Youth will be served
MLB’s young talent takes center stage
MIAMI — This time it doesn’t count.
That is, unless you’re a millionaire ballplayer motivated by the allure of an extra $20,000.
Major League Baseball scrapped using the All-Star Game to determine home-field advantage in the World Series after doing so for 14 years.
So tonight’s 88th Midsummer Classic at Marlins Park, the first in South Florida, is back to being an exhibition.
It will feature both representatives of the host Miami Marlins in the starting lineup. Marcell Ozuna, voted in by fans, will be in left field batting eighth for the National League. Giancarlo Stanton, selected as a reserve, was manager Joe Maddon’s choice as designated hitter and will bat second, as he has with notable success the past six weeks for the Marlins.
“It’s going to be cool to be announced in the starting lineup here at home, and I’m looking
forward to it,” said Stanton, a four-time All-Star but unable to play in two of the years he was selected due to injury. He was also the starting DH in 2014 at Minnesota.
Stanton said he is glad that the All-Star winner won’t factor into the World Series seeding (that will go to the team with the best regularseason record), saying the objective should be “have fun, have a good time with the fans.”
For the first time, members of the winning team will collect $20,000 apiece. There are some young stars who have not yet made big money who may be motivated by that.
The game will provide a showcase of MLB’s impressive influx of young talent rapidly ascending to all-star level. There are 12 first-time All-Stars, the most since 1970.
The rosters include 33 players age 27 or younger. Stanton (27) and Ozuna (26) both make it into that category.
Most notable will be the debuts of home run-hammering upstarts Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Rookie of the Year front-runners in their respective leagues.
Judge, 25, the top All-Star vote-getter in the American League, leads the majors with 30 homers, many of them moonshots at Yankee Stadium. Bellinger, the youngest in the game at 21, hit 25 homers in 257 at-bats since being summoned to the majors in late April.
“I think when young guys get called up you kind of see the success that the guys had in the past,” Bellinger said Monday. “Watching them, it makes you want to be even better.”
One young face notably missing is Jose Fernandez, the Marlins ace killed in a boat crash in September, two months after making his second All-Star appearance. He could have been a popular choice to start in the ballpark he dominated in his brief career.
“We’re missing him a lot,” said Ozuna, who was close to Fernandez and has been writing the late pitcher’s initials in the dirt near the dugout during every game. “We started the season saying I’m going to give you my best, I’m going to dedicate that season [to Fernandez] no matter what.”
The start for the NL goes to Max Scherzer, the Nationals’ reigning Cy Young Award winner. Scherzer becomes the fifth pitcher to start AllStar games in both leagues (2013).
Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale starts for the American League. A Lakeland native, Sale is one of nine All-Stars who played for Florida high schools, the most of any state.
“To be able to be here not too far from where I live now is nice,” Sale said. “I can have my family, extended family come down and experience this with me. At the end of the day this is something I’ll never forget.”
Judge was a prime magnet of attention during Monday’s media session. Other firsttime stars in the starting lineup are Justin Smoak (Blue Jays), Carlos Correa (Astros), Jose Ramirez (Indians), George Springer (Astros), Corey Dickerson (Rays) and Zack Cozart (Reds).
“I think what we’re most excited about is just the depth we have among young great players,” said Tony Petitti, chief operating officer of MLB. “It’s probably never been rivaled in the game. We feel really good about what we’re seeing with young players.”
Bryce Harper, the leading vote-getter in the game, is already a five-time All-Star though only age 24.
The emergence of so much young talent in the majors has brought considerable turnover in recent All-Star Games. Kris Bryant, the NL Most Valuable Player last season at age 24, didn’t make the team this year.
Bryant and his World Series champion Cubs teammates are conspicuously absent. Last year four Cubs started in the infield. This time their only representative, except for Maddon and his coaches, is closer Wade Davis, who was with Kansas City in 2016.
That is a reflection of the Cubs’ sub-.500 record at the break. This game will offer a heavy dose of Astros, the best team nobody knows outside of Houston, with six players selected.
The NL will be aiming to end a four-game losing streak.