Major League Baseball today announced the 10-player picks who will join the active All-Star rosters to replace players who will not be able to participate in the 91st Midseason Classic on Tuesday.
Among the new All-Stars in the American League are shortstop Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox; Oakland Athletics starter Chris Bassitt; second baseman Whit Merrifield of the Kansas City Royals; and shortstop Joey Wendle of the Tampa Bay Rays
In the National League, the new All-Stars are starter Walker Buehler of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Puerto Rican catcher Yadier Molina of the San Luis Cardinals; the Dominican starter Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers; Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer; Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner; Dominican third baseman Manny Machado and New York Mets starter Taijuan Walker.
Among the players who will not be active for the 2021 All-Star Game are two pitchers scheduled to start for their respective teams on Sunday – Kevin Gausman of the San Francisco Giants and Brandon Woodruff of the Milwaukee Brewers; Seven players will be absent due to injury – Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, Mookie Betts of the Dodgers, Michael Brantley of the Astros, Carlos Correa of the Astros, Jacob deGrom of the Mets, Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres and Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants; and one player out for parenthood – Astros’ Ryan Pressly.
In the American League, Anderson and Merrifield were selected by the players’ vote to replace Correa and Altuve, who were chosen by the fans. Molina was selected by the players to replace Posey, who was also named a starter by the fans. JT Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies, who finished second in the Player vote, will take Posey’s place in the Old Circuit starting order.
It is the 10th time in his career that Molina has been selected to an All-Star Game, representing the highest number of squads among the 2021 All-Stars, while Scherzer is going for the eighth time.
Buehler, Merrifield and Turner will be on an All-Star Game roster for the second time, while Anderson, Bassitt, Peralta, and Walker have been called up for the first time. There are 39 All-Stars who go to the Midseason Classic for the first time, which equals the mark for the most first-time All-Stars in the history of the event, set in 2013.
In addition, it is the third All-Star Game in a row with at least 30 players debuting. There have been at least 30 players called up to the All-Star for the first time in seven of the last eight and nine of the last 11 editions of the Midseason Classic.
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