Five Brewers to rep Milwaukee in ASG

MILWAUKEE -- Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal turned a frustrating winter into a trip to the Midsummer Classic.

Moustakas and Grandal were added to the National League All-Star team Sunday and will head to Cleveland with Christian Yelich, who last week was named the NL’s top vote-getter in the Starters Election and will thus start the game in right field. Dealing with back soreness, Brewers relief ace Josh Hader was also selected to the team, but he will skip on pitching in the game. Fellow teammate Brandon Woodruff was added to the roster on Saturday due to Hader's injury

• 2019 All-Star Game, presented by Mastercard: Tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT on FOX

It’s the second straight season that the Brewers are sending at least four players to the All-Star Game -- they sent five a season ago -- and the seventh time in 50 years that Milwaukee has sent that many.

Moustakas is going to the All-Star Game for the third time in his career and the first time as a National Leaguer. The others are all going for the second time. Hader and Yelich made it for the second straight year.

For Moustakas and Grandal, it’s a sweet achievement after a bitter winter. Both expected to land lucrative, multi-year free agent contracts. Both landed with the Brewers on one-year deals.

“In telling the players today, I thought that was an important part of the message for both those guys,” said Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who delivered the news in a morning team meeting. “Especially for Moose, in my eyes. Things maybe haven’t gone the way he wanted them to go, but that’s never been the story for him. It’s always been, ‘I’m going to get better.’

“He’s got very much a growth mindset -- ‘I’m going to find a way to do something a little bit better.’ And that says a lot, because there’s been some disappointments and he’s never let that stop him from what he’s doing. And that’s getting better. He’s become a better version of himself to me every year.”

Moustakas thanked the Brewers officials who were open to giving him a shot at second base, where he played most of the season before top prospect Keston Hiura returned last week and moved Moustakas back to third base.

Grandal expressed a similar sentiment.

“Obviously, I just wanted another opportunity to showcase my talent somewhere else,” Grandal said. “I wanted to come here and battle it out, go to war with this team. The fact that I got picked to go to the All-Star Game with these guys and represent this organization, it’s just sweeter.”

Moustakas doubled in the Brewers’ 2-1 win over the Pirates on Sunday at Miller Park and is slashing .275/.348/.569 with 23 home runs. Grandal is slashing .265/.376/.531 with 18 home runs. Both are on pace for career highs in homers and OPS.

Hader has been Hader, a dominant force in the bullpen. He hasn’t allowed a run or a hit in nine of his past 10 appearances.

“I look back on my first All-Star Game and we had seven or eight Royals there, and it was unbelievable to go back and think about that and talk about it,” Moustakas said. “This is something we’re going to be able to remember for the rest of our lives. When we think of going to Cleveland, we’re going to think of going together and representing the Milwaukee Brewers as All-Stars.”