Seven Rangers Selected to All-Star Team
By: Rangers Communications
Updated: July 1, 2012
Arlington, Texas--The Texas Rangers today had a
club record seven players selected to play for the American League in the 2012
Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will take place on Tuesday, July 13
at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
The complete American and National League teams were
announced today by Major League Baseball.
Outfielder Josh Hamilton, who received a record number
of votes in the fan balloting, was elected as a starter for the fifth
consecutive year. He will be joined in the A.L.'s starting lineup by catcher
Mike Napoli and third baseman Adrian Beltre, giving the Rangers three elected
starters for the first time in club history. Second baseman Ian Kinsler was
selected by vote of the league's players, managers, and coaches. Shortstop Elvis
Andrus, left-handed pitcher Matt Harrison, and right-handed pitcher Joe Nathan
were named as manager's selections by A.L. skipper Ron
Washington.
In addition, right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish was
named as one of five pitchers in contention for the 34th and final spot on the American League
team. That All-Star will be selected in on-line fan balloting in the 2012
All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote sponsored by Firestone on
texasrangers.com and mlb.com that begins at 1:00 p.m. CT today and concludes on
Thursday, July 5 at 3:00 p.m. CT.
In addition to the web, fans can use their mobile
phones to cast votes via the mobile web at MLB.com/vote or via text message. To receive the
2012 All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote sponsored by Firestone mobile
ballot, text the word "VOTE" to 89269. To vote for Darvish, simply text A2 to
89269. Standard rate messaging and data fees may apply. Mobile voting in Canada
also is available and fans should text A2 to 101010 to vote for
Darvish.
To encourage fans to vote for Darvish on-line, the
Rangers are offering an All-Star sweepstakes prize of a suite for 20 for one
select Sunday Rangers game in 2012. Fans will be automatically registered for
the sweepstakes each of the first 25 times they vote for Darvish in the 2012
All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote sponsored by Firestone at
texasrangers.com. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE
NUMBER OF TIMES THAT FANS MAY VOTE IN THE ALL-STAR GAME FIRESTONE FINAL VOTE.
However, fans will be registered to win for the sweepstakes just the first 25
times they vote for Darvish. All rules for the sweepstakes can be found on
texasrangers.com.
Hamilton earned his fifth consecutive All-Star start by
receiving 11,073,744 votes, easily surpassing the previous record of 7,454,753
set by Toronto Jose Bautista in 2011. The five All-Star starts are the second
most ever for a Ranger to Ivan Rodriguez' nine at catcher, all consecutive from
1993-2001. Alex Rodriguez (3 from 2001-03) is the only other Ranger to start
more than once in the Midsummer Classic. Hamilton's streak of five consecutive
elected starts are the second longest among A.L. All-Stars to seven for Yankees
shortstop Derek Jeter (was replaced in 2011). Hamilton is 4-for-11 with an RBI
in starts in center field in 2008 at Yankee Stadium, 2009 at Busch Stadium, and
2010 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and in start in left in 2011 at Chase Field. He
is batting .319 with 25 homers and a major league best 73 RBI in 72 games this
season.
Beltre received 4,613,180 votes in fan balloting at
third base to outdistance Detroit's Miguel Cabrera. This is Beltre's third
All-Star selection as he was 0-for-1 in a reserve role with Boston in 2010 and
1-for-2 as the starter for the injured Alex Rodriguez with the Rangers in 2011
at Arizona. Beltre becomes the first Ranger ever elected to start an All-Star
game at third base. In addition to Beltre in 2011, two Texas players have
actually started an All-Star game at third: Alex Rodriguez in 2001 (Cal Ripken
started at short for one inning in final ASG) and Michael Young in 2009 (for the
injured Evan Longoria). He is batting .328 with 14 homers and 52 RBI over 75
games in 2012.
Napoli earned 4,317,718 votes to finish ahead of
Minnesota's Joe Mauer for the starting catchers spot. The only other Ranger to
start at All-Star Game behind the plate is Ivan Rodriguez, who accomplished that
feat in nine consecutive years from 1993-2001. Napoli is hitting .238 with 12
homers and 30 RBI in 68 games this season.
Kinsler, who finished second in the A.L. player voting
at second base to the fan elected starter, Robinson Cano of New York, 582-219,
will be going to the All-Star Game for the third time. He was also a reserve in
2008 at New York (1-5) and 2010 at Anaheim (0-1). Kinsler is batting .276 with 9
homers and 40 RBI in 77 games and leads the majors with 60 runs scored.
Andrus is a manager's selection to the 2012 All-Star
Team after finishing second in the fan balloting at shortstop behind Jeter. He
was 0-for-1 as a reserve in 2010 at Anaheim in his only previous All-Star
appearance. Andrus is batting .305 with one homer, 31 RBI, and 16 stolen bases
in 76 games this season.
Harrison is a first time All-Star and is just the
Rangers fourth left-handed pitcher to ever be selected for the Midsummer
Classic, joining Rick Honeycutt (1983), Kenny Rogers (1995, 2004, 2005), and
C.J. Wilson (2011). Cliff Lee also represented Texas in 2010 but was named to
the team as a Seattle Mariner prior to his trade to the Rangers. Harrison is
11-3 with a 3.16 ERA in 16 starts this season and is tied for the A.L. lead in
wins.
Nathan will be going to the All-Star Game for the fifth
time after representing the Minnesota Twins in 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009. He
pitched in each of those games with a 2.25 ERA (1 ER/4.0) and four strikeouts.
Nathan is 0-2, 1.87 with 18 saves in 34 appearances this
season.
Darvish is seeking to become just the fourth Rangers
rookie to ever be named to an All-Star Team, joining catcher Jim Sundberg is
1974 and pitchers Jeff Zimmerman in 1999 and Neftali Feliz in 2010. The
right-hander is 10-4 with a 3.57 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 95.2 innings in his
first season with Texas.
Darvish joins RHP Jonathan Broxton of the Royals, RHP
Ernesto Frieri of the Angels, RHP Jason Hammel of the Orioles, and RHP Jake
Peavy of the White Sox as the candidates for the A.L.'s final spot on the 13-man
pitching staff. This marks the 3rd time that the Rangers have had a player in
the final All-Star roster spot on-line voting: Ian Kinsler in 2009 and Michael
Young in 2010.
Washington became the first Rangers manager ever to
guide an All-Star Team in 2011 and is the first A.L. manager to be at the helm
in consecutive Midsummer Classics since the Yankees Joe Torre from 1999-2002. He
will be joined in Kansas City by the six members of his coaching staff: Dave
Anderson, Scott Coolbaugh, Andy Hawkins, Mike Maddux, Jackie Moore, and Gary
Pettis.
ALL-STAR NOTES: This is the fifth consecutive
year the Rangers have had at least one fan elected starter in the All-Star
Game...it is the 9th time that the Rangers have
had at least four All-Star selections, the 4th in the last 5 years...Texas had the
previous club record 6 All-Stars (including Lee) in 2010, 5 in 2004 and 2011,
and 4 each in 1989, 1998, 1999, 2005, and 2008....club has had at least 2
All-Stars in 9 of the last 10 years beginning in 2003...it is the 3rd consecutive year and 7th time overall that 2 Texas pitchers have been
selected as All-Stars.
