Jose Berrios will have plenty of company from the AL Central at the All-Star Game:
Central Division insights
July 14, 2018 at 11:33PM
Cleveland has more All-Stars than the rest of the division combined. Jose Ramirez was elected to start at third base, based on his 29-homer season. The players voted Corey Kluber, shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Michael Brantley to the team. Trevor Bauer was added for Justin Verlander, who pitches Sunday for the Houston Astros.
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Players voted Salvador Perez onto the team as Kansas City's lone representative, but even he seemed to acknowledge it was more because of reputation than production. Perez was batting just .217 into Saturday's game — second baseman Whit Merrifield (.305, five homers, 30 RBI) had a far stronger case — yet the Royals catcher was chosen for a sixth consecutive year.
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Joe Jimenez has only thrown 60 innings in his major league career, and 34 of his 44 outings this year came in the eighth inning. But with Miguel Cabrera and Shane Greene injured, the 23-year-old setup man was the most deserving Tigers All-Star this season. Still, it was a shock: Jimenez (4-1, 2.85 ERA) cried upon being informed he'd been chosen.
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Though he is batting only .208 since May 20, Jose Abreu received 1.8 million votes and was elected by fans to start at first base. Abreu will be the first White Sox position player to start the All-Star Game since 1996, when Frank Thomas earned the honor. Abreu also made the team as a rookie in 2014.
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Twins shortstop Carlos Correa is arguably their best player and easily their most expensive one. He’s frequently injured and a payroll-strapped team is up for sale. It feels like the Twins can’t afford to keep Correa, but the same is true of losing him.
