Prince Fielder Lone All-Star From Texas Rangers
The full rosters for the American and National League All-Star Teams were released today, and Prince Fielder was the only player from the Texas Rangers selected to the squad. Fielder has had a comeback season after returning from a serious neck injury, batting .347 to go along with 13 homers and 50 RBIs in 81 games thus far, trailing only Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in batting average. Prince has solidified the middle of a Rangers lineup that in the past few years has struggled to produce runs. But even in the absence of Adrian Beltre, Fielder has continued to contribute and is more than deserving of his sixth All-Star selection.
Fielder will serve as the designated hitter for the AL, beating out New York Yankees Third Baseman Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod, who recently recorded his 3,00th hit and passed Willie Mays for 4th on the All Time Home Run List, was left off the roster, much to the chagrin of Yankee fans.
Unfortunately for Rangers fans, there were more than a few snubs from Jeff Banister‘s ball club, the most gut wrenching being Mitch Moreland. The first baseman has been on an absolute tear as of late and is putting up the best numbers of his career, batting .365 for the month of June and leads Texas in home runs at 14. Most recently, he had consecutive multi-homerun games against the Baltimore Orioles to lead the team to a series victory.
Next: Texas Rangers Week In Review: Who's Hot, Who's Not??
Starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo was also not selected for the All-Star game, despite being on a streak of 29 scoreless innings, a feat that dates back 5 starts. Even though he doesn’t have the same numbers as many of the pitchers selected (7-6, 2.53 ERA), Gallardo has been the Rangers most consistent pitcher all season and has embraced the role as “ace,” at least until Derek Holland and Yu Darvish return.
The Kansas City Royals had four players selected as starters to the All-Star Game for the American League, with outfielders Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar and catcher Salvador Perez getting the nod. Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson set a record for voting, with more than 14 million votes being cast for him. The rest of the starters for the American League include Miguel Cabrera at first, Jose Altuve at second, and Mike Trout rounding out the outfield.
In the National League, Bryce Harper led all vote getters with 13.9 million votes, but will not compete in the home run derby, since his father will be unable to pitch to him. Harper finished runner up in the 2013 Derby. The NL starting lineup will consist of Paul Goldschmidt at first, Dee Gordon at second, Jhonny Peralta at shortstop, Todd Frazier at third, Buster Posey behind the plate and Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Holliday in the outfield with Harper.
The 2015 MLB All-Star Game will be Tuesday July 14th at 6:00 p.m. on FOX.