Blue Jays: All-Star starters announced; Kirk and Guerrero Jr. make roster

The Toronto Blue Jays dropped the second game of the series last night in Seattle, losing in extra innings on a Eugenio Suarez home run to put the game away 5-2.

The pitching wasn’t so much the issue today until Sergio Romo gave up the home run but the Blue Jays bats couldn’t bring runners in. The club had 12 hits on the day and everyone except Cavan Biggio put a number in the hit column but there were too many players left on base and the club could not capitalize while also striking out 12 times. They are not going to win many ball games putting up just two runs.

While the Jays are in some sort of funk right now, there is some positive news in regards to the All-Star game, as the starters were announced last night and both Alejandro Kirk and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had been named to the AL squad.

Kirk has been one of the most dominant catchers in the AL this year and it shows because of how he outpaced runner-up Yankees catcher Jose Trevino the entire time All-Star voting was open. The Mexican-born catcher is tied with Willson Contreras in terms of catcher fWAR at 2.9 and he owns a .310/.395/.485 line on the year with 10 home runs, 33 RBI, and a .880 OPS.

The All-Star Game starters were announced yesterday and the Blue Jays have two players who made the roster in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk.

Also heading to Los Angeles later this month is first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who edged out Mariners’ first baseman Ty France for the starting role. The Jays slugger had a somewhat slow start to the campaign but has found a groove as of late, batting .357 through his last seven games and seeing his OPS rise to .843 on the year. He also leads the Jays with 19 home runs, 54 RBI, and a .492 slugging on the year. Guerrero Jr.’s 1.8 fWAR is not top amongst the AL first baseman but Blue Jays fans rallied behind their star player and now he is starting the MLB All-Star Game.

The Blue Jays also had three players finish runner-up in voting: Bo Bichette (SS), George Springer (OF), and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (OF). While they may not be named starters, there is a chance all three could be named to the squad later this Sunday, while pitchers are being voted on by a player ballot as well as by the commissioner’s office, with Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, and Jordan Romano on the radar to be selected this year.