Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and Houston Astros outfielder Michael Brantley are among the players who have decided not play in the All-Star Game, while St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was among the 10 replacements announced Saturday and will make his 10th appearance.
MLB announced the selections of 10 players to the active All-Star rosters as replacements for All-Stars unable to participate in Tuesday’s game at Coors Field in Denver.
American League replacements include shortstop Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox), starting pitcher Chris Bassitt (Oakland Athletics), second baseman Whit Merrifield (Kansas City Royals) and shortstop Joey Wendle (Tampa Bay Rays).
In the National League, the new All-Stars include Molina, pitchers Walker Buehler (Dodgers), Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee Brewers), Max Scherzer (Washington Nationals) and Taijuan Walker (New York Mets), and third baseman Justin Turner (Dodgers).
The players who will be in active in the 2021 All-Star Game include two pitchers scheduled to start for their respective clubs Sunday — Kevin Gausman (San Francisco Giants) and Brandon Woodruff (Brewers); seven players who are out with an injury — Betts, Brantley, Jose Altuve (Astros), Carlos Correa (Astros), Jacob deGrom (Mets), Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres) and Buster Posey (Giants); and one player out on paternity — Ryan Pressly (Astros).
The appointments of Anderson and Merrifield in the AL come via the player ballot to replace the player-elected Correa and Altuve, respectively. Molina will replace Posey on the NL roster, while Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto, who finished second on the player vallot, will start in Posey’s place.
Molina becomes an All-Star for the 10th time in his career, marking the most among 2021 All-Stars, while Scherzer makes his eighth trip.
Buehler, Merrifield and Turner will each appear on an All-Star roster for the second time, and Anderson, Bassitt, Peralta, Walker and Wendle each earn their first selections — making it a record-tying 39 first-time All-Stars.
It also marks the third consecutive All-Star Game with at least 30 players making their debut on an All-Star roster. At least 30 players have now been first time All-Stars in seven of the last eight, and nine of the last 11 installments.
With the additions of Molina and Peralta, there are now 24 internationally-born players on the All-Star rosters (15 AL, 9 NL), including players from the Dominican Republic (8), Venezuela (5), Japan (3), Cuba (2), Puerto Rico (2), Aruba (1), Australia (1), Canada (1) and Curaçao (1).