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Jacob Misiorowski's MLB All-Star Game inclusion cheapens the honor

Prince J. Grimes   For The Win

Good morning. The Home Run Derby is tonight! Here's a ranking of the participants by most likely to win.

While there isn't much to gripe about over the stacked field of sluggers in the derby, the same can't be said for the MLB All-Star Game rosters, which rankled a few people in the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse after Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski was named a replacement pitcher over Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and others after a grand total of five career games played.

Their anger is more than understandable. It's supposed to mean something to add that "All-Star" status to a resume.

That's what makes MLB's decision to put Misiorowski in the Midsummer Classic so perplexing. His inclusion over more deserving pitchers after throwing just 25 innings completely cheapens the honor -- even if fans won't mind seeing him hurl 100-mile per hour lasers to some of the best hitters in baseball.

“What a joke,” Trea Turner said, via The Athletic. “That’s [expletive] terrible. I mean, that’s terrible, dude.”

I have to agree here.

Don't get me wrong. I see the other side of this. All-Star games are primarily for fans. That's why the fan vote counts for so much. They determine the eight starting position players. But that's exactly why the league didn't need to go out of its way to appease fans with a replacement pick. A large percentage of the players fans want to see are already going to Atlanta. I'm also not completely sure fans want to see Misiorowski under these circumstances.

With a need to replace Cubs starter Matthew Boyd (whose Saturday start made him ineligible to play in the All-Star Game), the commissioner's office only needed to go with the next most-deserving player. Instead, MLB gave Misiorowski the incredible distinction of having the fewest games played by an All-Star in the league's history, which was never going to go over well with the disrespected players who put in more work to earn the nod.

To be clear, this isn't a knock on Misiorowski, who's been lights out in his short time in the bigs. The 23-year-old started his career with 11 hitless innings and sits on a 2.81 ERA entering the break. But that kind of talent is why the commissioner's office didn't need to force him into an All-Star Game. He'll get there on his own merits soon enough. In the meantime, that nod would've meant a lot more to others.

Sánchez, who has a 2.50 ERA over 19 starts and 115 innings, has a $50,000 bonus in his contract for becoming an All-Star that the Phillies are thankfully still honoring after the league reportedly passed on him due to him declining to pitch in the game two days after starting Sunday, according to The Athletic. Hopefully no one else missed out on that kind of incentive as a result of MLB using an All-Star spot for marketing.

Even if so, the money will pale in comparison to the missed opportunity of forever being able to say they were an X-time All-Star. Whatever that number would've been, they'll never be able to get it back. No worries, though. A few more instances of forced All-Stars and the distinction won't matter as much anyway.

Nationals stun at the top of the 2025 MLB Draft

In a surprise move to many, including oddsmakers, the Washington Nationals selected high school shortstop Eli Willits with the No. 1 pick of the MLB Draft on Sunday.

The Nats were largely expected to go with one of the top college pitchers like Kade Anderson -- or Ethan Holliday if they were going to go with a position player, especially a middle infielder. Instead, they went with the 17-year-old switch-hitter in a move that's almost surely a reflection of new leadership in Washington's front office after the firing of general manager Mike Rizzo just a week earlier.

Here's how the rest of the first round played out:

It's Sinner time

One month after Carlos Alcaraz pulled off one of the greatest tennis comebacks to top Jannik Sinner in a French Open final for the ages, Sinner got his payback with a decisive win over Alcaraz in Sunday's final of the Wimbledon Championships.

This time, not even a fan's errant champagne cork could interrupt the zone of Sinner, who admitted how much work it took for him to emotionally recover from the loss in Paris. Now, he's a four-time Grand Slam champ and his rivalry with Alcaraz is only bigger than it already was.

WIMBLEDON PICS: 8 photos of celebrities enjoying the final

Sinner and Alcaraz have now combined to win the last seven Grand Slam trophies. It's hard to see a path for anyone else interrupting that streak with the way these two are playing.

Quick Hits: J.J. Watt calls out NFLPA contradiction ... CWC drama ...

Thanks for reading. We'll be back with more tomorrow.

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