Six Yankees will be on the AL All-Star team

The Yankees have been playing like a team loaded with All-Star talent throughout the first half en route to a staggering 61-24 start, and even before today began, they had two All-Stars on the American League squad. MVP candidate Aaron Judge was the first to earn his spot by garnering more votes than anyone in the game. Next was fellow masher Giancarlo Stanton, who got just enough Phase 2 votes to beat out George Springer and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., joining Judge and Mike Trout in the AL outfield.

Late this afternoon, Major League Baseball announced the reserves and pitchers, and a total of six Yankees will be part of the Midsummer Classic festivities at Dodger Stadium on July 19th along with Judge and Stanton.

If someone had come up to a baseball fan on the street in April and said that a Yankees starter would make the All-Star team, 99 percent of them would have guessed Gerrit Cole. And, well, that’s correct; the ace will be an All-Star for the fifth time in his 10-year career on the strength of a rock-solid first half, including 124 strikeouts (third-best in the AL).

But the ace is not alone in terms of rotation representatives! Cole will be joined by first-time All-Star Nestor Cortes, who has gone from non-roster invitee in 2021 to All-Star in 2022. Even with him slowing down a bit in recent weeks, it’s an incredible story for the former 36th-round pick. He has a team-best 2.74 ERA among Yankee starters, not to mention a 1.026 WHIP.

It probably goes without saying that Clay Holmes is an All-Star for the first time, too, since his ascent has been well-documented. At roughly this time last year, he had a 5.57 career ERA in 91 games out of the Pirates bullpen, but the Yankees saw something in his sinker and revamped his approach. Holmes was terrific in the last two months and has been even more dominant in the first half of 2022, posting a 0.46 ERA, 1.76 FIP, and 0.737 WHIP with no homers allowed in 39.1 innings. He’s stepped up as Yankees closer with Aroldis Chapman both ineffective and on the shelf, and is now one of the league’s best relievers.

These pitchers’ valued catcher, Jose Trevino, will also be at Dodger Stadium. He’s been one of the best stories of the season, rising from obscurity at Rangers spring training to the best team in baseball’s primary catcher thanks to a trade completed within a week of Opening Day. Even with a recent slump, he’s hitting .255/.303/.438 with seven homers, a 110 wRC+, and 2.4 fWAR thanks to his outstanding work behind the plate. Like Cortes and Holmes, this will be Trevino’s first career All-Star Game.

There’s an outside chance that more Yankees will make the trip to LA, too, due to injuries or withdrawals from players pitching on the Sunday beforehand. So while the likes of reliever Michael King and Anthony Rizzo are not there yet, it could very well still happen. Stay tuned!