Throughout the season the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we discussed the disappointing Mets and Padres. This week we're going to tackle the All-Star Game starters.
Who should be the All-Star Game starting pitchers?
R.J. Anderson: As always, there are plenty of defensible combinations. My vote here means absolutely nothing, even to myself, and so I feel free to write that I'm a sucker for having the host team's pitcher start the game. That means Luis Castillo for the AL. Over in the NL, I suppose Justin Steele or Bryce Elder are two of the top logical choices. I'll go with Steele.
Dayn Perry: Obviously I'd choose Ohtani if that were possible, but his blister issues aren't going to allow that to happen. I'd also go with Kershaw in the NL, but his shoulder's barking. So ... My All-Star philosophy is that my selections need to be a blend of established star power, or something close to it, and in-season performance. In other words, I'm not going to pick a nobody who had an out-of-character first half, and I'm also not going to pick a future Hall of Famer who's been trash during the season in question. Those guidelines lead me to Gerrit Cole in the AL. The NL is a tougher call, but I'll narrowly lean Marcus Stroman. Whatever, man.
Matt Snyder: I think a rematch would've been pretty cool, but both Clayton Kershaw and Shane McClanahan are going through injuries. I obviously see the case for Shohei Ohtani, but he could sure use a break and has had multiple brushes with injury on the mound recently. Now that we've eliminated a few huge names, we can dive in.
On the NL side, I'll go with Marcus Stroman. He's a bit of a bigger name than Elder and Steele and has been toward the top of the NL leaderboards in rate stats for the whole season. He's also a showman and that tracks with what the All-Star Game is all about. There's the added bonus of Stroman being set for free agency after the season, in all likelihood, and the possibility that the Cubs end up as sellers later in the month.
Over in the AL, I'll take Gerrit Cole. There's a "lifetime achievement" element to it, as he's never started the All-Star Game, but he's deserving. He leads AL pitchers in Baseball-Reference's version of WAR while sitting toward the top in ERA, innings and strikeouts.
Mike Axisa: Yeah, Shohei Ohtani was the first guy who jumped to mind for me -- the All-Star Game is a meaningless exhibition, so get the game's biggest star front and center -- but that won't happen because of his recent blister issue. I'm with R.J. I like it when the host team's pitcher gets the nod, though I wouldn't go with Castillo. George Kirby was added as a replacement earlier this week and I would like to see him start. His 86/9 K/BB is just absurd. Gerrit Cole would be my backup plan, then Joe Ryan.
As for the NL, Marcus Stroman is a solid pick, plus he's a bit of a showman who would have fun with it. I'm gonna go with Spencer Strider though. He entered play Wednesday with 30 (!) more strikeouts than anyone else in the NL despite ranking only 14th in the league in the innings. Nothing will top Pedro Martinez in the 1999 All-Star Game, but Strider against Corey Seager, Randy Arozarena, and Ohtani in the first inning would be pretty electric. Those are my picks: Kirby and Strider.
