For the last month or so, Yankees ace Cam Schlittler has been the runaway favorite to start the All-Star Game for the American League: his 2.05 ERA is second in all of baseball, behind only Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, and his 3.5 fWAR and 137 strikeouts trail only Toronto’s Dylan Cease — who publicly backed Schlittler’s case to start just this past week. On top of that, Major League Baseball loves to fill the Midsummer Classic with good narratives, among AL pitchers, it’s hard to find one better
than the Massachusetts kid who made his debut last July, shut down Boston in the postseason, and emerged this year as one of the sport’s premier starters.
Unfortunately, anyone looking to see the Yankees’ young ace take the mound in Philadelphia on Tuesday will be disappointed. Prior to today’s game, The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty revealed that Schlittler has declined to pitch in the All-Star Game.
Fortunately, as the YES Network’s James Smyth revealed just a few minutes later, Schlittler is indeed healthy (and beat writer Gary Phillips confirmed); he has simply opted not to push himself on his throw day and will focus on enjoying the festivities and preparing for the rest of the season. He would have been going on three days’ rest because he pitched yesterday in the win over the Nationals.
Although it hasn’t been officially announced yet, Cease is now the favorite to get the start for the American League. The Blue Jays ace is certainly not undeserving, who added onto his regular season stats a no-hit bid earlier this week.
As much as this is a bummer, this shouldn’t ultimately be too surprising: with 118 innings under his belt already, he is well on track to blow past the 164 he threw last year between Somerset, Scranton, and the Bronx (playoffs included). Fortunately, even with Yankees captain Aaron Judge on the shelf, the Bombers will be well-represented in Philly.
Cody Bellinger, named to the team as a reserve, has already been inserted into the starting lineup due to injuries to Judge and Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton, while Ben Rice is now expected to replace Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first after A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz — originally selected to start at first when Vladito declined the invitation — was placed on the IL earlier this week, though as of now, no announcements have been made). Rice will also be competing in tomorrow’s Home Run Derby as well.
