This is not to say enough that you had a pitcher with only five professional appearances named to the National League squad, and threw more pitches than any on their roster, including starter Paul Skenes.
The irony is Jacob Misiorowski broke Skenes’ record for fewest MLB appearances to be named to an All Star team. The record was 11, and now stands at just five.
Misiorowski, 23, is 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA in his five appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers. His 33 strikeouts over 25.2 innings comes on the back of having 89 pitches hit at least the 100 mile-per-hour mark. “Miz” replaced Chicago Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, who pitched in Sunday’s final game before the break, which makes him automatically ineligible to throw at any point during the All Star festivities.
Misiorowski threw 18 pitches, four more than Skenes, allowing one hit in one inning of work. Skenes pitched the first inning, posting two strikeouts and no baserunners allowed.
When Misiorowski entered in the eighth inning, The American League had rallied to trail 6-4, after the National League blew the game open with four runs in the sixth inning. The Athletics’ Brent Rooker hit a three-run home run in the sixth, followed up by Bobby Witt Jr. of Kansas City driving in his first of two runs. Witt would double home Minnesota’s Byron Buxton in the ninth, and scored on Cleveland’s Steven Kwan singling two batters later.
Misiorowski may turn out to be an All Star in 2026, but should never have been named to Tuesday’s game in Atlanta by either the fans or manager. Skenes’s 11 starts a year ago were enough of a body of work in the first half, where he was able to continue his momentum to the NL Rookie of the Year, and an MLB All First-Team selection. Miz will have his numbers obscured being on a Milwaukee Brewers team that sits at 56-40, second in the NL Central, and tied for fourth-best in all of baseball.
The Brewers are the hottest team in the NL at the break, while the Boston Red Sox have won 10 in a row to climb back into the AL East and Wild Card races. Milwaukee’s 33 home wins are also tied with the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets for most in baseball, and their +88 run differential puts them fourth overall.
I take just as much offense to Misiorowski being named as the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw receiving baseball’s version of a “sponsorship exception” in professional golf.
This is why having an All Star appearance on your resume no longer means anything of significance in any professional sport. The fans vote counts for half, so that right there is all you need to know. When players are elected to the Hall of Fame, their All Star appearances should be the fine print at the bottom of the plaque, and the same on the back of their trading cards. First, second, or third-team All Pro nominations carry much more weight, as these are reflections of the entire body of work for a season, rather than a popularity contest, or starting a season on a heater. We have seen players come out of their All Star breaks in basketball, hockey, and baseball have nosedives that sometimes cost their teams a playoff appearance.
While the Brewers appear to be on course for the postseason, and Skenes destined for last place with the Pirates again, to rob more deserving pitchers of the opportunity shows you what a farce these events are. Several Philadelphia Phillie stars took umbrage with Misiorowski’s nomination, most notably shortstop Trea Turner.
“What a joke. That’s fucking terrible.”
Turner could not be more right if you asked him to spell his own name here. Turner further explained that the nomination cheapens the process, opting to focus on selling more tickets or driving more eyes to social media, not who is having the best season. Philadelphia pitchers Ranger Suarez or Christopher Sanchez should have been named in Boyd’s place without a second thought. Suarez is 7-3 with a 1.94 ERA in 80.1 innings. The ERA is lowest among any NL pitcher with at least 80 innings. This is even more impressive considering that Suarez missed the entire first month of the regular season.
Sanchez is 7-2 with a 2.89 ERA, which is fourth-lowest among qualified starters. Like Boyd, Sanchez would have been unable to appear in the game, having thrown seven strong innings Sunday against the Padres, giving up one earned run and six hits.
Suarez was offered the nomination by MLB offices, but only under the condition he be able to pitch in the game. Instead, Suarez opted to rest, and was left off the roster.
If these sports want to make these nominations mean anything midway through the season, then keep the fan vote at 50 percent, but the managers and general managers get final say on who starts. The NBA tries with the top two vote-getters doing a fantasy draft, since their showcase is a glorified pick-up game. The NHL does a miniature tournament among the four divisions, but this is flawed as the first round losers only appear for 10 minutes on Sunday. The events that happen the night before is what everyone remembers about All Star games, whether it be the Home Run Derby (MLB), Slam Dunk Contest (NBA), or Accuracy Challenge (NHL). The NFL got tired of too many players skipping the Pro Bowl, opting for a flag football game and dodgeball, among other events.
My proposal for the three sports that have their All Star games in the middle of the season could be universal.
- Make the fan vote count for no more than 25 percent.
- The three teams of All Pro selections from the year before all get automatic nominations, barring injury, and regardless of where they may be playing.
- Reserve picks must meet certain criteria for appearances, much like how the NBA rules a player ineligible for postseason awards after missing a certain number of regular season games.
If these leagues want to call it an All Star Game, then allow deserving stars to appear, instead of a glorified celebrity game, which is typically the day before.
-JC24