Account
MLB All-Star Game Rosters 2021: Voting Results for Starters; Predicting Reserves
July 3, 2021
Fernando Tatis Jr., Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. were among the Major League Baseball stars confirmed as starters for the All-Star Game on Thursday.
The Toronto Blue Jays put the most players in the starting lineup of either league. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Marcus Semien and Teoscar Hernandez were voted into the American League squad.
Boston, Atlanta and Cincinnati each had two players win the fan vote at their respective positions to secure their trips to Coors Field on July 13.
The 19 starters will learn who their All-Star Game teammates will be on Sunday during a selection show at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Some of the reserves will be easy picks, like Jose Altuve and Cedric Mullins, but other names could come as a surprise since every team will be represented in some capacity.
MLB All-Star Game Starters
Reserve Predictions
American League
C: Gary Sanchez, New York Yankees
C: Yasmani Grandal, Chicago White Sox
1B: Matt Olson, Oakland
1B: Trey Mancini, Baltimore
2B: Jonathan Schoop, Detroit
2B: Jose Altuve, Houston
3B: Jose Ramirez, Cleveland
3B: Josh Donaldson, Minnesota
SS: Bo Bichette, Toronto
SS: Carlos Correa, Houston
OF: Joey Gallo, Texas
OF: Adolis Garcia, Texas
OF: Cedric Mullins, Baltimore
OF: Mitch Haniger, Seattle
OF: Michael Brantley, Houston
OF: Randal Grichuk, Toronto
DH: Austin Meadows, Tampa Bay
DH: J.D. Martinez, Boston
The toughest reserve decision for the American League will come at first base, where a strong case can be made for four players to make the All-Star team.
Matt Olson is second to Guerrero in OPS, runs scored and home runs among AL first basemen. Since Oakland does not have many clear-cut All-Star candidates, Olson should receive one of the two bench nods.
That would force the AL staff to choose between Baltimore's Trey Mancini and Jared Walsh of the Los Angeles Angels.
Mancini, who is already participating in the Home Run Derby, has 15 home runs and 53 RBI for the Orioles. He and Cedric Mullins are worthy of All-Star nods despite Baltimore having 27 wins.
Jonathan Schoop needs to make the All-Star team in some capacity since he is the only Detroit hitter of note near the top of many stat categories.
Schoop played over 20 games at second base, which is where he should be listed for the All-Star Game to get Olson and Mancini on the squad at first base.
Gary Sanchez and Yasmani Grandal should back up Salvador Perez. Both players have an OPS over .800 and 14 home runs.
Tampa Bay's Mike Zunino is worthy of a spot, but he may lose out to the red-hot Sanchez and a voting finalist in Grandal.
The Rays will be represented by either Zunino or Austin Meadows. Meadows seems like the more logical choice at designated hitter because of the depth at catcher.
The case for rostering both Zunino and Meadows is the Rays may not send a pitcher with Tyler Glasnow on the injured list. It would seem unfair for the second-place team in the AL East to have one representative, but that is one of the tough decisions that has to be made.
There will be six outfielders officially named as reserves, and then a seventh will be called upon as an injury replacement to Mike Trout.
The Texas duo of Joey Gallo and Adolis Garcia lead AL outfielders in home runs. They should be joined by starting pitcher Kyle Gibson on the AL roster.
Mitch Haniger could get Seattle's nod over Kyle Seager. He is third in home runs among AL outfielders, and he is fifth in hits in that group.
Mullins, Michael Brantley and Randal Grichuk are the top three AL outfielders in hits, and they would all be viewed as valuable back-ups for when they enter around the fifth or sixth inning.
National League
C: Willson Contreras, Chicago Cubs
C: Yadier Molina, St. Louis
1B: Max Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers
1B: Pete Alonso, New York Mets
2B: Ozzie Albies, Atlanta
2B: Jake Cronenworth, San Diego
3B: Eduardo Escobar, Arizona
3B: Ryan McMahon, Colorado
SS: Brandon Crawford, San Francisco
SS: Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs
OF: Kyle Schwarber, Washington
OF: Adam Duvall, Miami
OF: Bryce Harper, Philadelphia
OF: Juan Soto, Washington
OF: Bryan Reynolds, Pittsburgh
OF: Avisail Garcia, Milwaukee
Some of the NL reserves are easy to nail down.
Ozzie Albies and Jake Cronenworth are both having fantastic seasons at second base and should fill in behind Adam Frazier.
Frazier's Pittsburgh teammate Bryan Reynolds has the highest OPS of any non-starter in the NL outfield.
Just like Baltimore, Pittsburgh is struggling as a whole, but it has two individuals having fantastic seasons who are deserving of recognition.
The NL's reserve outfield should be loaded with power. Kyle Schwarber can't stop hitting home runs in Washington, Adam Duvall leads NL outfielders in RBI, and Bryce Harper and Juan Soto are capable of hitting moon shots in any at-bat.
Avisail Garcia should get Milwaukee's nod as the final outfielder. He has 15 home runs and 46 RBI. Both totals are among the top 10 at his position.
Perennial All-Stars Yadier Molina, Willson Contreras and Javier Baez should get in after falling short in the fan vote, and Brandon Crawford should be rewarded for his strong first half in San Francisco.
The decision at first base is fairly easy as well with Max Muncy and Pete Alonso being the top candidates to back up Freddie Freeman.
Muncy has a .983 OPS and has walked one fewer time than he has struck out. He also leads NL first basemen with 18 home runs.
Alonso could be the lone position player to represent the New York Mets. He has an .808 OPS, 13 home runs and 40 RBI.
The more surprising calls will come at third base, where Eduardo Escobar and Ryan McMahon could be the lone representative from their respective teams.
Escobar leads NL third basemen with 18 home runs and 54 RBI and is a top trade deadline target in Arizona.
McMahon should represent the host Colorado Rockies after mashing 16 home runs in 80 games. Those two selections could leave out Manny Machado and Kris Bryant.
Escobar and McMahon are the best choices at third because Arizona and Colorado do not have dominant pitching staffs and putting one of their hurlers on the squad may seem forced.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90
Statistics obtained from MLB.com