Snell, Hader headline All-MLB First Team
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LAS VEGAS -- Another season, another All-MLB team punctuated by Padres.
Major League Baseball unveiled its All-MLB Teams presented by MGM Rewards on Saturday at an awards show at the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. A pair of Padres left-handers, starter Blake Snell and reliever Josh Hader, were named to the First Team. It marks the fifth consecutive season -- every year of the award's existence -- that at least one Padre has earned a spot on the All-MLB First Team.
The award marks the third time Hader has taken home First Team honors, as he also did so during the 2019 and '21 seasons. For Snell, the NL Cy Young Award winner, it's his first All-MLB appearance, with his previous Cy Young Award having come the year before the league unveiled its inaugural All-MLB teams in ’19.
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Of course, the disappointing part for the Padres is that, while they boasted two All-MLB pitchers in 2023, both are free agents. Snell and Hader hit the open market after their obviously excellent seasons.
All-MLB selections recognize the best player or players at each position across the Majors, with both First-Team and Second-Team selections. Five starters and two relievers are named to each team. Once the nominees were announced, fan voting accounted for half of the selection process, while the other 50 percent of voting came from a panel of media, broadcasters, officials and former players.
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Snell posted a 2.25 ERA, finishing the season with a remarkable stretch of 23 starts during which he notched a 1.20 mark. In doing so, he became the first Padres Cy Young Award-winner since Jake Peavy in 2007 and just the seventh pitcher to win a Cy Young in each league -- an exclusive list that includes Gaylord Perry, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.
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Snell led the Majors in ERA, ERA+, batting average against and hits per nine innings. His 234 strikeouts were second in the NL only to Atlanta's Spencer Strider.
Hader, meanwhile, notched a miniscule 1.28 ERA while striking out an absurd 13.6 hitters per nine innings. He saved 33 games for the Padres while allowing just 32 hits across 56 1/3 innings.
Hader joins Kirby Yates as Padres relievers to take home All-MLB honors. Hader and Yates served as the two relievers on the inaugural All-MLB team in 2019 when Hader was with Milwaukee.
Snell is the first Padres starting pitcher to earn First-Team honors. Right-hander Dinelson Lamet was selected to the Second Team in 2020.