The MLB All-Star Recreation is per week away, and on Sunday, we had been handled to the total roster unveilings for each the AL and NL. Unsurprisingly, there’s some strong Rays illustration on either side. Right here’s a fast recap.
The one returning Ray this yr is the beginning shortstop for the Nationwide League, Trea Turner, who’s making his second look in a row on the midsummer traditional. Turner is one in all 4 Dodgers who’ll be exhibiting out for his or her staff of their residence stadium in L.A. this yr, and that hometown, big-city bump may simply be what lifted him over Atlanta’s Dansby Swanson for the principle gig. Not that Turner isn’t deserving in his personal proper, after all: He’s hitting .301 with 11 dingers in his first full season for the Dodgers and, for individuals who care about such issues, he’s the RBI chief for the staff with the perfect report within the NL. That’s all-star materials proper there, and it doesn’t even account for his thrilling confidence on the basepaths. There’s an intriguing subplot to observe, too: the reunion of Turner with Nationals all-star choice Juan Soto forward of Turner’s impending free company.
Over on the American League facet, we’ve a few Rays making their all-star debuts. At first base, backing up Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is Luis Arráez of the Minnesota Twins. Whereas the 25-year-old confirmed hitting expertise from the second he stepped into the league in 2019, his capacity to make contact and get on base has turn into simple this yr as his staff has flipped the AL Central the other way up. As a .348 hitter who sprays the ball all around the discipline and strikes out much less typically than anybody in baseball, his model of play is tremendously interesting to a sure type of purist fan, and although he’s not a family Ray simply but, the sport subsequent week may very well be a giant alternative for Arráez to win over some new converts. Right here he’s getting congratulated for the distinction by his supervisor, Rocco Baldelli, at a staff assembly earlier than their sport on Sunday.
“I virtually cried there,” Arráez mentioned of the second. “My coronary heart began getting quick, I mentioned, ‘OK, chill out. It’s your day in the present day, so simply take pleasure in it.’”
Final however not least we had the lone choice from the Tampa Bay Rays, Shane McClanahan. This one was a no brainer, as a result of the second-year lefty has been lights-out in 17 begins for his staff within the first half, as if the recollections of final yr’s season-ending meltdown towards the Pink Sox gentle a hearth below him each time he steps onto the mound. He leads the AL in ERA, strikeouts, and WHIP whereas additionally demonstrating ridiculous management by strolling simply 1.64 hitters per 9 innings. And if there are few questions on his work, there are even fewer about what he’ll put on on the purple carpet: his lone go well with, given to him by Chris Archer final yr.
“I’ve worn it one time to a marriage, and I’m going to in all probability, hopefully break it out,’’ McClanahan mentioned. “It’s about the one good piece of clothes I’ve, so I type of should. I’m excited.’’
He’ll be lots of people’s frontrunner to be the AL’s beginning pitcher, and regardless that Justin Verlander and Shohei Ohtani would draw extra TV curiosity, from a outcomes standpoint it’s laborious to argue anybody deserves it extra. What an important second that will be for Rays all over the place.
