2 Cleveland Guardians make the AL All-Star team despite slow start

The Cleveland Guardians have secured two All-Star selections this year.

The Cleveland Guardians have had an odd year. They’re in first place in the Al Central, well-tied with the Minnesota Twins. And both teams have losing records. The Guardians have one of the most potent one-two (technically three-four) combos in the league with Josh Naylor and Jose Ramirez, but only one made the All-Star game. The Guardians have one of the best sets of arms in the league, but an ace who can’t throw strikeouts and a closer who can’t close games.

And one of them made the All-Star Game.

This is a bizarre year, and it gets even more bizarre when you realize that Ramirez and Emmanuel Clase are going to represent Cleveland at the mid-summer classic, barring any injuries or withdrawals from anyone else.

frankly, if you had told me in late May that the Guardians had any All-Star selections, I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are.

The Cleveland Guardians will see Emmanuel Clase and Jose Ramirez go to the All-Star Game

Ramirez a month ago wouldn’t have made sense to go to the All-Star Game. On May 26 Ramirez was hitting just .266 with just six home runs and 29 RBIs. Now, the Guardians captain and star third basemen is hitting .293, with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs. He hit a whopping .330 in the month of June alone, and absolutely raised his profile to that of an All-Star for the fifth time in his career. We’re starting to broach honest-to-goodness Hall of Fame numbers now. We’re not there yet, but we can see them in the distance.

For Clase, his selection is baffling. He’s arguably the most deserving of all the pitchers on the squad, I think we can agree to that, but that doesn’t mean he’s deserving on his own. Clase has pitched 39 innings already as a closer, securing 24 saves and blowing six (24 for 30). He’s tied for first in the league in saves with Camilo Doval of the San Francisco Giants and Jordan Romano of the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s also in first for most blown saves (6) for the season so far as well.

He doesn’t have the worst ERA out of the top in saves, but he’s not far behind the worst spot in the top 10  (Kenley Jansen – 3.45 ERA).

All in all, this was the best of the bunch, but one name is missing, which we’ll talk about in a separate article. So minus that one missing name, yeah, this was about who you’d expect with the way this season has shaken out so far.

• Published on 07/03/2023 at 20:29 PM
• Last updated at 07/03/2023 at 20:29 PM