5 begins and 25.2 innings.
That’s everything of Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski’s MLB résumé.
But MLB added the flame-throwing 23-year-old to the Nationwide League roster for Tuesday night time’s All-Star Recreation — a polarizing choice that’s develop into one of many high speaking factors forward of this yr’s exhibition at Truist Park in Atlanta.
Misiorowski, who’s 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and 33 strikeouts, was named a roster alternative for Chicago Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, who pitched towards the Yankees on Saturday.
“What a joke,” Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trae Turner informed The Athletic of Misiorowski’s inclusion. “That’s f— terrible. I mean, that’s terrible, dude.”
Misiorowski, with a triple-digit fastball and unhittable slider, captivated baseball after final month’s call-up by hurling 11 no-hit innings to start his profession.
However Misiorowski’s 5 profession video games are the fewest ever for an All-Star, prompting debate about whether or not battle-tested pitchers just like the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez (8-2, 2.50 ERA) or Ranger Suarez (7-3, 1.94 ERA) had been extra deserving.
“Major League Baseball is really just focusing on the most marketable players,” Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos informed The Athletic.
“So the fact that they can have somebody in the game that is going to basically blow out one inning and throw 103, 104 [mph], they’re going to get more eyeballs on baseball. They’re going to think it’s getting more popular.”
The Misiorowski controversy is way from the one intriguing subject heading into Tuesday’s sport.
Listed below are a few of the different high All-Star Recreation storylines:
COMING UP ACES
Even for an All-Star Recreation, this yr’s beginning pitching matchup is particular.
Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, who’s beginning for the American League, and Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, who’s beginning for the NL, each rank eighth or higher amongst MLB pitchers in ERA, strikeouts, innings and WHIP.
The suitable-handed Skenes is ready to face an AL lineup headlined by Aaron Choose within the No. 3 gap, whereas the lefty Skubal will see NL leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani proper out of the gate.
That is the second yr in a row that the sophomore Skenes (4-8, 2.01 ERA) will begin the All-Star Recreation. Skubal (10-3, 2.23 ERA), the reigning AL Cy Younger Award winner, is making his first All-Star begin.
RALEIGH RALLY
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh performs nearly all of his video games in Pacific Time, however on Tuesday, a primetime viewers will get an opportunity to witness the history-making slugger generally known as “Big Dumper.”
Raleigh’s MLB-leading 38 house runs had been one shy of Barry Bonds’ 2001 document for homers earlier than an All-Star break. They had been 11 greater than every other catcher has hit earlier than a break.
The switch-hitting Raleigh is on tempo for 64 house runs, which might break Aaron Choose’s single-season American League document of 62 and shatter Salvador Perez’s document for a catcher of 48.
A primary-time All-Star, Raleigh is beginning for the American League and batting fourth, that means that he’ll catch Skubal and hit behind Choose. If anybody will get on base, Raleigh would face Skenes within the first.
PCA MANIA
One other first-time All-Star is Pete Crow-Armstrong, the do-it-all Chicago Cubs outfielder within the midst of a breakout season.
Crow-Armstrong, 23, grew to become the fourth-fastest to achieve 25 homers and 25 stolen bases in a season, needing solely 92 video games to take action.
For all of his offensive exploits, Crow-Armstrong is likely to be much more electrifying in heart subject, the place he’s set to start out for the NL.
Crow-Armstrong was a 2020 first-round choose by the Mets, who traded him the next yr to the Cubs for Javier Baez. In a stroke of serendipity, Baez is ready to start out for the AL in heart subject, a place the previous infielder moved to this yr.
“I think that’s really cool,” Crow-Armstrong stated Friday at Yankee Stadium. “I don’t think ‘full circle’ is really the term for it, but it’s cool I’ll be playing across from him, playing the same position as him, when I never really thought that was going to be a thing.”
CLAYTON CELEBRATION
Because of a “legend pick” by commissioner Rob Manfred, longtime Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will seem at his eleventh — and probably last — All-Star Recreation.
“I didn’t actually know that was a thing,” Kershaw stated. “At the end of the day, it’s weird but it’s cool, so I’m just going to enjoy it.”
Whereas Kershaw has not stated whether or not he plans to retire after this yr, his future has been the topic of hypothesis for a number of offseasons in a row.
Earlier this month, Kershaw grew to become the twentieth pitcher in MLB historical past to document 3,000 strikeouts. The 37-year-old is 4-1 with a 3.38 ERA this season, his 18th.
Kershaw was the primary participant to earn a “legend” choice since Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera in 2022. Pujols retired after that season, whereas Cabrera performed another after that.
ALL ABOUT ABS
MLB is utilizing this yr’s All-Star Recreation as one other showcase for the automated ball-strike (ABS) problem system.
Each groups might be given two challenges, which permit a pitcher, catcher or hitter to contest a ball or strike name. The identical format was used at choose spring coaching video games to combined outcomes.
“I don’t think I’ll get that in-depth on it,” AL supervisor Aaron Boone stated Friday.
“We’ll address it, probably, as a group, and that will be up to the individuals to use it as they see fit,” Boone stated, including with amusing, “If they want to challenge one, they’ll have the freedom to do that, with the peer pressure of, ‘You better be right.’”
The All-Star Recreation comes forward of a vote by MLB’s competitors committee on whether or not to implement the ABS problem system in regular-season video games subsequent yr.
