A pair of Texas Rangers, outfielder Joey Gallo and lefthanded pitcher Mike Minor have been selected to the American League roster for the 2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will take place on Tuesday, July 9 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
The complete American and National League teams were announced today by Major League Baseball.
Gallo and Minor join Hunter Pence, who was selected as the A.L’s starting designated hitter in the MLB Starters Election announced on Thursday, to give the Rangers as many as three All-Stars for the first time since 2013.
Gallo, who is an A.L. Players selection in the outfield, will be making his first All-Star appearance. He is batting .286 with 20 homers and 46 RBI in 56 games. Despite missing 22 games earlier this month due to a strained right oblique muscle, Gallo is tied for seventh in the A.L. in home runs and tied for eighth with 46 walks. His .683 slugging percentage would lead the A.L., but he is 22 plate appearances shy of qualifying after Sunday. Gallo is 7-for-19 with three homers and five RBI in six games since being activated from the injured list on June 25. With his home run on Sunday at Tampa Bay, Gallo has hit 20+ homers in each of the last three seasons.
Minor, a Major League Baseball A.L. selection, was also named to the All-Star Team for the first time. He is the Rangers’ first lefthanded pitcher selected since Cole Hamels in 2016. Minor is 8-4 with an A.L. low 2.40 ERA in 17 starts in 2019. Entering play on Sunday, he ranked among the league leaders in complete games (T1st, 2), innings (3rd, 112.2), wins (T8th), opponents’ batting average (9th, .221), and strikeouts (10th, 110). Minor has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last 12 starts, including a five-hit, 4-1 complete game win in his last outing on June 26 in Detroit.
The last time that the Rangers had as many as three All-Star selections was in 2013, when RHPS Yu Darvish and Joe Nathan and OF Nelson Cruz were selected. Pence, who was named to his fourth All-Star team and first in the A.L., is the Rangers’ first elected starter since 3B Adrian Beltre, OF Josh Hamilton, and C Mike Napoli all were selected in 2012.
From Rangers PR staff reports