MLB Announces 2022 All-Star Starters
Major League Baseball announced the starting lineups for the 2022 All-Star Game this evening. The starting lineups are determined by fan vote. This year’s All-Star Game will take place at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, July 19. The starting pitchers and reserves will be announced at a later date.
American League
- Catcher: Alejandro Kirk, Blue Jays (1st selection)
- First base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays (2nd selection)
- Second base: Jose Altuve, Astros (8th selection)
- Third base: Rafael Devers, Red Sox (2nd selection)
- Shortstop: Tim Anderson, White Sox (2nd selection)
- Outfield: Aaron Judge, Yankees (4th selection)
- Outfield: Mike Trout, Angels (10th selection)
- Outfield: Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees (5th selection)
- Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Angels (2nd selection)
National League
- Catcher: Willson Contreras, Cubs (3rd selection)
- First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals (8th selection)
- Second base: Jazz Chisholm Jr., Marlins (1st selection)
- Third base: Manny Machado, Padres (6th selection)
- Shortstop: Trea Turner, Dodgers (2nd selection)
- Outfield: Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves (3rd selection)
- Outfield: Mookie Betts, Dodgers (6th selection)
- Outfield: Joc Pederson, Giants (2nd selection)
- Designated hitter: Bryce Harper, Phillies (7th selection)
Marlins Place Jazz Chisholm On Injured List
The Marlins have placed second baseman Jazz Chisholm on the 10-day injured list due to a right lower back strain. Utilityman Luke Williams was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville to take his spot on the active roster.
Chisholm has been nagged by back issues in recent days. He sat out Sunday’s and Monday’s contests before returning to the lineup yesterday. He departed that game after one at-bat and a lone defensive inning. Christina De Nicola of MLB.com wrote last night that he was headed for an MRI, making it unsurprising he’ll need some time to rehab the injury. The club hasn’t provided any specifics on his potential return.
The 24-year-old Chisholm is having a breakout season, emerging as one of the game’s most electric young talents. He carries a .254/.325/.535 line through 241 plate appearances, hitting 14 home runs and ten doubles while stealing 12 bases. Chisholm has also rated quite well at second base in the eyes of public defensive metrics, making him the team’s most productive position player in the early going.
Miami is likely to turn to Jon Berti at the keystone while Chisholm is out. The 32-year-old is quietly having a strong year himself, posting a .289/.380/.409 mark while leading the majors with 22 steals (a rather remarkable feat considering he’s not actually played enough to qualify for the batting title). Berti had bounced all over the diamond as a utility option for manager Don Mattingly, but he figures to play regularly at second base while leaving the depth work to Williams and Erik González.
Injury Notes: Matz, Chisholm, Cruz, Watkins
The latest on some prominent players who had to make early exits from today’s games…
- Steven Matz lasted only four pitches into today’s start against the Pirates, as Matz was suffering from stiffness in his left shoulder. Cardinals manager Olli Marmol told reporters (including MLB.com’s John Denton) that Matz will undergo an MRI later tonight. It has been a tough start overall to Matz’s tenure in St. Louis, as the southpaw has allowed a lot of hard contact en route to a 6.03 ERA over his first 37 1/3 innings in Cards red.
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. was replaced at second base prior to the third inning of the Marlins‘ 4-3 win over the Braves, and the Miami side announced that Chisholm was dealing with left hamstring tightness. Chisholm walked and later scored during his only plate appearance, and MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola noted that Chisholm was running the bases much slower than usual, hinting at his hamstring issue. In Saturday’s game, Chisholm was spiked in that same left leg by Ozzie Albies when Albies was trying to steal second base, though tests didn’t reveal anything that kept Chisholm from today’s lineup. The Marlins infielder has been great thus far in 2022, hitting .290/.341/.581 with seven homers over 139 PA.
- Designated hitter Nelson Cruz sprained his right ankle during an awkward slide into second base during the fourth inning of the Nationals‘ 8-2 win over the Brewers today. Cruz was replaced by a pinch-hitter in his next at-bat, with Nats manager Davey Martinez telling reporters (including The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty) that Cruz continued to feel discomfort while taking some warm-up swings in the batting cage between innings. It isn’t yet clear if Cruz will require a trip to the injured list, as Martinez just described the veteran slugger as day-to-day. Though Cruz collected two hits against Milwaukee today, he is hitting only .204/.283/.296 with four homers through 161 PA.
- On the 13th pitch of his start against the Rays today, Orioles right-hander Spenser Watkins was hit in the forearm by a line drive off the bat of Ji-Man Choi. Watkins had to leave the game without recording an out (and allowing singles to his three batters faced), but he may have avoided serious injury — x-rays were negative and Watkins was diagnosed with only a bruised forearm. Sunday marked Watkins’ eighth start of the season, and the second-year player had a 6.00 ERA over 30 innings thus far in 2022.
Marlins Select Deven Marrero, Shawn Morimando
The Marlins are selecting infielder Deven Marrero and left-hander Shawn Morimando to the big league roster, relays Christina de Nicola of MLB.com (Twitter link). Second baseman Jazz Chisholm is landing on the COVID-19 injured list. Chisholm has been suffering from virus-like symptoms and stayed behind in Denver, where the Fish just wrapped up a series against the Rockies.
Both Marrero and Morminado have been yo-yoed on and off the roster this season. Miami has rather remarkably selected Marrero’s contract four times, designating him for assignment and passing him through outright waivers shortly after each of his first three calls. Most recently, Marrero was selected and DFA’d just last week — incidentally while Chisholm was on the COVID-19 IL for a day after not feeling well. The 30-year-old has only picked up seven plate appearances over his various big league stints; he’s hitting .252/.327/.397 this year with Triple-A Jacksonville.
Morimando is up for the third time. He’s made two appearances, allowing four runs in just two-thirds of an inning against the Phillies on May 24 but tossing five scoreless frames against the Braves on July 9. The 28-year-old has a 4.43 ERA over 63 innings with Jacksonville this season.
Marlins Designate Deven Marrero For Assignment
AUGUST 4: Chisholm has been reinstated from the IL, suggesting he’s tested negative for the virus. Marrero was designated for assignment in a corresponding move (via McPherson).
AUGUST 3: The Marlins announced they’ve placed middle infielder Jazz Chisholm on the COVID-19 injured list. Infielder Deven Marrero has been selected to the roster to replace him.
Chisholm has been experiencing virus-like symptoms, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). There’s no indication that he’s actually tested positive for the virus at this point. The 23-year-old is hitting .254/.317/.430 with eleven home runs across 307 plate appearances so far this season.
Marrero has been on and off the roster a few times, picking up seven plate appearances. He has spent most of the season with Triple-A Jacksonville, hitting .252/.327/.397 with the Jumbo Shrimp.
Marlins Select Andrew Bellatti
The Marlins announced a handful of roster moves before this evening’s game against the Nationals. As expected, infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. (left shoulder contusion) and corner outfielder/first baseman Garrett Cooper (left elbow sprain) have landed on the 10-day injured list. To take their places on the active roster, outfielder Lewis Brinson has been recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville, while Miami selected the contract of reliever Andrew Bellatti. Miami already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was needed in that regard.
Bellatti is now in position to make his first major league appearance in six years. The right-hander tossed 23 1/3 innings of 2.31 ERA ball for the Rays in 2015 but hasn’t been in the big leagues since. Bellatti pitched in the high minors of the Tampa Bay system in 2016. He signed a minor league deal with the Orioles in 2017 but missed the entire season due to injury. Bellatti didn’t return to action until 2019 on a minors pact with the Yankees before spending some time in independent ball.
The 29-year-old hooked on with the Marlins on a minor league deal over the offseason. He’s earned a second big league call with 13 1/3 innings of 2.03 ERA ball between Double-A and Triple-A. Bellatti has struck out sixteen batters while walking only five and has allowed just a single home run.
Jazz Chisholm, Garrett Cooper Undergoing MRIs
July 19: Both Chisholm and Cooper are undergoing MRIs today, Wilson tweets. Manager Don Mattingly said simply that it “didn’t look good” for either player. Mish adds that he expects Chisholm to be placed on the injured list. The outlook on Cooper is not yet clear.
July 18: Two of the Marlins’ most prominent players made early exits from today’s 7-4 loss to the Phillies. Jazz Chisholm Jr. suffered a left shoulder contusion in the first inning and had to leave the game, while Garrett Cooper departed in the eighth inning due to an elbow injury sustained after Travis Jankowski ran into Cooper’s arm during a play at first base.
Marlins skipper Don Mattingly told reporters (including Craig Mish and David Wilson of the Miami Herald) that both players will receive further testing, including an MRI for Cooper tomorrow. A first set of x-rays on Chisholm’s shoulder didn’t reveal anything, which is a very good sign considering how much pain Chisholm was in after awkwardly landing on the field in his attempt to catch a Bryce Harper bloop single in right field.
Chisholm already spent a few weeks on the injured list this season due to a hamstring injury, and missed a few games but avoided another IL visit while battling through a bad ankle. After a very hot start to the season, Chisholm has hit only .238/.293/.399 in 209 plate appearances since returning from the injured list on May 16, though he had started to swing the bat a little better over the last couple of weeks.
Overall, Chisholm hasn’t done anything to detract from his status as a building block piece for Miami, but naturally the team would love to see the 23-year-old shake the injury bug and continue to gain more experience (today was only Chisholm’s 91st career MLB game) in what is increasingly looking like a developmental year for the last-place Marlins. Today’s loss dropped the Fish to a 40-53 record, and with 9.5 games between the Marlins and first place in the NL East, Miami looks like a team that will be in seller mode heading into the July 30 trade deadline.
To that end, Cooper stood out as a potential trade chip, provided he is healthy. Cooper has quietly been a very productive player for the last three seasons, including a .282/.378/.463 slash line and nine homers in 251 PA in 2021. Any number of contending teams could be interested in that type of offense from first base or right field, and Cooper is also both controllable (through 2023) and affordable, as he is owed roughly $748K for the remainder of this season. Even a 10-day stint on the IL, however, could scuttle Cooper’s chances of being moved at the deadline, so the Marlins might have to wait until the offseason to possibly revisit the idea of trading the 30-year-old.
Miguel Rojas Has Fractured Finger; Marlins Pause Sixto Sanchez’s Throwing Program Again
The Marlins provided a series of injury updates Tuesday (Twitter link via the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson), most notably revealing a pair of unfortunate announcements for fans. Imaging showed a fractured finger in shortstop Miguel Rojas‘ hand, while touted young right-hander Sixto Sanchez has once again had his throwing program shut down — this time after feeling discomfort between bullpen sessions.
Rojas landed on the 10-day injured list over the weekend, and while the hope was that he could return in relatively short order from what was then termed a dislocated left index finger, it now seems likely that he’ll miss more time than that after the fracture was revealed. It’s a tough blow for the Marlins, given Rojas’ outstanding glovework and the step forward he’s taken at the plate since Opening Day 2020. Rojas is hitting .275/.354/.433 through 192 plate appearances in 2021 and .287/.370/.459 dating back to last season.
With Rojas sidelined for a to-be-determined period, the Marlins can turn to the youthful combination of Jazz Chisholm and Isan Diaz in the middle infield. Jose Devers presents another young option. The 23-yea-old Chisholm, thus far, has looked like the foundational piece the Fish hoped they were acquiring when trading starter Zac Gallen to the D-backs in a rare prospect-for-prospect swap of significance. Neither Diaz nor Devers has provided much at the plate yet, however.
Chisholm has missed some time recently but avoided the IL stint to this point, and he suggested this morning on Instagram that he’d be returning to the lineup. Manager Don Mattingly effectively confirmed as much, telling McPherson and others that Chisholm is “expected” to play tonight, so long as he gets through his pregame running drills without issue.
The injury to Rojas is of particular note given his contractual status. He’d trigger a $5.5MM vesting option for the 2021 season in the event that he reaches 500 plate appearances this season and finishes the year healthy. With just 308 plate appearances to go, there’s still time for him to hit that mark even if he misses a few weeks, but a lengthier absence will obviously call that clause’s viability into question.
Turning to Sanchez, the latest setback is yet another disheartening development in the promising young righty’s season. The Marlins hoped to have Sanchez early in the year, but he was optioned to their alternate site after missing more than half of Spring Training in Covid protocols.
While building up toward what was expected to be a mid-April debut, Sanchez experienced shoulder discomfort that led the club to shut him down indefinitely. Recent reports that he’d progressed to mound work gave optimism for an early-summer debut, but a second setback has muddied his outlook. Recurring shoulder troubles of any sort are worrisome for a pitcher, particularly for one as talented as Sanchez. The consensus top prospect made his MLB debut last summer and gave Miami 39 innings of 3.46 ERA ball over the life of seven starts at just 22 years of age.
Injury Notes: Chisholm, Duvall, Soler, Garcia
Two Marlins regulars are nursing injuries, as Jazz Chisholm has missed four games due to an ankle sprain and Adam Duvall has missed games due to soreness in his left side. Manager Don Mattingly indicated to reporters that both players were being held out largely due to precautionary reasons, noting that “if we weren’t being conservative, I think [Chisholm] probably could have played today.” Chisholm spent just shy of three weeks on the injured list earlier this season after suffering a hamstring strain, and the Marlins are naturally being careful to ensure that their young star isn’t lost for another extended amount of time.
Chisholm is hitting .286/.350/.486 with five home runs and nine stolen bases over 117 PA this season. Duvall hasn’t been performing as well (.213/.257/.425 in 171 plate appearances) at the plate, but the veteran has provided some extra utility in the field by playing respectable defense over 53 innings as a fill-in center fielder. Mattingly described Duvall as already feeling “better” by Saturday, so it’s possible Duvall could be back in the lineup for Sunday’s game with the Red Sox.
More injury updates from around baseball…
- Jorge Soler left today’s 6-5 Royals loss to the Twins after the first inning due to right groin discomfort. An injury would further damper what has already been a rough season for Soler, who is hitting just .178/.257/.314 with four home runs over his first 195 plate appearances. Soler’s last full season in 2019 saw him lead the American League with 48 homers while batting .265/.354/.569 in 679 PA.
- Nationals infielder Luis Garcia will receive an MRI after suffering an on-field hamstring cramp prior to the third inning of the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader with the Brewers. While warming up before the inning, a cramp that had bothered Garcia earlier in the game suddenly forced him to the ground, and he had to be helped off the field. Garcia has spent much of the season at Triple-A, at Washington’s alternate training site, or on the big league taxi squad, and was just called back up to the active roster earlier this week.
NL Injury Notes: Ozuna, Mets, Jazz, Hoerner
Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna dislocated two fingers on his left hand during the team’s win over the Red Sox on Tuesday, according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. The Braves aren’t sure whether they’ll have to place Ozuna on the injured list. Ozuna was one of the game’s premier hitters a season ago, leading the Braves to re-sign him to a four-year, $65MM guarantee in free agency, but he has been slow out of the gates in 2021. The 30-year-old has hit a disappointing .213/.288/.356 with seven home runs in 208 plate appearances.
- The last thing the Mets need is more negative news on the injury front, but here it is: Third baseman J.D. Davis has returned to New York from his Triple-A rehab assignment “to receive treatment on his left hand from our health and performance team, as well as determine next steps,” according to the club (Twitter links via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Davis, who last played May 1, has inflammation and won’t resume his rehab for at least another few days. He’s one of several notable Mets hitters on the IL, with first baseman Pete Alonso, second baseman Jeff McNeil, and outfielders Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Pillar unavailable as well. They’re also missing outfielder Johneshwy Fargas, who suffered a left AC joint sprain Monday. He’s “week to week” and will go on the IL on Wednesday, per manager Luis Rojas.
- Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm suffered a mild ankle sprain in their loss to the Phillies on Tuesday, manager Don Mattingly told Christina De Nicola of MLB.com and other reporters. “We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow,” Mattingly said of Chisholm, who spent time on the IL earlier this season with a strained left hamstring. When healthy, Chisholm has helped lead the Marlins’ offense this year with a .275/.336/.480 line, five home runs and eight stolen bases across 113 trips to the plate.
- Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner strained his left hamstring during their victory over the Pirates on Tuesday, Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times was among those to report. Whether that will lead to a trip to the IL remains to be seen, but Hoerner has already been there this season. He sat out earlier this month with a left forearm strain, but the 24-year-old has otherwise enjoyed a productive campaign. Although Hoerner hasn’t homered in any of his 84 PA, he has batted .338/.405/.432.