2013 MLB All-Star Roster: Worst Selections on This Year's Squads

Saturday evening marked the release of the 2013 MLB All-Star roster for the American and National League squads.

Since the fans get the final say, there are bound to be disagreements, but there were several players who were particularly undeserving of such gaudy status.

In some instances, the league's lowly teams have to send at least one player, and that resulted in a rather strange selection. However, there were others who didn't quite do enough to be deserving of a nod to the Midsummer Classic.

Let's take a look at the rosters, then analyze three of the players who stood out as somewhat surprising selections in pro baseball's showcase of top-notch stars.

Note: Results were obtained from Fox's All-Star Selection Show telecast. Results and rosters will be updated when voting is finalized.

American League Roster

Player	Position	Team	Appearance	Votes
Chris Davis*	First baseman	Baltimore Orioles	1	8,272,243
Miguel Cabrera*	Third baseman	Detroit Tigers	8	8,013,874
Adam Jones*	Outfielder	Baltimore Orioles	3	6,793,577
Mike Trout*	Outfielder	Los Angeles Angels	2	6,771,745
David Ortiz*	Designated hitter	Boston Red Sox	9	6,226,301
Joe Mauer*	Catcher	Minnesota Twins	6	5,443,856
Robinson Cano*	Second baseman	New York Yankees	5	5,369,141
J.J. Hardy*	Shortstop	Baltimore Orioles	2	5,283,144
Jose Bautista*	Outfielder	Toronto Blue Jays	4	3,999,631
Reserves
Prince Fielder	First baseman	Detroit Tigers	5
Dustin Pedroia	Second baseman	Boston Red Sox	4
Ben Zobrist	Utility player	Tampa Bay Rays	2
Jhonny Peralta	Shortstop	Detroit Tigers	2
Nelson Cruz	Outfielder	Texas Rangers	2
Torii Hunter	Outfielder	Detroit Tigers	5
Jason Castro	Catcher	Houston Astros	1
Salvador Perez	Catcher	Kansas City Royals	1
Edwin Encarnacion	Designated hitter	Toronto Blue Jays	1
Jason Kipnis	Second baseman	Cleveland Indians	1
Manny Machado	Third baseman	Baltimore Orioles	1
Alex Gordon	Outfielder	Kansas City Royals	1
Pitchers
Max Scherzer	RHP	Detroit Tigers	1
Felix Hernandez	RHP	Seattle Mariners	4
Clay Buchholz	RHP	Boston Red Sox	2
Yu Darvish	RHP	Texas Rangers	2
Hisashi Iwakuma	RHP	Seattle Mariners	1
Mariano Rivera	RHP	New York Yankees	13
Jesse Crain	RHP	Chicago White Sox	1
Joe Nathan	LHP	Texas Rangers	6
Bartolo Colon	RHP	Oakland Athletics	3
Glen Perkins	LHP	Minnesota Twins	1
Brett Cecil	LHP	Toronto Blue Jays	1
Justin Verlander	RHP	Detroit Tigers	6
Justin Masterson	RHP	Cleveland Indians	1
Chris Sale	LHP	Chicago White Sox	2

*Denotes starter

National League Roster

Player	Position	Team	Appearance	Votes
Yadier Molina*	Catcher	St. Louis Cardinals	5	6,883,258
Carlos Beltran*	Outfielder	St. Louis Cardinals	8	6,786,919
David Wright*	Third baseman	New York Mets	7	6,411,381
Troy Tulowitzki*	Shortstop	Colorado Rockies	3	5,404,860
Joey Votto*	First baseman	Cincinnati Reds	4	5,128,515
Brandon Phillips*	Second baseman	Cincinnati Reds	3	4,799,417
Carlos Gonzalez*	Outfielder	Colorado Rockies	2	4,214,904
Bryce Harper*	Outfielder	Washington Nationals	2	4,097,009
Reserves
Buster Posey	Catcher	San Francisco Giants	2
Allen Craig	First baseman	St. Louis Cardinals	1
Paul Goldschmidt	First baseman	Arizona Diamondbacks	1
Matt Carpenter	Second baseman	St. Louis Cardinals	1
Marco Scutaro	Second baseman	San Francisco Giants	1
Everth Cabrera	Shortstop	San Diego Padres	1
Jean Segura	Shortstop	Milwaukee Brewers	1
Pedro Alvarez	Third baseman	Pittsburgh Pirates	1
Domonic Brown	Outfielder	Philadelphia Phillies	1
Michael Cuddyer	Outfielder	Colorado Rockies	2
Andrew McCutchen	Outfielder	Pittsburgh Pirates	3
Carlos Gomez	Outfielder	Milwaukee Brewers	1
Pitchers
Clayton Kershaw	LHP	Los Angeles Dodgers	4
Patrick Corbin	LHP	Arizona Diamondbacks	1
Matt Harvey	RHP	New York Mets	1
Adam Wainwright	RHP	St. Louis Cardinals	1
Jason Grilli	RHP	Pittsburgh Pirates	1
Jordan Zimmermann	RHP	Washington Nationals	1
Craig Kimbrel	RHP	Atlanta Braves	3
Aroldis Chapman	RHP	Cincinnati Reds	2
Travis Wood	LHP	Chicago Cubs	1
Jose Fernandez	RHP	Miami Marlins	1
Cliff Lee	LHP	Philadelphia Phillies	4
Jeff Locke	LHP	Pittsburgh Pirates	1
Madison Bumgarner	LHP	San Francisco Giants	1

*Denotes starter

Jason Castro, C, Houston Astros

This was simply a case of the Astros not having a much better option, and it forced Castro onto the squad as a third catcher behind Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals.

As ESPN's David Schoenfield points out, Perez was voted in by the players as the backup, which essentially shoved Castro in by default. That prevented stars at other positions from making the team—and more deserving ones at that.

Castro is hitting the best he ever has in his career, but that's still only good enough for a .270 average to date. It also included a recent 2-for-15 slump, via ESPN, so it's likely he's trending downward.

It's nice that Castro's improvement has been recognized, but it's all relative. His selection should spur the debate about each team requiring one All-Star selection apiece.

Marco Scutaro, 2B, San Francisco Giants

The National League side is difficult to pick bones with. A case could be made for Washington Nationals prodigy Bryce Harper, but he's so talented and missed significant time with an injury. It's not as if he isn't worthy.

Scutaro, on the other hand, seems like more of a sentimental pick in a sense, given that this is his first All-Star Game at age 37.

Perhaps he's still riding the wave of his World Series heroics from last year, but whatever the case, Scutaro is a bit of a perplexing pick. NL manager Bruce Bochy may have shown some favoritism by choosing his own player from San Francisco.

Second base is arguably the position that the National League has the least depth at, which is why it was strange that Bochy elected to take three of them.

Again, though, this is a bit of harsh criticism, because it's very difficult to contest any of the players on the NL's deep team.

Justin Masterson, P, Cleveland Indians

The towering 6'6", 250-pounder has won 10 games and dropped seven in 2013 and has an unimpressive ERA of 3.78.

Last year, Masterson's showing in that statistic was far poorer, as it ballooned up near five earned runs yielded per appearance. However, the improvement he's shown isn't enough to warrant an All-Star selection.

It would be one thing if he'd had a Cy Young-caliber campaign on his resume and was having a so-so year—such as, say, Detroit Tigers flamethrower Justin Verlander.

That's not the case with Masterson, though, and he's tied for 17th in the AL in WHIP (1.22). Masterson just does not have enough substance behind his candidacy to deserve the selection.