I'm relieved that the ASG rosters this year seem to be relatively free of bullshit. No inexplicable middle relief choices that confuse me, no Rob Manfred insisting on including two veterans that weren't in the conversation, and thanks to Dusty Baker and Rob Thomson, no managers claiming multiple spots by people in their own squad. While I'm fine with Baker's selections...it wouldn't have killed Thomson to add one more Phillie?
Whatever. In any case, I'll go through the full ASG rosters for each league, player by player to see if they're choices I would have made. Here we go:
AL RESERVES:
C: Salvador Perez, Royals. If this is KC's only nominee, I'm fine with it, Salvy's one of the best catchers of his era.
C: Adley Rutschman, Orioles. Should be starting.
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays. Also should be starting.
2B: Whit Merrifield, Blue Jays. I didn't vote for him to start but he's a cool depth pick.
SS: Bo Bichette, Blue Jays. Yeah, he also should be starting. Odd that Wander Franco did not make the team, though. Extremely odd. Pretty much all the second placers made it on save for, somehow, Matt Chapman.
3B: Jose Ramirez, Guardians. Kind of a foregone conclusion.
OF/DH: Brent Rooker, Athletics. The only A, and a good pick. If they were feeling ballsy, they would have put up Esteury Ruiz so he could steal some bases late in the game.
OF: Luis Robert Jr., White Sox. Another easy pick, he's been killing it this year.
OF: Austin Hays, Orioles. On one hand, I'm still bitter Cedric Mullins didn't do better in the voting. On the other, Hays has been excellent this year and is a solid pick on multiple levels. It may not be as starry of a pick as people were hoping, as Julio Rodriguez, Jarred Kelenic, or Byron Buxton didn't make it on, but it's a smart pick.
OF/DH: Yordan Alvarez, Astros. Of course.
OF: Adolis Garcia, Rangers. With all the RBIs he's been putting up, he'd ought to be.
SP: Shohei Ohtani, Angels. Might even be starting.
SP: Gerrit Cole, Yankees. The only non-Judge Yankee pick, and if this frigging toe thing continues to keep Judge off the field, possibly the only Yankee on these rosters. Which, while sad, is somewhat understandable. I'll hold out for Rizzo though.
SP: Luis Castillo, Mariners. At the moment the only Mariner, which is a little tone-deaf honestly but hey Dusty Baker is managing this team after all.
SP: Sonny Gray, Twins. Only Minnesota rep, which is also bizarre considering Joe Ryan's year.
SP: Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers. Another obvious one.
SP: Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays. With the amount of people he's been striking out, I'd be surprised if he wasn't.
SP: Shane McClanahan, Rays. Will likely be missing the game. It'd be so ironic if Joe Ryan got this spot. The rare Rays farmhand that got away.
SP: Framber Valdez, Astros. Valid pick, but he's also just experiencing some injuries, I think.
SP: Michael Lorenzen, Tigers. SURPRIIIISE. You all thought you were getting Eddie Rodriguez, didn't you? As fun as Lorenzen is, I think it's a really odd pick, and I genuinely thought the Tigers spot was going to Jason Foley, who's had a great season in relief. Am I really hearing myself say I'd prefer the anonymous middle reliever to the right-hook starter?
RP: Kenley Jansen, Red Sox. How odd is it that Kenley's the only Red Sock on the roster? That's astonishing.
RP: Emmanuel Clase, Guardians. Another easy one.
RP: Felix Bautista, Orioles. I'd hoped he'd make the team, and thankfully he did.
RP: Yennier Cano, Orioles. The only straight middle reliever on the list. If I had to pick one middle reliever out of the whole league, the guy that took like 2 months to allow a run might be very high on my list.
NL RESERVES:
C: Will Smith, Dodgers. AT LAST. Should be starting.
C: Elias Diaz, Rockies. Only Colorado rep, and a pretty understandable one.
1B: Matt Olson, Braves. Like the Blue Jays' infield, the Braves' infield gets redemption from their fanbases just not showing up for the final round of voting.
1B: Pete Alonso, Mets. Lindor doesn't get a makeup nod but the home-run hitting machine sure does. Only Met on the roster, which is odd. Also odd that this means there was no room for Goldschmidt, though.
2B: Ozzie Albies, Braves. Of course. Thairo Estrada snubbed though.
3B: Austin Riley, Braves. Ke'Bryan Hayes snubbed.
SS: Dansby Swanson, Cubs. I like this pick, it makes up for the baffling absence of Swanson from the final round.
OF/DH: Jorge Soler, Marlins. That's a fun pick, and I think I like it.
OF: Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Diamondbacks. Very much a makeup pick, and while I'm fine with another Diamondback getting rewarded, there were plenty of other cool NL outfielders that could have benefitted from this spot. Bryan Reynolds? Christian Yelich? Brandon Nimmo?
OF: Nick Castellanos, Phillies. On a team with as many great starters as the Phils have, Rob only allowed himself one pick. That is the Canadian humility you hear a lot about. Live a little, Wheeler could have come along. Happy for Casty though, he's been wonderful this year.
OF: Juan Soto, Padres. Picking him over Tatis is a bold move, but Soto has been there since the beginning of the year, and he's gotten so much better during June. He's also still one of the biggest stars in the game.
SP: Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks. I'd be worried if he wasn't.
SP: Spencer Strider, Braves. He should have been on last year's. Happy he finally made it, though.
SP: Bryce Elder, Braves. Slightly surprising, but considering just how good he's been for the Braves in Fried and Wright's absence, I like this pick a lot.
SP: Justin Steele, Cubs. Absolutely.
SP: Mitch Keller, Pirates. A bit unfair that Keller's the only Pirate on the roster, as Reynolds, Hayes, Bednar or Cutch could have joined, but you never know who'll drop out and provide a spot for one of them.
SP: Josiah Gray, Nationals. On one hand, not a ton of other options for Nats for this roster. On the other, even for the Nats this isn't a perfect pick. But again, other than Lane Thomas I can't think of many other people I'd put up instead.
SP: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers. Absolutely. I feel like I heard something about an injury a few nights ago? Then again, for all the times he's been injured I kinda want him to be healthy for this one.
SP: Marcus Stroman, Cubs. I am also fine with this pick. Pretty strong group of starters, and with many lesser picks being one-and-dones, not sure who I'd sacrifice to get Wheeler or Logan Webb anyhow.
RP: Alexis Diaz, Reds. Only Reds pick, which I sort of get because all the great starters are injured and all the great hitters are either blocked or don't have full season stats. Diaz has had a wonderful year.
RP: Josh Hader, Padres. Of course.
RP: Devin Williams, Brewers. Only Milwaukee rep somehow, but even still it's a pretty awesome one.
RP: Camilo Doval, Giants. I don't think he should be the only Giants rep, but he's still one of the best closers in the game right now so I'm not exactly complaining.
This could change somewhat in the next few weeks. I think a lot of these guys are healthy, but something asinine could happen in the leadup. There will probably be some sensible replacements and some hare-brained ones. I'm prepared for all outcomes.
I do think that for the most part, they got a lot right with these rosters. Some mild issues, but I get why some of these decisions were made.
Way more 1 representative teams than I was expecting.
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