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Predicting Yankees' representatives in the 2023 All-Star Game

By Adam Weinrib |
New York Yankees v Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Yankees v Los Angeles Dodgers / Ronald Martinez/GettyImages
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Alright, lemme get this situated for you real quick: New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is going to the 2023 All-Star Game.

The rest is anyone's guess. Will Judge be playing in the game? Ehhhh ... to be determined. But he's the leading vote-getter in the American League by hundreds of thousands. He's already on all the merchandise. There's been a teal banner of him staring steely-eyed that's been in storage at the Space Needle since Seattle was awarded All-Star Weekend back in 2021. He'll be there.

But ... will any of his Yankees teammates join him? After adding Judge to the roster almost subconsciously, it's much tougher to determine if any other Yanks will be deemed to be the cream of the crop this July.

The Midsummer Classic is approaching sooner than you think. We're less than a month out, and narratives have already shifted rapidly since voting began. When ballots were opened for business, I would've added Anthony Rizzo to the hypothetical roster. Now? After a 2-for-37 slump, not so much; he's got some work to do to get his average back up closer to .280 and bring the power back.

At the moment ... (sigh) ... I'm only adding one more Yankees player to this year's All-Star team, as well as crossing my fingers and hoping the voters are kind to an additional possibility.

Aaron Judge will make All-Star team: Predicting which Yankees will join him

All-Star Lock: Gerrit Cole

While Cole is about a month removed from threatening for the Cy Young with a sub-1.00 ERA, he's still among the top pitchers in the American League, sporting numbers that are gaudier than his end-of-season totals from either of the past two campaigns (both years where he made the All-Star team, for what it's worth).

The only thing standing in the way of Cole going for his sixth consecutive All-Star Game this summer was the pandemic cancellation of the 2020 contest. Ignore the FIP here (3.70, worse even than last year when he faltered and surrendered 33 longballs). Cole's body of work has been enough to place him among the game's elite and threaten for another top-10 Cy placement. He hasn't been the ace of your dreams since April, but he's absolutely an All-Star.

All-Star Hopeful (Probably Not, But Be Nice...): Michael King

A few more sterling Clay Holmes outings, and he might make this category, too.

Hoping for King to get a nod might be a fruitless endeavor, as non-closers are typically in the most thankless position possible come All-Star time. King has a better chance than most, though, considering the way his 2022 played out. He was nearly named to last summer's team, but narrowly missed out; Holmes and, somewhat unexpectedly, Jose Trevino went instead.

He entered last year's All-Star break with a 2.19 ERA and 2.22 FIP, grabbing headlines after going to the bullpen full-time as Aaron Boone's multi-inning wipeout fireman. He certainly had the advantage of first-time sheen. Unfortunately, his elbow fell apart after just two post-ASG outings, leaving that snub to be a mere footnote in his tale of woe.

This season? King has rebounded tremendously from last year's shutdown, sporting a similar 2.19 ERA through Tuesday's action and a still-sterling 1.081 WHIP and 1.4 WAR. If he doesn't get dinged for his position (and for merely repeating his breakout rather than building upon it), he has a chance. That said, he hasn't grabbed many headlines outside of New York, and appears to be headed for SnubLand yet again.

Best of Luck...: Anthony Rizzo

Anthony Rizzo is really the ... only other Yankees candidate on the bubble. Anthony Volpe? We wish. Giancarlo Stanton? Missed too much time. DJ LeMahieu? It's 2023. Billy McKinney? Only if you write him in, personally, 847,000 times.

Rizzo appeared headed for the American League's third first base spot a few weeks back, but his recent Fernando Tatis Jr.-aided slump has made it more difficult to envision his seven-season All-Star drought ending. His 117 OPS+ entering play on Wednesday is still solid, but the counting numbers have to really stand out if he's going to be carried at a notoriously tough position behind Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Yandy Diaz.

Rizzo has the AL's fifth-highest OPS at first, behind Guerrero Jr., Diaz, Ryan Noda of the Oakland A's (!!) and Josh Naylor of the Guardians. While Noda is unlikely to make the roster (Brent Rooker is the likelier representative, and they ain't getting two), Naylor has knocked in 48 runs, seven more than any AL first baseman. Nathaniel Lowe of the Rangers, also a trendier pick, ranks a sliver behind Rizzo in OPS and has the narrative advantage. In order to make his way off the ballot of his peers and pass Naylor, Rizzo's going to have to sock a few more homers and really hope the players and coaches let their implicit past biases dictate the process.

But who are we kidding? Players hate the Yankees! This'll be a tough one.

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