My Complete American League All-Star Team Selections

by Julian Spivey

Every year I like to make selections for which players I believe should make the Major League Baseball All-Star Game for each league. It's quite the task because you don't just pick the 32 best players from each league because each team (even the worst in the game) must have at least one selection for the Midsummer Classic (I actually like this rule because it gets every fan-base involved). 

MLB has changed up its All-Star voting as of late. The fans still get to pick the starters for each league, but now voting is a two-pronged process where the first round selects the two finalists (or six for outfielders) at each position and round two decides which of those two players gets the start. The leading vote getter round one of voting is automatically given a starting spot - it was New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge for the American League this year. 

My selections for the starting lineup will be based on which of the two finalists I believe is more deserving and not which player in the league is necessarily more deserving. For example Cleveland Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez has been the best two-bagger in the A.L. this year, but didn't make the top two in voting in round one of the fan vote to have the shot at starting. 

All statistics as of July 4

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Starters: 

Catcher: Alejandro Kirk (Toronto Blue Jays)
Avg: .315, HR: 10 RBI: 33 OBP: .405 WAR: 3.2 

First Base: Ty France (Seattle Mariners) 
Avg: .316, HR: 10, RBI: 45, OBP: .390, WAR: 3.0

Second Base: Jose Altuve (Houston Astros) 
Avg: .278, HR: 16, RBI: 29, OBP: .363, WAR: 2.5

Third Base: Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox) 
Avg: .327, HR: 17, RBI: 46, OBP: .383, WAR: 3.7

Shortstop: Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox) 
Avg: .326, HR: 5, RBI: 19, OBP: .364, WAR: 1.7 

Left Field: George Springer (Toronto Blue Jays) 
Avg: .254, HR: 15, RBI: 38, OBP: .338, WAR: 2.2

Center Field: Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels) 
Avg: .272, HR: 23, RBI: 47, OBP: .372, WAR: 3.9

Right Field: Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) 
Avg: .282, HR: 29, RBI: 59, OBP: .362, WAR: 3.5

Designated Hitter: Yordan Alvarez (Houston Astros) 
Avg: .310, HR: 24, RBI: 57, OBP: .410, WAR: 3.8 

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Reserves: 

Catcher: Christian Vazquez (Boston Red Sox) 
Avg. .295, HR: 4, RBI: 31, OBP: .343, WAR: 1.1

First Base: Luis Arraez (Minnesota Twins) 
Avg: .348, HR: 4, RBI: 28, OBP: .422, WAR: 3.1

Second Base: Andres Gimenez (Cleveland Guardians) 
Avg: .300, HR: 9, RBI: 38, OBP: .350, WAR: 3.4

Third Base: Jose Ramirez (Cleveland Guardians) 
​Avg: .289, HR: 16, RBI: 63, OBP: .374, WAR: 3.4

Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox) 
Avg: .318, HR: 6, RBI: 31, OBP: .391, WAR: 3.0 

Outfield: Adolis Garcia (Texas Rangers) 
Avg: .250, HR: 15, RBI: 51, OBP: .291, WAR: 2.5

Outfield: Austin Hays (Baltimore Orioles)
Avg: .271, HR: 11, RBI: 45, OBP: .327, WAR: 2.4

Outfield: Andrew Benintendi (Kansas City Royals) 
Avg: .314, HR: 3, RBI: 31, OBP: .380, WAR: 1.9 

Outfield: Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros) 
Avg: .259, HR: 16, RBI: 56, OBP: .351, WAR: 3.9

Outfield: Julio Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners) 
Avg: .275, HR: 15, RBI: 43, OBP: .335, WAR: 3.5

Designated Hitter: Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) 
Avg: .262, HR: 18, RBI: 51, OBP: .344, WAR: 3.9 

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Pitchers: 

Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay Rays)
W-L: 9-3, ERA: 1.74, K: 133, WAR: 3.2 

Justin Verlander (Houston Astros)
W-L: 10-3, ERA: 2.03, K: 90, WAR: 2.4

Framber Valdez (Houston Astros)
W-L: 8-3, ERA: 2.67, K: 93, WAR: 2.0 

Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees)
W-L: 7-2, ERA: 2.99, K: 117, WAR: 2.0 

Nestor Cortes Jr. (New York Yankees)
W-L: 7-3, ERA: 2.44, K: 91, WAR: 2.4 
Clay Holmes (New York Yankees)

Alek Manoah (Toronto Blue Jays)
W-L: 9-3, ERA: 2.33, K: 90, WAR: 2.8 

Jordan Romano (Toronto Blue Jays)
SV: 17, ERA: 2.79, K: 32, WAR: 0.8 

Paul Blackburn (Oakland Athletics)
W-L: 6-3, ERA: 2.90, K: 67, WAR: 2.7

Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland Guardians)
SV: 19, ERA: 1.31, K: 37, WAR: 1.7

Alex Lange (Detroit Tigers)
W-L: 4-1, ERA: 2.08, K: 39, WAR: 0.9 

Martin Perez (Texas Rangers) 
W-L: 7-2, ERA: 2.34, K: 81, WAR: 3.1