Why Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski is unlikely to play in the All-Star Game
Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski probably won’t pitch in the All-Star Game despite having a great season, and here’s why
PHOENIX — It was a year ago when Bryce Harper screamed at MLB commissioner Rob Manfred during a heated argument, telling him to leave the Philadelphia Phillies’ clubhouse if he wanted to talk about baseball’s salary cap.
“If you want to talk about it, you can get the (expletive) out of the clubhouse,” Harper told Manfred.
Manager Manfred extended an olive branch to Harper on Saturday, July 4th, nominating him as a “legend” candidate for the 1996 Phillies team, and made it clear that he held no ill will toward him.th The All-Star Game will be held on July 14th at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Harper is having his best first half since 2021 with a .274 batting average, 20 home runs and 57 RBIs, but he could have been the All-Star’s biggest snub if Manfred hadn’t stepped in and selected him. Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, one of the Dodgers’ four starters, won the fan vote, and Atlanta’s Matt Olson won the player vote.
Harper, a nine-time All-Star, joins four Phillies teammates. DH Kyle Schwarber actually received more player votes than Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani. Outfielder Brandon Marsh. closer Joao Duran and starting pitcher Christopher Sanchez. Sanchez is expected to be a starter in the National League, Ohtani is scheduled to be a full DH, and Milwaukee Brewers All-Star Jacob Misiorowski is not eligible to pitch in the All-Star Game as he is scheduled to start on the final day before the suspension.
The two-time World Series champion Dodgers will have five players appear in the All-Star Game, including four starters for the first time since 1980. Ohtani, who won the fan vote to be the DH, will start alongside Freeman, third baseman Max Muncy and first-time All-Star center fielder Andy Pages. World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto was also selected. Muncy becomes the first Dodgers third baseman to win the fan vote since Ron Cea in 1977.
The New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays each lead the American League with four All-Stars. Perhaps the most controversial of these selections is Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He won the fan vote despite having his worst season, batting .268 with just four home runs, 35 RBIs, and a career-low .699 OPS. He has the fewest home runs and RBIs of any starting position player, ranking only 10th.th Among all American League-eligible first basemen.
But Guerrero was also the first player to announce he would not play, saying he needed to recover from a lower back that had been bothering him last month.
“It’s very difficult for me,” Guerrero told reporters in Toronto. “But you really have to take care of yourself and in the second half you have to put the team first.”
Indeed, no one will complain of being disrespected more than the Boston Red Sox. First baseman Willson Contreras was the best player in the first half, hitting .283 with 18 home runs and 53 RBIs, but he was ignored by fans and players and didn’t make the team. Even their best pitcher, starting pitcher Sonny Gray, did not perform well, despite having a record of 9 wins and 1 loss and an ERA of 2.36.
“I can’t believe my brother missed out. Look at his numbers. Look at his performance,” his brother William Contreras, an All-Star catcher for the Brewers, told USA TODAY Sports. He should be there. ”
It may not be long before the St. Louis Cardinals have a legitimate grievance, too, with second baseman JJ Weatherholt, closer Riley O’Brien and starter Michael McGreevey left off the team. They wouldn’t have had a single player selected if MLB hadn’t stepped in and drafted right fielder Jordan Walker.
Other notable detractors include Phillies starting pitcher Zach Wheeler, Rays’ Nick Martinez, Milwaukee Brewers’ Kyle Harrison, Chicago White Sox’s Davis Martin, and Pirates’ Braxton Ashcraft. The main position players with legitimate complaints are Brewers second baseman Bryce Turan and first baseman Jake Bowers. Pirates outfielder Brian Reynolds and second baseman Brandon Lowe, Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield, Nationals first baseman Luis Garcia, White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery, and Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto.
There are 26 first-time All-Stars, including four rookies: Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle, Cleveland’s Travis Bazana and Parker Messick, and Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart. McGonigle, the youngest All-Star at age 21 and the first Tigers rookie to make the All-Star team since Matt Noakes in 1987, was thrilled to hear the news that the game would be played in his hometown.
“I’ve always dreamed of going to the All-Star Game in Philadelphia. Just going to watch it,” he said. “It’s always been a dream,” McGonigle told reporters this week. That would be surreal. ”
And the Guardians are just the fifth team in MLB history to send multiple rookies to the All-Star Game, the last being the Yankees in 2014 with pitchers Dellin Betances and Masahiro Tanaka. Eleven players under the age of 24 have been selected as All-Stars, including Bazana, the fourth Australian player to be selected as an All-Star.
Three-time MVP Aaron Judge will miss the game because of a broken rib, but this marks the ninth consecutive season the Yankees have had at least one player vote out a game, the longest streak in MLB.
The Athletics, whose catcher Shea Langeliers won the fan vote, have an All-Star starter for the second straight year for the first time since 1992. A year ago, Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson won the fan vote, but this time Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. won the player and fan vote.
American League players who won fan and player voting: Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement and Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero. Witt, Houston Astros DH Yordan Alvarez. Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout.
Trout scored 12 points.th The All-Star has been on injured reserve with a hamstring strain, but is scheduled to return this week to play in the All-Star Game, 45 minutes from his hometown of Millville, New Jersey. This will be his first appearance in the All-Star Game since 2019.
Only two National League players won the fan-player vote: Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams. And Muncie.
Fans voted for Marsh, Juan Soto, and Pages to be the National League’s starting outfielders, while players chose Pete Crowe Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs, Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and James Wood of the Washington Nationals.
Fans voted for Guerrero primarily based on name recognition and his past performance, but the same could be said for Paul Skeens, who went 6-8 with a 3.62 ERA and won the National League Cy Young Award. Skeens, who started in last year’s All-Star Game, hasn’t won since May 12 with an 0-6 record and a 5.63 ERA. However, while Skeens was selected, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal (4-4, 3.15 ERA) of the Detroit Tigers was sidelined after undergoing elbow surgery and missing five weeks.
MLB selected six players each for the National League and American League, four of which were chosen to represent clubs without All-Stars.
➤ Six American League picks: Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Brian Baker. Jacob Lutz of the Texas Rangers. Ranger Suarez of the Boston Red Sox and Michael Wacha of the Kansas City Royals. So are Yankees first baseman Ben Rice and Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman.
➤ 6 National League selections: Miami Marlins pitcher Max Meyer. Eduardo Rodriguez of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Logan Webb and Yamamoto of the San Francisco Giants. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker and Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman.
Certainly, there will be plenty of position players and pitchers who won’t be eligible to pitch in a game by the time they arrive in Philadelphia next weekend. Certainly, Phillies fans will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 37-year-old Wheeler, who returned from thoracic outlet decompression surgery last September. Nick Martinez turns 36 next month, and earning his first All-Star berth with a 7-2 record and 2.61 ERA would be a feel-good story.
And who wouldn’t want to see Contreras yell at a National League pitcher who dares to pitch inside at the All-Star Game?
Meanwhile, the fireworks start.
