MLB All Star Rosters Announced

It's the one night of the summer where the best players in Major League Baseball gather for a fun exhibition. The 89th All Star Game will be taking place at Nationals Park in Washington DC on July 17th. The players have been picked (except for the final roster spots which are up for fan vote). Every team has to have representation, so all thirty teams have at least one player going to the game. While all of the players selected to the game are deserving of being at the mid-summer classic, there's a few players who got left out in the cold. We'll get to that later. First things first, here's a look at the rosters for this year's game.

American League:
Starters:
Catcher Wilson Ramos, Tampa Bay Rays (2nd appearance)
1st Base José Abreu, Chicago White Sox (2nd appearance)
2nd Base José Altuve, Houston Astros (6th appearance)
3rd Base José Ramírez, Cleveland Indians (2nd appearance)
Shortstop Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles (4th appearance)
Outfield Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox (3rd appearance)
Outfield Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (7th appearance)
Outfield Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (2nd appearance)
Designated Hitter J. D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox (2nd appearance)

Reserves:
Catcher Salvador Pérez, Kansas City Royals (6th appearance)
1st Base Mitch Moreland, Boston Red Sox (1st appearance)
2nd Base Gleyber Torres, New York Yankees (1st appearance)
Shortstop Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians (3rd appearance)
3rd Base Alex Bregman, Houston Astros (1st appearance)
Outfield Michael Brantley, Cleveland Indians (3rd appearance)
Outfield George Springer, Houston Astros (2nd appearance)
Outfield Mitch Haniger, Seattle Mariners (1st appearance)
Outfield Shin-Soo Choo, Texas Rangers (1st appearance)
Designated Hitter Nelson Cruz, Seatle Mariners (6th appearance)

Pitchers:
Trevor Bauer, Cleveland Indians (1st appearance, replacing Verlander)
José Berríos, Minnesota Twins (1st appearance)
Aroldis Chapman, New York Yankees (5th appearance)
Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros (2nd appearance)
Edwin Díaz, Seattle Mariners (1st appearance)
J. A. Happ, Toronto Blue Jays (1st appearance)
Joe Jiménez, Detroit Tigers (1st appearance)
Craig Kimbrel, Boston Red Sox (7th appearance)
Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians (3rd appearance)
Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox (7th appearance)
Luis Severino, New York Yankees (2nd appearance)
Blake Treinen, Oakland Athletics (1st appearance)
Justin Verlander, Houston Astros (7th appearance, won't play due to start last game before break)

National League:
Starters:
Catcher Willson Contreras, Chicago Cubs (1st appearance)
1st Base Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves (3rd appearance)
2nd Base Javier Báez, Chicago Cubs (1st appearance)
3rd Base Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies (4th appearance)
Shortstop Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants (2nd appearance)
Outfield Nick Markakis, Atlanta Braves (1st appearance)
Outfield Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers (3rd appearance)
Outfield Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals (6th appearance)

Reserves:
Catcher Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants (6th appearance)
Catcher J. T. Realmuto, Miami Marlins (1st appearance)
1st Base Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks (6th appearance)
1st Base Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds (6th appearance)
2nd Base Ozzie Albies, Atlanta Braves (1st appearance)
2nd Base Scooter Gennett, Cincinnati Reds (1st appearance)
3rd Base Eugenio Suárez, Cincinnati Reds (1st base)
Shortstop Trevor Story, Colorado Rockies (1st appearance)
Outfield Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies (3rd appearance)
Outfield Lorenzo Cain, Milwaukee Brewers (2nd appearance)
Outfield Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers (1st appearance)

Pitchers:
Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks (2nd appearance)
Jacob deGrom, New York Mets (2nd appearance)
Sean Doolittle, Washington Nationals (2nd appearance)
Mike Foltynewicz, Atlanta Braves (1st appearance)
Josh Hader, Milwaukee Brewers (1st appearance)
Brad Hand, San Diego Padres (2nd appearance)
Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Dodgers (3rd appearance)
Jon Lester, Chicago Cubs (5th appearance)
Miles Mikolas, St Louis Cardinals (1st appearance)
Aaron Nola, Philadelphia Phillies (1st appearance)
Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals (6th appearance)
Felipe Vázquez, Pittsburgh Pirates (1st appearance)

Of course, there are a few players in the game who are having outstanding years who have been left off the rosters, for the moment at least. Lets start with the American League. Look I know every team needs to have representation, to try and get television ratings from every market in the country to watch their player play in the game. Which is why Joe Jimenez is playing for the Tigers. Hey, nothing wrong with him being there, he's put up solid numbers in his 44 games (2.85 ERA lowest on Tigers staff). But there's two guys who might have better numbers and deserve to be there more then he does. One is Charlie Morton of Houston. Morton is 11-2, which is the 4th most wins in the AL this year. I mean, to be fair, Verlander and Cole are both going to the game, and rightfully so, but still Morton has a better record and has opponents hitting .199 off him this year. Another pitcher left off the roster, who should be there, is Blake Snell of the Rays. Snell is one of the few true starters that Tampa has and he's won 12 games (tied for 2nd most in AL) a 2.09 ERA and opponents hitting .189 off him. He deserves to be on the roster more then Jimenz, Happ, or Jose Berrios. Hell Jose Berrios hasn't even been the Twins best player this year, Eddie Rosario holds that distinction. The only thing is, because the outfield is so loaded in the American League that Rosario had to get added to the final fan vote to be nominated for the game. Final note on the AL, it looks like Jed Lowrie, who should have been selected, might get to play. Lowrie leads the Oakland A's in batting average (.296) and RBI's (62). The reason he got snubbed is because Torres of the Yankees is having a slightly better year. Since Torres is hurt, that may open the door for Lowrie to get into the game for the A's.

As for the National League goes, reputation matters a little bit. Because if it didn't, then Jesus Aguilar of the Brewers would be playing in the game. This is nothing against Goldschmidt or Freeman, but Aguilar has had better numbers. The only thing Freeman has on Aguilar is batting average (Freeman leads NL 1st baseman with a .315 average, while Aguilar is hitting .306) Aguilar leads the NL in Home Runs (22) and RBI's (62) among first baseman. How he isn't here is a bit of a shocker. You can make the same argument for Albert Almora Jr. of the Cubs. He's only tied with Gennett of the Reds for the leading hitter with a .326 average. Almora could have easily been there ahead of Yelich of the Brewers, who's having a good year, but Almora is having a better one in Chicago.