MLB All-Star team: One from each American League team
By Rick Soisson
Completing the ‘Call to the Pen’ one-player-per-team discussion, the MLB All-Star team for the American League is slightly hamstrung by the rules.
Picking an MLB All-Star team for the American League this year with only one player from each team seems as though it would be more challenging than picking a National League squad. This difficulty suggests itself primarily because of the wealth of raw talent on the league’s best teams.
Only one Bomber can be picked? One Sawk? One Spaceman? This might not be fun. The danger of less than stellar players seems high for the end of the selection process for the AL if New York, Boston, and Houston are each represented by only a player. Things might be even more trap-like by limiting the team to one player from Cleveland and Los Angeles as well.
When the Call to the Pen one-player-per-team NL squad was selected, the best two outfielders and best two pitchers were selected first. This will be slightly modified for the AL. The best two pitchers and most dangerous two hitters this season will be taken first.
So, Boston will be represented by Mookie Betts and Baltimore by Manny Machado. Betts, of course, is hitting .359 (before play June 6), first in MLB; Machado, one of the year’s prized free agents, is hitting .326 with 48 RBI, 10 more than any other AL hitter between him and Betts in batting average.
Thus, this MLB All-Star team will have to do without Chris Sale, but it’s all good as a fading saying goes since we can select Justin Verlander to represent Houston and Corey Kluber from Cleveland. Between them, they are already 16-4, and have the top two AL ERAs and WHIPs – both WHIPs are below 0.86.
And since those two picks are so strong, the pitching staff can be fleshed out a bit more with left-hander Blake Snell of Tampa Bay, (7-3, 2.36 ERA, 0.94 WHIP).
A third of the team has been selected, but only two position players have been taken. New York, Toronto, Detroit, Minnesota, Kansas City, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Texas remain to supply the catcher, first, second and third basemen, two more outfielders, and a designated hitter (even though this year’s game is in Washington), as well as three other players, probably two substitutes and another pitcher.
As noted when the NL team was chosen, this 15-player format envisions very limited substitutions except at pitcher.
Who will represent New York? This is a big remaining question. Luis Severino is tempting. But this team has the starting pitching it needs. Aaron Judge will be the second outfielder selected.
Judge represents a team expected to make the playoffs, so to be smart at this point, why not make sure a sad-sack squad is represented by an excellent player and pick Jose Abreu for first base.
It’s probably best not to leave the weakest teams on the board with so many remaining positions. Abreu is hitting .301, and now the only last place team to cover is Texas.
Completing the infield will be Jed Lowrie at second (Oakland) and Andre Beltre at third (Texas). Lowrie has one more RBI than Judge; Beltre has recovered from a hamstring injury and is hitting .302.
Adding Mike Trout completes the outfield. Holy cow! Did that make Trout seem like an afterthought or what? Bad writer! *Slapped hand* Another must addition is Miguel Cabrera as the DH since Boston’s J.D. Martinez can’t be added now. Cabrera also missed significant time with a hamstring issue, but he’s Cabrera, and now Detroit is represented.
KC’s Salvador Perez will catch. The four-time Gold Glover has the second most RBI at the position, according to to the MLB All-Star ballot.
This gives us three players to go from the Blue Jays, Twins, and Mariners. They’ll be Seattle’s Edwin Diaz (21 saves, 0.85 WHIP) to close, Toronto’s Kevin Pillar, and Minnesota’s Joe Mauer despite less than eye-popping stats thus far from the Pillar and Mauer.
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Pillar is an excellent, sometimes spectacular defensive outfielder, and Mauer seems ready to return from concussion symptoms, and the rest of the available Twins get nothing better than a “Meh!”
Frankly, this is probably not the strongest possible MLB All-Star team for the AL, but rules are rules. This team, however, could compete with a similarly made NL squad for sure.