Baseball will have all its usual pomp and circumstance next week when the game’s elite gather in Denver for the All-Star Game. The Futures Game will be Sunday, the home run hitting contest on Monday and the All-Star Game, itself, will unfold on Tuesday. All will be conducted in the hitter-friendly thin mountain air.
But something new will be added to the events – something much more serious than the other events. The annual draft will be staged Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
There’s been a draft every year since 1965, but the previous ones were always conducted in mid-June, as the high schools and colleges were winding down their seasons. This will be the first time the event coincides with the All-Star break.
Give Commissioner Rob Manfred credit for this brainstorm. In recent years I haven’t exactly bruised my palms clapping for Manfred’s actions, but he gets an A-plus in my book for this decision.
Football and basketball have turned their drafts into highly rated television spectacles. Fans of those sports spend hours glued to the television as teams select players who will have an immediate impact on the game. The best ones are already well known.
Baseball can’t operate a similar spectacle. Many of the players chosen will have a major impact on the game but, in most cases it will be two to five years before they do. None are household names.
Still, baseball’s draft can be a compelling TV program and now we’re going to find out how compelling. For the first time baseball won’t be competing with its own product when it airs the draft. Viewers won’t have to decide if they want to watch the draft or watch a live game on another channel.
There’s also something richly symbolic about staging this event in the All-Star venue. Baseball can’t duplicate the football or basketball drafts but those sports can’t duplicate baseball’s All-Star Game. Now, with the best players gathered in one location, future All-Stars will be beginning their careers.
If you watch the draft you might want to bear this in mind: Seventeen players were elected by the fans as All-Star starters and 50 others were named as reserves. All are properly classified as All-Stars and 45 of them got their start in the draft. Nearly half of those players, 21 to be exact, were chosen in the first round. Surprisingly, only two – Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and Astros shortstop Carlos Correa – were chosen with the first selection.
Almost all of the others were tabbed within the first five rounds but there were some notable exceptions. Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez was picked in the 20th round. Jared Walsh, an outfielder and first baseman with the Angels, was a 39th-round selection. And – get this – Cardinals pitcher Alex Reyes was never drafted by anyone. He was rejected by everyone and signed as a free agent after the draft was over. Yet, on Tuesday he’ll probably pitch in the All-Star Game.
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It is true that no team has ever drafted a player with the hope that he can make an immediate impact at the big league level, but that might change this year. The Red Sox, who lead the American League East, own the fourth pick and it is likely that at least one of Vanderbilt University’s star pitchers – Kumar Rocker or Jack Leiter – will be available when it’s their turn. Both of these guys were terrors in the Southeastern Conference and they appear to be major league-ready. It’s possible that one of them will play a prominent role in this year’s pennant race and postseason.
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Mother Nature threw the Mets a curve on Tuesday but she might have boosted the TV rating for the All-Star Game.
The Mets had planned to pitch Jacob deGrom against the Brewers on Tuesday, which would have left him on a track to pitch again on Sunday. That, of course, would have prevented him from appearing in Tuesday’s game.
DeGrom’s start was pushed back to Wednesday which probably means he will miss the weekend series. This makes him the likely choice to start the game for the National League. If he does there’s a good chance he will pitch to Shohei Ohtani and/or Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
That’s show biz.
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Thirty-four of the 67 players named to the All-Star team, including nine of the 17 who were elected to start, have no previous All-Star experience. The youngest All-Star is 21-year-old shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. of the Padres. Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz, 41, is the oldest. Tatis was only six years old when Cruz began his career.
Nine countries will be represented including the Dominican Republic with seven players and Venezuela with five. Japan will contribute three, Cuba two and Aruba, Australia, Canada and Curacao one each.
The American players represent 19 states plus Puerto Rico. California and Florida lead the way with eight stars each and Georgia is next with six. Texas has three while New Jersey, Maryland, Colorado, Indiana and Nevada have produced two each.
North Carolina State (Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner), California (Marcus Semien and Brandon Crawford) and Mississippi State (Adam Frazier and Brandon Woodruff) can boast two all-stars among their alumni. Seventeen other All-Stars played college baseball, most of them at major universities.
Thirty-three of the players, including 12 starters, have played with only one team throughout their careers. Nineteen others joined their current clubs as free agents.
Twenty-eight of the 30 major league clubs drafted or signed at least one of the players chosen for this year’s contest. The two exceptions are the Phillies and the Diamondbacks, whose scouting departments apparently get an F when it comes to locating future all-stars. The highest grade goes to the Red Sox who signed five of this year’s crop. The White Sox, Brewers, Giants and Braves can each take credit for four.
While you’re pondering those facts, you might want to ponder another. Dave Dombrowski, who was president of baseball operations for the Red Sox from 2015 to 2019, is probably the person most responsible for Boston’s success. He now works for the Phillies.
Even though 12 of the players are at the pre-arbitration stage of their careers, the 67 players combined are being paid $730 million combined. That’s for this year alone.
Four stars – Tatis, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. of the Blue Jays, Michael Brantley of the Astros and Bo Bichette of the Blue Jays – are the sons of major league players. Guerrero also had an uncle and cousin who played in the majors. Likewise, Rafael Devers of the Red Sox and Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals are cousins to former players. Rangers rookie Adolis Garcia had a brother in the big leagues.
Cole and Crawford have no biological relatives in the game but they have family in the sport – each other. Cole happens to be married to Crawford’s sister and that makes them brothers-in-law.
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New Jersey pitchers are likely to play a prominent role during the draft. Leiter now represents Vanderbilt, but he is a product of Delbarton High School. Anthony Solometo, a left-handed pitcher from Bishop Eustace is almost certain to be picked during the first round. Chase Petty, a right-handed pitcher from Mainland, has a fastball that has been clocked at 101 miles per hour. If he isn’t picked in the first two rounds it will only be because clubs fear he will opt for college baseball and not sign out of high school.
A FEW STATISTICS (Wednesday’s games not included): The Phillies are 30-33 in games in which Bryce Harper has participated. Without him they are 11-9…The Astros are scoring 5.62 runs per game. No one else has a figure higher than 5.16…The Astros have 40 sacrifice flies which is exactly double the major league average…Royals pitcher Brady Singer has an absurd .625 fielding percentage, having misplayed six of 16 fielding chances. No wonder he’s allowed seven unearned runs…Jose Ramirez of the Indians has swung at four 3-0 pitches this season and homered on two of them…The Mets are 35-23 against right-handed starters and 9-14 against lefties…The Blue Jays are 13-2 against NL opponents…Joey Gallo of the Rangers leads the AL in walks with 66. He also leads in strike outs with 107…The Giants have hit 126 home runs while limiting their opponents to 87…Pitchers Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals and Zach Davies of the Cubs lead the majors in sacrifice bunts with seven each/ The most for a position player is six by the Angels’ David Fletcher…The Mariners are still in contention for a wild card despite the fact that their team batting average is .218…Royals pitchers have been charged with 53 wild pitches. Their catchers have allowed only one passed ball.
Former Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 53 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com
