ARLINGTON, Texas — Most fans would be able to tell you who should qualify as an All-Star on their team; even the bad ones will have at least one representative at T-Mobile Park in Seattle for the festivities this summer.
The Texas Rangers, however, are in a position where they could reasonably send half of their starting nine and nobody might bat an eye.
The Rangers have weathered the storm of having a lackluster bullpen and from losing arguably the best pitcher in baseball with Jacob deGrom out for the season. Thanks to a dynamic lineup that leads the game in runs scored, and a starting rotation that has held its own, they’ve produced the third-best record in the league and are atop the American League West standings.
Here’s a look at the players who could wind up on the All-Star team for Texas:
Marcus Semien - Second Base
After a slow start led to a lackluster first year with the Rangers, Semien has been incredible in 2023. While Jose Altuve of the Astros may be the first name you think of when you think of an All-Star second baseman, Altuve has been injured for most of the year. The rest of the field isn’t as noteworthy, but with how Semien has been producing, it might not matter who else is on the ballot.
Over 66 games, Semien has slashed .288/.353/.474. He owns the longest hitting streak in baseball this year at 25 games, a mark that ties for second-best in Rangers’ franchise history with Michael Young and Ian Kinsler.
The slash line and the hitting streak are impressive, without a doubt, but Semien is performing like the best second baseman in the big leagues right now and has worked his way into early MVP conversations. On top of leading all second basemen with his slash line, he leads them in WAR, RBI, hits, doubles and triples. He’s also playing Gold Glove caliber defense. Atop the voting at the position with 707,712 votes, Semien looks to be headed to his second career All-Star appearance.
Jonah Heim – Catcher
The 27-year-old backstop from Buffalo, New York, trained to help his endurance over the offseason after a season in which he was worn down with a heavier workload as a first-time No. 1 catcher. That work has paid off at the plate and behind it.
Heim is one of the top-rated catchers when it comes to framing and has caught 26% of would-be base stealers.
Offensively, Heim sits in the top three of American League catchers in batting average and slugging and leads AL catchers in RBI and runs scored. For the season, in 56 games, Heim is slashing .280/.333/.449, which is tops in the American League. Though currently sitting second in the voting at more than 140,000 votes behind Baltimore Orioles’ backstop Adley Rutschman, Heim would be a worthy selection to make his first All-Star team.
Josh Jung – Third Base
Can a rookie start the All-Star Game? If they’re playing at the rate that Rangers’ third baseman Josh Jung is playing, absolutely.
Jung, who had a cup of coffee or two with the big league club last year has completely burst onto the scene this season.
Jung has earned Rookie of the Month honors twice in a row to start the season, and earned is an understatement. The 25-year-old dominated the rookie field for the first two months of the season, posting a .287/.337/.506 slash line with 13 homers and 40 RBI. He leads all third basemen, including the current AL hot corner vote-leader Matt Chapman, in hits, runs and batting average, all while playing above-average defense.
Jung is close to Chapman in the voting with a little under 5,000 votes separating the two.
Corey Seager – Shortstop
Possibly the only reason that the Rangers’ $325 million man is not leading Bo Bichette in All-Star votes for the starting shortstop gig is because he missed a month of the season.
Despite the absence, Seager has still put up excellent numbers that might be enough for him to earn himself a second All-Star bid with Texas.
Seager only recently crossed the 125 plate appearance mark. Out of all the players in the majors that have crossed that threshold, Seager is second in batting average, third in slugging, tenth in on-base percentage and second in OPS.
Toronto’s Bichette is the AL’s leading vote-getter at shortstop, and he’s rocking a tantalizing slash line of .317/.349/.509 of his own in over 300 plate appearances. Seager, in fewer than half of that many plate appearances, has a better slash line of .348/.409/.600. The pace that Seager is on is other-worldly, and while Bichette is roughly 400,000 votes up on Seager, the Texas shortstop might be beating down the door for another appearance at the Midsummer Classic.
Adolis Garcia – Outfield
The flashy outfielder from Cuba has an All-Star appearance under his belt when he made the team as a rookie back in 2021. Around this same time in that year, Garcia was slashing .272/.306/.525. This season, he’s right around the same mark at .263/.328/.498.
For the majority of the year, Garcia has been trading the RBI lead in the big leagues with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez is sitting at 55 RBI and recently went on the injured list, while Garcia is right on his heels at 54. The other big draw for Garcia is the stellar defense he exhibits in the outfield – particularly his arm. Garcia already has nine outfield assists, which leads the league.
Garcia is not the most household name among the leading vote-getters, with former MVPs like Aaron Judge and Mike Trout at the top. Therefore, Garcia will have to surpass Kevin Kiermaier, Randy Arozarena and Yordan Alvarez to get in as a starter, as he sits in 6th place in the AL outfield with just over 300,000 votes.
Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray – Pitching Staff
Texas might also send a couple of pitchers to the All-Star Game, and while it’s the managers and league office that will choose the All-Star staff, the performances this season from hurlers such as Eovaldi and Gray can’t be overlooked.
Eovaldi is third in baseball in fWAR among pitchers while sporting a 9-2 record fresh off AL May Pitcher of the Month honors. Gray, meanwhile, is 6-2 with a team-leading 2.32 ERA. The fact that the lineup has been so productive might leave Texas pitchers with little room on a crowded AL team, but Eovaldi in particular is deserving of a spot on the All-Star roster.
Realistically, the Rangers could have as many as six or seven representatives in Seattle, whether as starters or replacements, with three or four looking very likely. Texas set out to make 2023 the year that they finally escape rebuilding and those efforts are beginning to look like they will bear All-Star accolades.
Which Rangers do you think are most deserving of an All-Star nod? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
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