All-Star replacements: Westburg in for Devers, Greene for Glasnow
Jason Foster
@ByJasonFosterTwo more players have gotten the call to be All-Stars next week in Arlington.
Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg will replace Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers (shoulder) on the AL roster, while Reds pitcher Hunter Greene will replace Dodgers hurler Tyler Glasnow (back) on the NL squad. It's the first All-Star selection for both players.
Westburg is batting .281 with 14 homers and an .835 OPS for first-place Baltimore entering play Tuesday. He's hit safely in six straight games and in 10 of his past 11. During a nine-game stretch from June 20-29, Westburg hit .342 with a .954 OPS. He has 21 multi-hit games on the season, including seven games with three or more hits.
“I was very honored, humbled by just the fact that I was in those conversations,” Westburg said earlier Tuesday, when he thought he had just missed out on the honor. “It’s something that coming into the year I didn’t -- I certainly wouldn’t have expected. I have confidence in my abilities, but I would have never thought that I would be in the talks halfway through the year to be an All-Star. So it’s cool. It’s something that I’ll never forget, no matter how long my career goes.”
The addition of Westburg gives the Orioles four players on the AL All-Star roster, including starters Gunnar Henderson (shortstop) and Adley Rutschman (catcher) and pitcher Corbin Burnes. The Guardians (five) and Royals (four) are the only other AL clubs with that many All-Stars. With Westburg, Henderson and Rutschman all making their Major League debuts in 2022 or ’23, the Orioles are now the first team to ever have three All-Star position players with no more than three seasons of MLB experience apiece.
Meanwhile, Greene is having the kind of season Reds fans have envisioned since he debuted in 2022. He's 5-4 with a 3.45 ERA in 18 starts for Cincinnati and leads the team in both innings (104 1/3) and strikeouts (116). He's allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of his past five starts, and his 3.2 bWAR is third-best among NL pitchers.
“Hopefully I have a lot more opportunities like today and I’ll be able to enjoy moments like this," Greene said. "It’s exciting to be able to do it early [in my career]. I think the best part is this offseason was being able to get an understanding more of what I need to do in order to perform at my best. I’m still going to figure that out. … It’s never going to stop. It’s even more motivation to go into the offseason and work even harder to be able to do it again in the future.”
The 24-year-old Greene, who joins 22-year-old teammate Elly De La Cruz on the NL All-Star squad, gives the Reds two All-Stars age 24 or younger for the first time since 1999 (Sean Casey and Scott Williamson).