[Baltimore Sun] Orioles reset: Jordan Westburg, Craig Kimbrel among All-Star Game snubs | ANALYSIS
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OAKLAND, Calif. — Grayson Rodriguez wanted to express his unfiltered thoughts, but he knew he shouldn’t.
“I want to say some stuff about that; I can’t,” the Orioles pitcher said with a smirk.
Let this serve as perhaps what Rodriguez wanted to say: How the heck does a team tied atop the American League standings only have three All-Stars?
That was the question on the minds of Orioles fans, players and anyone else with access to Baseball-Reference.com on Sunday. After Baltimore sent four players to last year’s Midsummer Classic, it was assumed the club would have just as many, if not more, representatives in Arlington, Texas, on July 16.
But after shortstop Gunnar Henderson and catcher Adley Rutschman were voted as starters by the fans, ace Corbin Burnes was surprisingly the only Oriole to be voted in on the players’ ballot or chosen by the Commissioner’s Office. That means closer Craig Kimbrel, infielder Jordan Westburg, outfielder Anthony Santander, designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn and first baseman Ryan Mountcastle — all players who’ve either put up All-Star-caliber first halves or were finalists to start the contest on the fan ballot — were left off the AL’s roster.
Individually, it’s not shocking each didn’t make it. All of these players were on the cusp because of the other strong candidates at their spots. But for all of them to somehow not be All-Stars is odd, as is a team on pace to win 100-plus games for the second straight season only having three players selected.
“I think we should have had more than three All-Stars, for sure,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a lot of guys in that clubhouse that are deserving to be there.”
Compare the Orioles’ total of three with other teams, and it gets even more confusing. The Philadelphia Phillies, the National League’s best team, have seven players, and the Cleveland Guardians, the team Baltimore is tied with atop the AL, have five. The San Diego Padres, a wild-card team in the NL that is four games above .500, has five players. The Kansas City Royals, who wouldn’t be in the playoffs if the regular season ended Sunday, have four.
Of course, how good a team is doesn’t necessarily equate to a larger number of All-Stars. One of the Orioles’ defining characteristics, they say, is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Given the club’s success over the past two calendar years, it’s hard to argue that isn’t the case, but that still doesn’t explain how the Orioles have the same number of All-Stars as the Boston Red Sox, a team in the same division that is 7 1/2 games behind Baltimore.
“I’m disappointed a lot of the other guys didn’t get in,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “When you win as many games as we have in the last year and a half and you only get three guys in, and you’re on the pace we are on right now and we won 101 games last year with a lot of the same group, you’d think that we’d get more guys in.”
With eight days until the exhibition, it’s possible another Oriole could make the team if other players choose not to attend or can’t because of injury. But, for now, it’s not a surprise the Orioles’ clubhouse feels aggrieved.
“When you have a team of this caliber and only three guys get to go, yeah, it definitely sucks,” O’Hearn said. “It is what it is. Very happy for Corbin and Gunnar and Adley. They’re extremely deserving.”
The Orioles’ Jordan Westburg, right, celebrates his three-run home run off Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler with Anthony Santander at Camden Yards. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff)
While O’Hearn came within a few percentage points from winning the fan vote and Mountcastle had a case to win it over Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., their absences are less stunning than the others. O’Hearn’s .811 OPS ranks third-best on the team, but he’s not an everyday player as he almost always sits against left-handed pitchers. Mountcastle leads the team with 21 doubles, but he is fourth among AL first basemen in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement. Rodriguez falls in this group, too, because despite being tied for first in MLB with 11 wins, he’s outside of the top 20 in WAR among starting pitchers after missing time with an injury early in the season.
No one would’ve blinked an eye if Santander was an All-Star with his 23 home runs, which put him tied for fourth in MLB. He could still be one, too, since Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker deservedly made the team despite missing the past month with a shin injury, which could prevent him from playing in the game. However, while Santander has been red-hot with 16 homers in his past 41 games, he’s still hitting .235 with an on-base percentage barely north of .300. Fifteen AL outfielders have a higher WAR than Santander (1.5), including Orioles rookie Colton Cowser (2.1) because of the latter’s defensive value. There’s perhaps a stronger argument that Santander should hit alongside Henderson at the Home Run Derby on July 15, giving a team two players in the event for the 17th time since its inception in 1985 and the third time in Baltimore history.
The Orioles’ main snubs are Westburg and Kimbrel. Their exclusion was puzzling at first, and then after deeper inspection into who made the team, it raised questions about whether this process is actually the best for selecting All-Stars.
Kimbrel appeared destined for his 10th All-Star appearance after a resurgent first half with the Orioles. Sure, the stigma surrounding the 36-year-old right-hander is that of anxiety surrounding his saves — and his early season stumble didn’t help that — but he’s been far more steady than anyone expected when the Orioles signed him for $13 million in the offseason. He’s second in the AL with 23 saves and sports a 2.10 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 13.6 strikeouts-per-nine innings. Since his rough patch ended two months ago, he’s been lights out, allowing only one earned run over his past 21 innings.
With offense down across MLB, earning a spot on the team is mighty challenging, but there’s one reliever who Kimbrel deserved the nod over. New York Yankees closer Clay Holmes was one of the six AL All-Stars hand-selected by MLB, and it’s incontrovertible that Kimbrel is more deserving. Holmes has fewer saves (19), a worse ERA (3.00) and worse ratios (1.306 WHIP, 9.3 strikeouts-per-nine).
However, one infielder who made the team over Westburg might be even more egregious than that. And this one falls at the feet of the players, not the league.
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Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien was voted in by the players despite putting up one of the worst offensive seasons of his excellent 12-year career. Semien has for years been one of MLB’s most underrated players because he isn’t flashy and a significant part of his value is derived from his elite defense. But there’s little argument that a player hitting .229 with a .673 OPS is worthy of an All-Star selection.
While Westburg was a finalist to start at third base, he’s played more than 250 innings at second this season, and his offensive numbers are significantly better than Semien’s. In his breakout first half, the Orioles sophomore is hitting .281 with an .834 OPS — 161 points better than Semien and second on Baltimore — with 14 home runs and 49 RBIs. Westburg’s 2.8 WAR is tops among second basemen in the AL, nearly one win above Semien. There’s a better argument that Westburg is the Orioles’ second-best position player than there is that he isn’t an All-Star.
If the Orioles only send three players to the All-Star Game, it will be far from the greatest travesty in MLB history. Kimbrel’s already been to nine and could be in Cooperstown next decade, and Westburg appears on track to play in future Midsummer Classics.
Perhaps this is just Baltimore’s new reality, where deserving players are snubbed because the Orioles are no longer a surprise and they don’t play in a big enough market to demand more representation. That sure beats the days when the rebuild-era Orioles only had the minimum of one All-Star every year.
What’s to come?
Six more games and then a break.
The Orioles end the first half with a six-game homestand, three against the Chicago Cubs and three against the Yankees after a day off Monday. The Orioles will keep their rotation on turn for the final week rather than maximize Burnes so he can start two of the games.
When Baltimore (57-33) and New York (55-37) last played, it was an intense series in the Bronx with animosity bubbling after several hit by pitches. The Orioles have since taken a three-game lead atop the AL East, but the Yankees will have the opportunity at Camden Yards to tilt the scales going into the All-Star break.
Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad runs the bases after his three-run home run against the Athletics on Sunday. (Eakin Howard/AP)
What was good?
Brandon Hyde’s platoon of Austin Hays and Heston Kjerstad.
It might not seem like a traditional platoon given Kjerstad is at DH more than left field. This isn’t a John Lowenstein-Gary Roenicke situation, although Hyde surely wouldn’t turn that down if it heads that way.
But since Kjerstad was recalled June 24, the Orioles have played 13 games. Kjerstad and Hays have both been in the starting lineup only once and both been absent only once. That means in 11 of the 13 games, Hyde has picked one of them to start over the other, usually based on whether it’s a right-handed starting pitcher for the lefty-hitting Kjerstad or a southpaw for the right-handed Hays.
So how’s the platoon gone?
In 54 plate appearances, Kjerstand and Hays have combined to post a .375/.426/.688 slash line — good for an eye-popping 1.113 OPS. Before long, this duo might need a nickname.
What wasn’t?
Before he suffered a concussion in early June, Jorge Mateo was having a bounce-back season with a .741 OPS and 16 extra-base hits in 42 games. He was one of the majors’ worst hitters in 2023, but he was hitting plenty well enough to justify his place on the field given his defensive value and speed.
He hasn’t been that same player since his return. In his 63 plate appearances since he came off the injured list, Mateo is hitting .197 with a paltry .567 OPS. He hit .143 with a .343 OPS last week.
On the farm
The infield prospects in Norfolk are banging on the door so hard it could be heard on the West Coast.
Corner infielder Coby Mayo, who Baseball America ranks as the sport’s 12th-best prospect, had a tame week by his standards, going 5-for-22 with a home run, a double, six walks and six RBIs.
Middle infielder Jackson Holliday, baseball’s No. 2 prospect, had perhaps his best week at Triple-A. The 20-year-old went 5-for-15 with three doubles, one home run, eight runs and an eye-popping nine walks in 24 plate appearances.
Second baseman-corner outfielder Connor Norby, the Orioles’ No. 5 prospect, nearly joined the Orioles last week after making the trek to Baltimore to be on its taxi squad. He wasn’t needed, though, and just went back to tearing the cover off the ball, going 10-for-29 with three homers, one double, eight runs and nine RBIs.
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