Baseball Midway and 2023 All Stars

Baseball Midway and 2023 All Stars Rosters

By David A. Avila

Let’s stop the baseball treadmill right here.

It’s halfway through the season and a few surprise teams are leading their respective divisions and a few others are closer than expected.

Arizona Diamondbacks behind strong pitching led by Zac Gallen lead the always powerful Los Angeles Dodgers by three games. Pitching proves to be the difference, but the D-Backs also have a better hitting attack this year too.

A few reasons can be pointed out.

The pitch clock has affected many teams for many different reasons. Pitchers can no longer linger around the mound and more than a few do not like to be rushed. Dodger left-hander Julio Urias, and San Diego fireballer Yu Darvish for example.

Stealing bases has also changed the dynamic now that pitchers can only throw to first base once.

And third, the removal of defensive shifts has opened up the field for pull hitters.

Arizona has benefitted the most from these new changes and leads in steals. They win with a wide-open attack for their younger players like Corbin Carroll. The 22-year-old from Seattle, Washington stands 5-10 and supposedly weighs 165. Not likely. But he can run swiftly and has proven to be a triple threat.

Carroll was voted into the NL All Stars in his second year. Last year he only played 32 games but it was enough to prove to the Arizona brain trust that they have a very good ballplayer in outfielder Carroll. He has 17 homers and 22 stolen bases to spearhead the D-Backs attack.

Along with the trade for Lourdes Gurriel the D-Backs added some needed offense to help Christian Walker drive the offense. It’s a balanced team.

Dodgers

This has been a painful year for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Picked to win the division by most it was always assumed that the San Diego Padres would give the Dodgers the most competition.

When the Padres loaded up the batting lineup with the addition of shortstop slugger Xander Bogaerts but the team just hasn’t clicked. Yet. It’s a very talented team and could wake up in the second half.

The Dodgers on the other hand are suffering injury after injury to their pitching staff. Though Clayton Kershaw is having his best year in a while, he just was added to the injury list and will sit down for a few weeks.

Only Tony Gonsolin remains from the vaunted starting staff expected to lead the way. And Gonsolin is not having a great year.

Julio Urias finally returned after more than a month on the injury list and was promptly beaten by the Kansas City Royals. It was not the return the Dodgers were hoping to see.

This year Dustin May, Walker Buehler, are out and expected to be unavailable until late in the season. The deep Dodger pitching staff is being stretched to its limits and forced to use rookies like Michael Grove, Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan. Though the rookies have performed well, will they be enough to offset the losses to injuries?

Kershaw’s loss, if more than two weeks, will be the deepest loss of all.

Offensively, the Dodgers possess one of the most dangerous batting lineups in baseball. But offense is never enough to win a tough division like the NL West. Pitching is key. The Dodgers are hoping to remain in playoff contention. During the playoffs anything can happen.

Angels

Shohei Ohtani was voted AL Player of the Week and also AL Player of the Month. What else needs to be said about the greatest player baseball has ever seen.

If Ohtani can lead the Angels into the playoffs, that will be his greatest feat.

Not since 2014 have the Angels played in the playoffs.

Despite having the best player in baseball for years in Mike Trout, they could not reach the after season. Now they have the two best players and still are not there yet. But they are awful close now.

The Angels recently obtained Eduardo Escobar from the New York Mets to help their defensive and offensive needs. It was a brilliant move to deepen the Angel roster especially with Anthony Rendon always injured. But when healthy, Rendon bolsters the team like no other player.

Also the team finally called up David Fletcher from the minors. That will help immensely with Zach Neto still out with an injury.

Neto seems to be the key to the Angels success. Defensively and offensively his sparks the Angel team better than anyone else. He’s their human igniter and when he plays the team seems sharper in all phases of the game.

Here are the 2023 MLB All Star Teams

The 2023  All-Star game takes place on Tuesday July 11, at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington. FOX will televise.

AL

Voted by Fans

Catcher - Jonah Heim, Texas Rangers

1B – Yandy Diaz, Tampa Bay Rays

2B – Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers

SS – Corey Seager, Texas Rangers

3B – Josh Jung, Texas Rangers

DH – Shohei Ohtani, LA Angels

OF – Mike Trout, LA Angels (replaced by Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros)

OF – Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay Rays

OF – Aaron Judge, NY Yankees (replaced by Wander Franco, Tampa Bay Rays)

Voted by AL Players

Catcher – Salvador Perez, KC Royals

Catcher – Adley Rutschman, Balt. Orioles

Inf – Vladimir Guerrero, Tor. Blue Jays

Inf – Whit Merrifield, Tor. Blue Jays

Inf – Bo Bichetter, Tor. Blue Jays

Inf – Jose Ramirez, Cleve, Guardians

OF – Brent Rooker, Oak. A’s

OF – Luis Roberts, Chi. White Sox

OF – Austin Hays, Balt. Orioles

OF – Yordan Alvarez, Hou. Astros (replaced by Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners)

OF – Adolis Garcia, Texas Rangers

Pitchers

SP – Shohei Ohtani, LA Angels

SP – Gerrit Cole, NY Yankees

SP – Luis Castillo, Seattle Mariners

SP – Sonny Gray, Minn. Twins

SP – Nathan Eovaldi, Texas Rangers

SP – Kevin Gausman, Tor. Blue Jays

SP – Shane McClanahan, Tampa Bay Rays (replaced by George Kirby, Seattle Mariners)

SP – Framber Valdez, Hou. Astros

RP – Michael Lorenzen, Det. Tigers

RP – Kenley Jansen, Bos. Red Sox

RP – Emmanuel Clase, Cleve. Guardians

RP – Felix Baustista, Balt. Orioles

RP – Yennier Cano, Balt. Orioles

NL

Voted by the Fans

Catcher – Sean Murphy, Atl. Braves

1B – Freddie Freeman, LA Dodgers

2B – Luis Arraez, Miami Marlins

SS – Orlando Arcia, Atl. Braves

3B – Nolan Arenado, Stl. Cardinals

DH – J.D. Martinez, LA Dodgers

OF – Ronald Acuna, Atl. Braves

OF – Mookie Betts, LA Dodgers

OF – Corbin Carroll, Ariz. Diamondbacks

Voted by NL Players

Catcher – Will Smith, LA Dodgers

Catcher – Elias Diaz, Colo. Rockies

Inf – Matt Olson, Atl. Braves

Inf – Ozzie Albies, Atl. Braves

Inf – Austin Riley, Atl. Braves

Inf – Dansby Swanson, Chi. Cubs

Inf – Pete Alonso, NY Mets

OF – Jorge Soler, Miami Marlins

OF – Lourdes Gurriel, Ariz. Diamondbacks

OF – Nick Castellanos, Phil. Phillies

OF – Juan Soto, San Diego Padres

Pitchers

SP – Zac Gallen, Ariz. Diamondbacks

SP – Marcus Stroman, Chi. Cubs

SP – Spencer Strider, Atl, Braves

SP – Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers (replaced by David Bednar, Pittsburgh Pirates)

SP – Bryce Elder, Atl. Braves

SP – Josiah Gray, Wash. Nationals

SP – Justin Steele, Chi. Cubs

SP – Mitch Keller, Pitt. Pirates

RP – Camilo Doval, San Francisco Giants

RP – Devin Williams, Milw. Brewers

RP – Josh Hader, San Diego Padres

RP – Alexis Diaz, Cin. Reds