Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz, and Matt Wieters Voted Starters For All Star Game
MLB–The Orioles will once again be well-represented at this year’s All-Star Game, with Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters all selected as American League starters during Sunday night’s Taco Bell All-Star Selection Show on ESPN.
Coming off a series win against the Boston Red Sox, it was announced that outfielder Adam Jones, DH Nelson Cruz, and injured catcher Matt Wieters were voted as starters for the 2014 All Star Game at Target Field in Minnesota. This is the third year in a row the Orioles will have three or more representatives and the second year in a row they have three starters, making them the only A.L. team with more than one starter.
Adam Jones
Adam Jones makes his second start for the A.L. squad and his fourth trip overall. Jones started off the year slow but has rebounded and is now hitting .310 with 16 bombs and 53 rbis this year. His play in the field speaks for itself, he makes some great catches, and has a hell of an arm.
A four time Gold Glove winner, Jones trailed Melky Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes by about 400,000 votes with just under two weeks left and made a hell of a push to grab the last starting spot. But lets be real, Jones has better numbers than both Cespedes and Cabrera, he deserved to be starting.
Nelson Cruz
Red hot Nelson Cruz will make his first start and third trip overall to the All Star game, and deservingly so. Cruz, who has been one of the best free agent pick ups this season, has been one of the Orioles best hitters so far. Cruz has come up huge for the O’s this year, whether it is a game winning home run on Opening Day, or a game tying grand slam against the White Sox last week. He does it all.
Cruz is tied for first in home runs with 27, leads the league in RBI, and is batting .290. Already matching his home run total from last year, Cruz beat out Boston’s Big Sloppy David Ortiz and Detroit’s Victor Martinez. Even though John Lackey may not approve of Cruz making the team, who cares, the guy is a fantastic hitter, has as much power as anyone in the league, and has earned his right to be an All Star.
Matt Wieters
Even though he hasn’t played since May 10th, Catcher Matt Wieters was named to his third All Star team, and awarded his first start. Wieters beat out Oakland’s Derrick Norris by just over 12,000 votes. Due to his recent Tommy John surgery, Wieters is unable to play, but will attend the event. You gotta be pretty good to not play for almost two months and STILL be named an All Star starter.
Wieters was killing this ball this year, batting .308 with 5 home runs and 18 batted in while playing in 26 games. His defense had noticeably been on the decline this season, due to his elbow injury. It is awesome to see Wieters be recognized, and it sucks he can’t play.
Snubs
One Oriole player I thought had a chance to sneak in on the Final 5 vote was Nick Markakis. Nick is having one of his best years ever and it would have been great to see him finally make an All Star team, not sure what else he has to do to get recognized. Relievers Zach Britton and Darren O’Day also have had fantastic years and I thought could have made the team. Oh well, three starters is pretty cool.
The Orioles have come a long way since having Ty Wigginton be their lone representative in the All Star game, glad to see their best players are finally getting the recognition they deserve.
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