Cedric Mullins of the Baltimore Orioles has been the best outfielder in the American League thus far during the first half of the season. He’s potentially been the best across Major League Baseball. He’s hitting .322 with 14 HR’s, 99 H, and a WAR of 4.0. He’s also made numerous incredible plays in the field, which vouch for his greatness.
Yet the fans didn’t see fit to vote him as a starter on the AL All-Star squad. He’ll be there, don’t worry about that. But he wasn’t voted as a starter. Instead, Teoscar Hernandez, Aaron Judge, and Mike Trout were voted starters.
Judge has been average at best thus far. Hernandez is good – but is he starter good? And Mike Trout is Mike Trout. He speaks for himself, but he’s also been injured for the past month. So should he really be starting?
And a lot of analysts think that’s where Mullins will have his wrong righted. They’ll replace him on the roster with Mullins. But the fact remains that he should have been there to begin with.
Is that the fault of the fans, or is it due to the fact that the Orioles aren’t a contender? Well keep in mind that the Orioles struggled to get players voted onto the team even when they were a contender. They’ve always been a small market team. Casual fans aren’t jumping on their bandwagon. Unfortunately that’s just a fact. So the Trout’s and the Judge’s of the world will always be put forth for the ASG.
Again, Mullins will get his day in the sun. He will be on the team. Hopefully as a starter.
The Birds find themselves out on the West Coast this Fourth of July weekend, and they open up a series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this evening at Angel Stadium. Keegan Akin gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Los Angeles’ Griffin Canning. Game time is set for just after 9:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 