/Reynolds
RF: Gallo/Acuna
DH: Ohtani/Turner/Castellanos (tie)
Mike Zunino…lmao. anyone hitting under the Mendoza shouldn’t be in the ASG. that two of the AL’s C finalists were such is a damning indictment on said league’s catchers.
Obviously people couldn’t spell Rob Refsnyder….
And ya, Mullins over Trout’s a no brainer. If it’s REALLY just a showcase (and it is), just let Ohtani do everything he can.
Maybe have him pitch to himself.
I understand that shiny BA for Frazier makes him look attractive, but Albies is right there in OPS and crushes him in power stats, doubles him in RBIs, almost triples him in stolen bases, and Albies is also an extremely solid 2B playing excellent defense..
In my opinion, Albies deserved it more, simply because he’s still the better all-around player. I definitely commend Frazier on his high BA and OBP, even if I think his numbers are not sustainable, he has had an excellent season thus far being able to hit mostly singles and some doubles, but the voters got this one wrong, plain and simple..
Cronenworth better than both of them
Albies had a really slow start, that’s the only reason they’re even comparable. He’s the better player, and more complete player between the three..
Oh, okay “bravesfan88” sure thing, the Braves player you root for every day is better than the stats of all other 2B. Sure thing. Your fave guy is better than the guys playing better than him, he “deserves” the asg more. Right?
Homerism = mental illness. Jake Cronenworth is better than Ozzie Albies. Fact.
Some doubles? Tied for 3rd in doubles and more than Albies is only “some doubles”? Love your spin. You should have a cable news show.
Bravesfan88 – plain & simple; you’re a homer. Frazier is better than Albies; you pick certain stats & try to build your case. Frazier bats lead/off; that’s why he has lads RBI’s. Albies comes up with Acuna on base frequently. Frazier comes up with no one on consistently. You say BA isn’t relevant; fine (.327 to .265 is pretty big difference), so how about hits? 101 to 80; again, significant. Fielding isn’t as far apart as you claim. And lastly, saying Frazier’s numbers not being sustainable? Where do you get that? Your opinion, I suppose. Glad the fans got this one right, the gall of having a small market, last place team getting a starter.
Heres who bats in front of frazier. The pitcher, kevin newman, michael perez, blaze tom. was Anthony alford or dustin fowler.
Cronenworth >>> Frazier >>> Albies === a fact.
For those of you that have muted A’sFaninUK, he finally had a spot on assessment:
“Cronenworth better than both of them”
No he didn’t. They both have stats better than him. When ops is in the same ballpark but one guy is hitting .320 something that guy is worthy.
All my assessments are spot-on, homers just hate them because it destroys their reality that all 9 starters on a homers fave team are the #1 players in the game at that position. If youve ever hated anything Ive said, that’s your argument.
How about being a fan of the game in general if youre going to come in here to begin with? Homers offer absolutely nothing other than illogical defenses of their fave players. If you have a fave team, criticize them if they do things to lose.
If only the Braves players were as good as you claim, maybe they wouldn’t be under .500 and in 3rd place.
I am just so happy for Bogaerts and Devers!
Hernandez winning the starting gig is giving me an 2015 Alcides Escobar flashback.
One was good defensively and terrible offensively while the other is good offensively and terrible defensively.
But fan vote, fan vote, etc….
I just skimmed over all of the comments above, and didn’t see one mention of Adolis Garcia.
Just looked this up:
Per Statcast’s Outs Above Average (OAA) leaderboard
(Qualifying Outfielders only)
Adolis Garcia ranks 4th best among the 120 outfielders.
Joey Gallo? Right below him, tied for 5th place with three other players, same listing.
Teoscar Hernandez? Tied for 91st place with 11 other outfielders, same listing.
Fan contest or not, you’d think teams would be using some of this data to help get votes for their players. Eh, few people seem to care about the hard stats anyways.
OAA? Jesus. What’s next? Calm down Brian Kenny. Sometimes, baseball is still played on the field.
You’re using OAA as an all encompassing stat when it’s not.
3 of the top 10 outfielders on that list are Astros.
Would be cool to see Ohtani pitch and hit. Should make for a fun ASG.
Yes, it would be cool, but it seems odd to me that the DH position gets voted on for the AL. Will both teams have a DH in the lineup in an NL city when there is no universal DH this year?
Riley deserves some consideration, but the right man and better all-around player won in Arenado.
I hope Riley gets some consideration for his combination of excellent defense he’s played this year, and the job he’s done offensively.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid he might have to wait and hope for next year though
No Riley doesn’t at all. He had one good month. Excellent defense? How many times has he almost airmailed or spiked a ball to Freeman? How many times do liners down the 3rd base line get by him.
Muting you now. Idiocy. The Braves stink other than Acuna. Shut up.
Hopefully Acuna shows up in the All-Star game. He had to sit today to avoid hitting Degrom…..I mean he had another back issue.
Gonna be a lousy game.
I won’t be watching the commissioner’s political show.
I’m sure by the time the ASG rolls around, there will be a dozen replacment players on the roster. Players might get injured and need the ASG to rest, some players may not be able to play (like some starters pitching the game before the break), some players, hurt or not, may just need the rest in general and have someone else replace them.
Winker/Casty = faith restored. I know they’re on a middling team but they’ve been exceptional. Was pipe dreaming they’d both get the nod and now it’s like I’m a fifth grader waking up to a snow day.
Somewhere Peter Griffin is laughing out your comment. ngggghahhaaahhha
Wow your handle says it all. See yaaaaa
There is so much hate going around on Adam Frazier. The guy has worked his rear end off since day 1. Either way, half the league will be calling the Pirates for his services (Including Braves). This kid can play just about anywhere on the diamond and last few years has stuck at 2nd base. I am pleased to see him starting for the NL. Even when the Pirates were winning, they didn’t have a starter or fan favorite vote to start the game. Give this kid some respect because he is on the 3 worst team in all of MLB. Arizona and Baltimore are worse then the Pirates at this point. To get the All Star nod, it’s a heck of an achievement considering the circumstances.
McCutchen never got a start? That’s surprising, don’t care about the Pirates at all but that’s a player I saw on espn a bit back in them days.
McCutchen never started in the All-Star or even Corey Dickerson/Sterling Marte who both won gold gloves and had better offensive seasons then some of the starters those years. It’s tough being a Pirates player win or lose. To get a All Star nod, is a huge thing if your in a Pirates uniform.
The All-Star game is a joke.
The selection is the real joke. None of the Astros seven players involved in the voting won a starting spot. Maybe the way they were playing so badly early in the week had something to do with it, but obviously it was the national hatred for them because they were caught doing something that almost everyone else was doing too.
It is an exhibition that doesn’t mean anything to anyone.
All you stupid moronic fans who voted Trout shows fans are too stupid to vote & MLB needs to change its voting system.
Relax guy, this game doesnt matter and all-star replacements are extremely common.
Someone needs to go look at the numbers
And remember most people vote when it first comes out and never again. Notice most of these guys had very strong April’s/May’s?
Back in the day when we punched holes beside the names we had an excuse to ignore a great season. With internet voting, no excuse. The ones complaining about snubs have a point. No reason to screw up the vote with feelings over fact.
I agree with you. I don’t understand how Abreu got the nod over Walsh or Olson. Both are having far better seasons.
This game has no draw anymore with inter-league play. Then with MLB’s show of it’s obvious ties to the Democratic party, it won’t be on in my house.
Go back to bed Grandpa
I didnt read all of the comments but here is something my father told me who pitched competitively until he was 55….
If you are basing your vote on statistics then you should consider the previous years post all-star game stats/production.
Dood for thought.
national league needed a dh selection
how do you select a player from a position in a league where it doesn’t exist?
Glad to see Frazier got the nod, hopefully Cedric will get the start as Trout’s replacement. IMO, if two guys have similar stats, the one who is grinding it out on a bad team, with no support or lineup protection, gets the tiebreaker.
Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras got snubbed
Ran out of edit time. I don’t get why so many voted for Jesse Winkler and Nick Castellanos for voted as the starters. The latter isn’t good in the field. Should’ve been Schwarber. He’ll definitely be the DH.
Winkers a butcher in the field too
People on here complaining about players who are having good seasons, but are hurt being selected to the AS team is funny. Yet ignore the fact that, both Matt Olson and Jared Walsh are both having way better season than Abreu and it’s not really close. Oh wait Abreu is a bigger name than Olson and Walsh. That’s why he is in there and the only reason. Trout will be replaced by someone who is healthy and deserves to go. So get over yourselves