A Look at the Potential 2019 Tribe All-Stars

Voting for the 2019 All-Star starters begins at noon on June 26th with the top three at each position already selected by fan vote, but that represents just nine of the 31 roster spots for the American League. The players and around the league will decide the rest with the commissioners office filling in the gaps to make sure every team is represented and there is a good mix of position players and pitching. Let’s take a look at the chances for the 2019 Indians beyond Carlos Santana, who could still be selected as the starting first baseman. All stats from 6/25.

Catcher

Many questioned the Indians front office for the trade of Yan Gomes last off-season knowing that it meant Roberto Perez has been handed the starting job. With Daniel Johnson, Jefry Rodriguez and Andruw Monasterio all performing well those concerns have largely dissipated, but the greatest reason for not thinking about Gomes has been the performance of Perez.

Perez stands currently as the fourth best defensive catcher in the AL behind Christian Vazquez, Danny Janson and Martin Maldonado. Of these four, Perez is the only one to have a significant offensive addition to his game. Of course, Perez is far behind the three qualifiers offensively as Gary Sanchez, Robinson Chirinos and James McCann lead the way with Seattle’s Omar Narvaez and Minnesota’s Mitch Garver not far behind.

While Perez’s offensive performance has been a pleasant surprise for the normally defense centered catcher, it probably won’t be enough to get him into the All-Star game this year with so many great offensive producers. If MLB does want to reward a defensive catcher, they will probably go with the Red Sox Vazquez or Garver.

Short Stop

There was quite a bit of disappointment in Cleveland when it was announced that Francisco Lindor wasn’t among the three short stop finalists announced, Carlos Correa, Jorge Polanco and Gleyber Torres. Of course, this was probably due to the fact that he has played about 20 fewer games than the leaders at this position thanks to his early season ankle injury.

Since returning, however, Lindor has played as well as anyone, matching or surpassing all contenders’ slash lines with the exception of the  slugging of Xander Bogaerts and Torres. I’m aware that many think this is a huge snub, but it’s as big or an even bigger omission that Bogaerts and the A’s Marcus Semien were not included. Semien currently leads all short stops in defensive runs saved and has produced offensively among the leaders.

I personally would rank the short stops: Bogaerts, Torres, Semien, Lindor, Polanco, Tim Anderson, then Correa which would leave Lindor on the outside looking in. The one benefit for both Lindor and Anderson is they have good stories (Lindor to play in his home town, Anderson for becoming the representation of fun in baseball) and that Torres will almost certainly be selected as the starter. Bogaerts should absolutely be on the squad, so there should be room for one of Lindor, Semien, Polanco, Anderson and Correa and it could be a close call at the end.

Starting Pitcher

This was supposed to be the year of Trevor Bauer, especially after Corey Kluber‘s broken arm made him the defacto ace, but none of the Indians big name starters will be in the All-Star game this year. Instead, Shane Bieber has the strongest case with a WAR of 2.0, K/9 of 11.58 and ERA at 3.84.

However, as good as he has been, he ranks fairly far down the list of top pitching performers this year. Justin Verlander and Chris Sale have been amazing and will likely be automatic picks while Charlie Morton and Jake Odorizzi have been fantastic and deserve some consideration to be the AL’s starter. Matthew Boyd could be the only Tiger in the game and Frankie Montas and Lucas Giolito have also been great. The list of pitchers who throw the day before the All-Star game that are named to the team, but ineligible to pitch always makes the staff go deeper into the league, so Bieber has a chance, but will probably be left off the roster.

Bullpen

If the Indians could only have one All-Star in 2019, it would be Carlos Santana. If they get two, it will be Santana and Brad Hand. Hand currently leads all AL relievers in WAR, saves, save conversion rate, second in ERA and FIP (Shane Greene has a sub 1.00 ERA, but an FIP above 3.50) and sixth in K/9.

While Hand should be getting accolades for being the top closer in the AL and should make the team, there is another man worthy of a look. Nick Wittgren has a 2.76 ERA held up by a 2.40 FIP and has been worth 0.9 WAR in almost 30 innings. His K/9 of 9.8 would once have been top of the league, but is now average, but his BB/9 of 1.53 is 8th in the AL. Wittgren may barely be in the top ten AL relievers right now and the bullpen is often where moves are made to make sure every team has a representative (if it isn’t Boyd for the Tigers, it could be Greene and Ken Giles should be in for Toronto), but he remains among the top five non-closer relievers and should get some consideration for a spot in the AL pen.