The Two Main Issues Of The MLB All-Star Game
Photo courtesy of MLB.com | 2023 MLB All-Star Rosters
The final games of the first half of the 2023 MLB season take place on July 9, meaning that the All-Star Break is now upon us. An exciting, fun-filled weekend in Seattle with all of the brightest stars in the league is an event that fans often look forward to every season.
While the All-Star Break and other complementary events like the Home-Run Derby and Futures Game are all entertaining, the actual rosters for the All-Star game itself often find themselves under intense scrutiny by MLB fans. There are often prevailing issues with the selection of representatives for the All-Star game, and it could be a point of emphasis for the league to change in future seasons.
Issue #1: Representation from all teams.
The MLB prides itself on having a representative from each team to give fans of every team a player to cheer for in the game. While this concept allows the All-Star game to become more enticing for fans whose teams are out of playoff contention, it hurts the integrity of the All-Star rosters themselves.
Being forced to select a player from an underperforming team likely fills up a spot for another player more deserving of an All-Star nod. With the limited amounts of roster space for each All-Star team, these nods for undeserving players who make the roster for representation often snub players who should make appearances in the Midsummer Classic. There is no better example than the All-Star nod of Michael Lorenzen, a starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu | USA Today Sports
Due to injuries to Riley Greene and Eduardo Rodriguez at the time of the roster selections, Michael Lorenzen was chosen to represent the Detroit Tigers at the 2023 All-Star game, taking up a spot in the rotation for the American League roster. Lorenzen's numbers are not in the realm of what is considered to be "All-Star worthy," as the righty sports a 3-6 record, a 4.03 ERA, 1.138 WHIP in 87 innings of work.
Advanced analytics don't help Lorenzen's case either, as BaseballSavant ranks Lorenzen in the 23rd percentile for strikeout rate and the 24th percentile for average exit velocity and expected batting average from hitters. Lorenzen's poor in-game performances and numbers certainly don't warrant an All-Star bid for this season. However, since Detroit needed a representative in accordance with the representation rule, the nine-year vet gets to pitch in his first career Midsummer Classic.
Photo courtesy of BaseballSavant.com
Lorenzen himself didn't even believe at first that he made the All-Star game. There is often the argument that set-up man Jason Foley deserved to represent the Tigers, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Lorenzen's bid takes up a starting pitcher spot on the American League roster, leading to elite pitchers getting snubbed.
The Minnesota Twins have had two players get snubbed from the roster, pitchers Joe Ryan and Jhoan Duran.
Joe Ryan has been the workhorse for the Minnesota Twins, posting an 8-5 record, 3.42 ERA, one complete game shut-out, a 0.984 WHIP, and a 10.0 K/9 rate. Besides fellow All-Star Sonny Gray, Ryan has been the second-best pitcher in a Minnesota rotation atop the American League Central. Ryan's advanced analytics also place him in the 78th percentile for strikeout rate, the 81st percentile for expected batting average, and the 96th percentile for walk rate. Despite these excellent stats, Ryan did not make the American League roster.
Jhoan Duran has proven himself to be a lockdown closer for Minnesota after building off a strong 2022 campaign. The flamethrower has a 2-4 record, 2.10 ERA, 12 saves, and a 1.019 WHIP. Duran has been near unhittable, striking out batters at a high 11.8 K/9 rate and generating a 3.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio, great numbers for an effective closer. Despite Duran's improvements from the previous year and having better stats than fellow All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, Duran was not given the nod.
Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn | USA Today Sports
These two pitchers getting snubbed is likely due to the limited roster spots for pitchers and the American League having to select a player from each team.
Lorenzen's nod, while a generous gift to the Detroit faithful, has effectively taken away potential roster spots for either Joe Ryan or Jhoan Duran in the All-Star game.
It's a prime example of why the MLB should consider making the All-Star rosters based on merit and production rather than representation.
Issue #2: Big names for the big game.
The MLB is a business at the end of the day. The sole purpose is to entertain fans, sell tickets and generate enough revenue to expand the league and make more money. The All-Star game is a marketing centerpiece for the MLB, as they can gather the brightest stars under one roof and sell tickets to fans who want to see all the stars play.
To tailor to this marketability standpoint, the MLB will give bids to players with bigger names and reputations, than players who are under the radar with similar or better statistics.
Julio Rodríguez’s bid to the All-Star game as a reserve shows this issue with the selection process. Rodríguez, the star of the Seattle Mariners, has had a down year compared to his breakout rookie campaign in 2022.
Photo courtesy of Alika Jenner | Getty Images
The sophomore slump has hit Rodríguez hard, as the outfielder has seen a drop off in his slash line, posting a mediocre .252/.312/.417 with a .729 OPS and 13 home runs to cap off the first half of his 2023 campaign. These numbers are down from Rodríguez’s first-half stats last year, where he posted a .277/.327/.480 slash line with 16 home runs. Rodríguez has only posted a 2.4 WAR, good enough for third on the team and statistically not been the best player on the roster this season.
Despite this decline, Rodríguez was still given the nod over more deserving players, such as Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo.
Verdugo has had a great first half of the 2023 season, posting a slash line of .287/.356/.448 with 6 home runs, and carries a WAR of 2.9, the best on the Red Sox this season. Verdugo has been an above average defender when measuring outs-above-average on BaseballSavant, and has five more outfield assist than Rodríguez on the year.
While Rodríguez does provide more of an offensive spark, Verdugo has had the better all-around season, providing good hitting with above average defense to generate a higher WAR than the former Rookie of the Year winner. Statistically, Verdugo deserves a nod over Rodríguez this season.
Photo courtesy of Mary DeCicco | MLB Photos | Getty Images
However, Julio Rodríguez is the more marketable player in the eyes of the MLB. The Seattle star has the 10th highest jersey sales on the year so far according to mlbshop.com, despite the sophomore slump he has been experiencing.
In addition, the All-Star game takes place at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners. The Seattle faithful would be the main audience at the All-Star game, due to the city being the host of the Midsummer Classic.
Having Rodríguez as an All-Star provides a more enticing event to Seattle fans, as Rodríguez’s popularity across the MLB and in the host city in particular far outweighs the popularity of Alex Verdugo, making Rodríguez a more enticing selection to the game. J-Rod provides more explosive offense, an appearance in the home-run derby, and a bigger draw overall than Alex Verdugo.
While fans and analysts could say statistics prove that Verdugo deserved the nod, Julio Rodríguez’s marketability and draw across the MLB in Seattle provide a more enticing game for fans, and therefore earned him the All-Star bid through fan voting.
Verdugo himself would admit that he believed this to be the case for his snub from the roster. He isn’t the only victim to the marketability fan popularity contest, as many players who deserve bids often are replaced by bigger names from a popularity standpoint.
It’s a fallacy the MLB will have to solve at some point, and eventually create a balance between merit and popularity when determining rosters for the All-Star game in future years to come.
It's not just the MLB. Every professional sports league that hosts an All-Star game at the midpoint of the regular season seems to value names, marketability, and representation that actual merit regarding the selections for these rosters.
However, the complementary events will continue to be entertaining, and the Midsummer Classic will always be a great tradition to close out the first-half of the major league season.
