Long Beach State University Athletics
Marco Estrada Named to American League All-Star Team
7/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Long Beach, Calif. - Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game Tuesday, with former Dirtbags starting pitcher Marco Estrada receiving All-Star recognition for the first time in his career. Estrada will represent the Toronto Blue Jays as a member of the American League roster in next week's Midsummer Classic in San Diego.
Tuesday was additionally special for Estrada, who earns his first career All-Star Game nod on his 33rd birthday. The gift was certainly well earned, as the righthander ranks fifth in the American League in ERA at 2.93. He's also second in the AL in WHIP (0.99) and he leads the major leagues in opponent's batting average, allowing just 64 hits in 104.1 innings pitched. Opposing batters are hitting just .173 off Estrada, putting him conformably ahead of the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw (.185), the Cubs' Jake Arrieta (.187), and the rest of the bigs in that category.
Estrada is building off the best season of his career in 2015, when he was 13-8 with a 3.13 ERA in his first season with the Blue Jays, finishing 10th in AL Cy Young voting. He signed a two-year, $26 million contract in the offseason and has put up even better numbers in 2016, tying for the team lead with 99 strikeouts despite pitching through ongoing back trouble.
Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria also has a chance to make the AL All-Star Team, as he checks in as one of five players in the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote. He is joined by Ian Kinsler (DET), Dustin Pedroia (BOS), Michael Saunders (TOR) and George Springer (HOU) in the final group of potential All-Stars. Voting is currently underway at MLB.com and will remain open until 4 p.m. ET on Friday. You can also vote by texting "VOTE" to 89269, or vote on Twitter using the hashtag #VoteLongo.
Long Beach State has now had a former player earn All-Star honors in each of the last nine seasons, with a total of 12 ASG nods going to Dirtbags during that stretch. Troy Tulowitzki leads the way with five selections, followed by Longoria's three, Jered Weaver's three and now Estrada's first ASG selection. Thanks to a five-year run from Jason Giambi, the Dirtbags have had at least one former player make the All-Star Team in 14 of the last 17 years, with a total of 17 All-Star selections since 2000.
The 87th MLB All-Star Game will be played Tuesday, July 12, at Petco Park in San Diego. The game will be broadcast live on FOX with coverage beginning at 4:30 p.m. PT.
