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They were once All-Stars, glittering like gold. Now they could use less fuel on their own.
MLB released its 2022 All-Star Game ballot, which means the voting season is officially underway. While there will be many first-time All-Stars making their way to Los Angeles, other more established players will be looking to return to the Midsummer Classic. For some, trying to return to the All-Star Game is going better than others.
Several of them have seen their shares decline significantly, and while it’s almost certain they won’t receive another All Star award this year, there’s still a lot of season to turn things around. Let’s take a look at five All-Stars from 2021 that have lost some luster and assess how likely they are to return from here on out.
Sometimes the world will turn you upside down. For these five players, there is still time to go around the streets and shine once more.
It is quite a sure bet that Castellanos will return to form as a striker. His defense is another story.
Wendell Cruz / USA TODAY Sports
OF Nick Castellanos, Phyllis
The value of Castellanos for Phyllis was hampered a bit by Bryce Harper’s elbow injury, which prevented the two-time MVP from playing on the field for most of the season. This forced Castellanos to play on the right pitch every day and the results were disastrous. He ranks last in the position both in the outs above the average and in the defensive rating of FanGraphs. Philadelphia had no idea the 30-year-old needed to play a lot in defense when the team signed him to a five-year, $ 200 million contract this winter, but that was the reality for the first two months of the season.
Working with porous gloves would have been more bearable if Castellanos had produced on the record, but that didn’t happen either. He has not hit much strength, with his isolated power of 0.159 (ISO) ranking as his lowest since 2014, and last month he played in 81 home games. He swings on the field outside the zone more often than ever.
However, his wiping and walking speeds are exactly in line with his career standards, and his expected average stroke (.277) and expected drilling rate (.513) suggest that he was the victim of some bad luck. . Better days are probably ahead for Castellanos on the dish (however, the defense remains another story).
WERTHEIM: The absolute improbability of Nick Castellanos’ breakthrough in the deep left field
OF / 2B Whit Maryfield, Royals
Maryfield has been one of the most consistent baseball players of his career. Since 2017, he has never missed more than 17 games per season and has never missed a game since the start of the ’19 campaign. He has posted OPS + above the league average in four of the last five years coming this season, and has led the American League in stolen bases three times during that period.
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So far, though, he didn’t look much like his old self. His ISO has dropped to 0.093, which would be the lowest in his career, and his line speed (20.8%) is also the worst in his career. However, his contact numbers are mostly in line with what he has produced in previous years. Maryfield’s 30.8% heavy hit rate would actually be his best since 2018, and Statcast data show that he is among the most unhappy strikers in the league: the difference between the expected wOBA (.326) and the actual wOBA (.254) is the fifth highest among strikers with at least 200 participations. Maryfield’s latest results – he has beaten .270 / .321 / .405 in his last 18 games – suggest that the turnaround is not far off.
C Salvador Perez, Royals
Although the prospects for Merrifield look a little more positive, the same cannot be said for his Royals teammate. Perez spent some time on the list of injured in May with a thumb injury, but at no point this season has he managed to reach the offensive. He has always hit hard and walked very little, although this season he has achieved a high career rate of 28.3%, while his walking rate of 3.2% is the second lowest among qualified MLB strikers.
Until Wednesday, Perez has a sloping line of .202 / .241 / .404 and 80 wRC +, which is the lowest score in his career.
AP Photo / Reed Hoffman
To make matters worse, the current home run champion doesn’t do nearly the same amount of damage when he makes contact with the ball. He hits the ball in the air more often, but his 44.0% heavy hit rate is his lowest in four years. This, plus a ball that doesn’t move as much as in recent years, has led to very easy flyball outs. Perez had a two-shot game in Kansas City’s 8-4 victory on Wednesday – his third of many goals in five games – although there are few other signs that a meaningful turnaround is imminent.
SP Trevor Rodgers, Marlins
Last year’s National Rookie of the Year runner-up appeared to be an ace in the making after scoring a 2.64 ERA with 157 outs in 133 innings. But 2022 has not been kind to Rodgers so far, and problems with his fast ball seem to be the key. Opposing strikers had an average of 0.222 shots with just five home runs against the Rogers Heater last season, but they went on the field in ’22, with seven home runs now and an average of 0.333 for 108 appearances.
Its average speed, rotation speed and terrain speed from last year to this year are almost identical, so it is difficult to determine exactly what went wrong. But Battery has posted 0.847 OPS against Rodgers in 10 starts so far and he has a poor strikeout to walk rate of 1.86 in 45 innings. Rodgers has not swung off the field as often as he did a year ago, and has seen his hit rate drop from 14.0% to 9.7%. It may be a natural pain in growth for a 24-year-old pitcher, but adjustments need to be made to the former first-round pick to rediscover its full potential and solidify what should be exceptional. Marlins rotation for years to come.
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OR Jesse Winker, Sailors
Landing Winker in Trade with red it looked like a coup for Sailors, but so far the 28-year-old man is not responding to the noise in Seattle. From his 2017 debut season until last year, Winker had a sloping career line of .288 / .385 / .504, with 132 wRC +, which ranked 12th among all outfielders during this period. So far, however, he has managed a scant line of .209 / .315 / .296 in 56 games, with ISO .087, behind light strikers such as Adam Fraser, another ’21 All-Star starter who also competes. weaker this season his first year with the Mariners and Miguel Rojas.
Despite poor results in two months, Statcast still sees Winker as a powder keg ready to explode. He has the biggest difference between his xwOBA (.362) and wOBA (.281) among attackers with at least 200 participations and continues to make contact and walk at elite speeds. It has not shifted or steered differently (at least in terms of terrain) than in recent years, so it is possible that its slow onset so far is actually due to bad luck.
I have no idea if Winker is a superstitious guy. But if he’s even a little greedy, maybe throwing a four-leaf clover or a coin into a fountain is just what it takes to change his condition for the better.
More MLB coverage:
• Hot Seat Index: Which MLB managers can be fired after that?
• The launch of Joe Madden deepens the era of Angels instability
• The Philistines had no choice but to fire Joe Girardi
• The absolute improbability of Nick Castellanos’ breakthrough in the deep left field
• Jeremy Pena is MLB’s most professional rookie