Selecting MLB's All-Injured Team for the 2024 All-Star Game

Later this month, the best, brightest and most popular players of the first half of the 2024 Major League Baseball season will be taking their talents to Arlington, Texas for the 94th iteration of the All-Star Game.

However, one could put together one heck of a star-studded list of players who likely/definitely will not be partaking in the All-Star Game because of a current injury.

So we did.

Temporarily step aside, AL All-Stars and NL All-Stars.

It's time to recognize the IL All-Stars.

Just like an actual All-Star roster, we'll name a starter and a backup for each of the nine spots in the lineup, as well as a dozen pitchers.

All 30 players are presently on the IL, and for the selection process, 2024 production is of considerably less importance than career production.

Starter: J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia Phillies

Realmuto had been Mr. Reliable over the past half-decade, appearing in 600 of a possible 708 games from 2019-23. That's the most by far among players who primarily serve as catcher, and his production on a near-daily basis got him into the NL MVP mix in both 2019 and 2022.

So, it's been weird not having him out there over the past four weeks as he recovers from a meniscectomy in his right knee.

Prior to the injury, he had been noticeably less active on the basepaths. After stealing 50 bases over the previous three seasons combined, he was just 1-for-3 in that department through 51 games. He was also slugging a bit below his usual rate of excellence, though still better than most catchers, just so we're clear.

Reserve: Victor Caratini, Houston Astros

A key, $12M-over-two-years offseason acquisition for the Astros, Caratini was batting .248/.287/.429 prior to suffering a hip flexor injury in late June. At least as a hitter, he has been a considerable upgrade over the previous three years of Martín Maldonado batting .183. Though, with Yanier Diaz as the primary catcher, at least the Astros aren't missing Caratini too dearly.

Starter: Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies

Shohei Ohtani was—even by his standards—ridiculously good in June, mashing 12 home runs and compiling an OPS of 1.110.

Yet, it was Bryce Harper, not Ohtani, who was named NL Player of the Month, and for a second consecutive month, no less. He hit .374 in June with a 1.166 OPS, but landed on the IL with a hamstring injury suffered on the 27th.

Hopefully, it will be a brief stay on the shelf. He might even make it back in time for the All-Star Game, though it wouldn't be much of a surprise if he still opted out of the midsummer classic for which he was the NL's leading vote-getter.

But if he's only out for a few more days, there's still a good chance that he and Ohtani have an NL MVP battle even more compelling than last year's Mookie Betts and Ronald Acuña Jr. race. (More on both of those players shortly, sadly.)

Reserve: Anthony Rizzo, New York Yankees

Rizzo is going to be out until at least mid-August with a broken forearm. Even before the injury, though, the almost-35-year-old was barely a shell of what he used to be. He did reach 300 career home runs earlier this season, but he has just a .630 OPS in 2024, this after putting up a .706 mark in 2023 that was already his worst in more than a decade.

Starter: Xander Bogaerts, San Diego Padres

Much like Anthony Rizzo, pre-injury Bogaerts was looking nothing like pre-2024 Bogaerts. After 11 seasons with a .291 average and .812 OPS, he was putting up marks of .219 and .581, respectively.

But maybe the fractured shoulder suffered on May 20 will irrationally work out as a slump buster of sorts?

San Diego's $280 million middle infielder is gearing up for a rehab assignment and figures to be ready for a return to the lineup shortly after the All-Star Break. The Padres offense has been relatively potent without him, but what a boon it would be for a team in the thick of a wild-card race if this five-time Silver Slugger starts doing his thing again.

Reserve: Tommy Edman, St. Louis Cardinals

Feel free to slap an asterisk on this one because Edman was slated to be the Cardinals' primary center fielder this season, if healthy. However, he has yet to appear in a game in 2024 due to a wrist injury, and he served as a second baseman far more often than any other role over the previous five, nationally underappreciated seasons.

Edman is a career .265 hitter who won a Gold Glove at second base in 2021, and there's no question St. Louis misses having him available. If he was out there instead of the tandem of Michael Siani and Dylan Carlson, the Cardinals might be alone in first place in the NL Central right now.

Starter: Royce Lewis, Minnesota Twins

One of these days, we're going to need to discuss where Lewis ranks among the greatest, most injury-riddled players of all-time.

Maybe by some miracle, he'll be the Benjamin Button version of Mike Trout, inexplicably getting healthier with age. But in 100 career games (including postseason) spread across three seasons, Lewis has hit .299 with 31 home runs.

That's a 162-game pace of 50 home runs. However, it just feels like fools' gold to talk about Lewis in a 162-game context, because, lo and behold, he's back on the IL again after suffering a groin/adductor strain Tuesday night.

Reserve: Max Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers

Muncy had hit at least 35 home runs in four of the previous five 162-game seasons, and he was on pace to do it again with nine home runs in his first 40 games of the current campaign. But he has been out since mid-May with an oblique injury and would need to hit a whole heck of a lot of dingers after the All-Star Break to keep that trend going.

Honorable Mention: Josh Jung, Texas Rangers

Listen, it has been a rough year for third basemen. Could also mention Yoan Moncada and Anthony Rendon here, who along with Josh Jung have combined to play in 34 games thus far. But while Moncada and Rendon are making exponentially more money this season, Jung's injury is arguably the biggest disappointment, as he was 7-for-17 with a pair of home runs when he got hurt.

Starter: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers

LA's right fielder-turned-second baseman-turned-shortstop was on his way to potentially the second MVP trophy of his career until a wayward pitch by Dan Altavilla in mid-June left him with a broken hand and a 6-8 week recovery timeline.

Betts was batting .304/.405/.488 at the time of the injury, and his value added on defense as just a replacement-level shortstop was resulting in him grading out as even more valuable than Shohei Ohtani.

He really should be headed for his eighth consecutive All-Star Game, but alas.

Reserve: Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox

Story missed 72 games in his first year with the Red Sox, 119 games last season and it's going to be 154 this year, as he has already been ruled out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery in early April.

Feels like a lifetime ago that Story was an annual MVP candidate with the Colorado Rockies, but maybe the latter three years of his six-season, $140 million deal will work out better. (They couldn't possibly go much worse.)

Starter: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

At this point, Trout missing the All-Star Game because of an injury is an annual rite of passage.

In 2021, it was a torn calf. The following year, it was the back spasms that resulted in being diagnosed with a rare, career-threatening back disorder. Last year, it was the broken hamate bone in his left hand. And now it's a torn meniscus that has had him out for more than two months.

In between all of those IL stints, though, he has continued to play at a remarkably high level, batting .276 and slugging .575 since the beginning of 2021. He was on pace for around 55 home runs when he injured his knee this April.

Reserve: Michael Harris II, Atlanta Braves

The 2022 NL Rookie of the Year has been out for the past three weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. The hope is that he'll be back in the lineup shortly after the All-Star Break, which can't come soon enough for Atlanta. Harris had played every single inning in center prior to the injury, and they were already struggling to adjust to outfield life without Ronald Acuña Jr.

Starter: Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros

Aaron Judge has since run away from the pack, but remember six weeks ago when Tucker was in sole possession of the MLB lead for home runs? The Astros' right fielder got to 18 round-trippers before anyone else.

Tucker had an OPS north of 1.000 in late May, forcing baseball fans outside of Houston to finally realize how ridiculously valuable he had been since the beginning of 2021.

Unfortunately, right as his AL MVP campaign was beginning to legitimately take shape, he fouled a ball off his shin on June 3 and hasn't played since.

Some serious Ewing Theory vibes going on here, though. The Astros were 26-34 when he got hurt, but they've had the best record in the American League (18-8) since losing Tucker.

Reserve: Kerry Carpenter, Detroit Tigers

From May 8-26, Carpenter hit .333 with an .844 slugging percentage. But then he landed on the IL with lumbar spine inflammation that was later diagnosed as a stress fracture. He had started ramping up baseball activity in late June, but was shut down again on July 2 after experiencing more discomfort in his back.

And while Houston has gotten along just fine without its slugging right fielder, Detroit has been a mess since losing Carpenter, dropping pretty hopelessly out of the playoff race.

Starter: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves

The reigning NL MVP wasn't doing a particularly good job of defending his crown. One season removed from a 1.012 OPS and an 8.2 bWAR, Acuña was sitting at just .716 and 0.1, respectively, when he suffered a torn ACL on the basepaths on May 26.

Still, it would be difficult to overstate the magnitude of this injury.

Atlanta was already playing without Spencer Strider and not quite living up to the hype of being the preseason co-favorite to win the World Series.

But at least they had a winning record with a healthy Acuña. They were 30-20 in those first 50 games and have gone just 17-17 since.

They should still at least make the playoffs, but we shall see.

Reserve: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres

Tatis wasn't quite operating at his pre-PEDs suspension level of excellence, but he was still enjoying an impressive season, arguably the most valuable outfielder in the National League through the first three months of the season. At any rate, he was voted a starter for the All-Star Game, despite missing the past two weeks with a stress reaction in his right thigh bone.

Starter: Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

Schwarber's slugging percentage (.447) isn't quite what it had been over the previous half-decade (.502), and he's still striking out at one of the highest rates in the majors. But he does have 17 home runs and at least his batting average (.250) is nowhere near the eyesore that it was last year (.197).

Will that still be the case when he returns from his groin strain?

Chances are good because, historically, Schwarber has been a better hitter after the All-Star Break (.244/.359/.526) than he has been in the first half (.217/.327/.475) of the season.

Reserve: Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees

Before suffering a left hamstring strain likely to keep him sidelined for a month, Stanton had also been having a bit of a bounce-back season in the batting average department.

His HR (42 per 162 games) and RBI (106) paces were identical to what they had been over the previous two seasons, but at least he was batting .246 after hitting just .202 between 2022 and 2023. As a result, he was playing a fine third fiddle to Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in what is otherwise a Yankees lineup lacking for offense.

SP1: Justin Verlander, Houston Astros (neck)

SP2: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers (shoulder)

SP3: Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers (Tommy John)

SP4: Blake Snell, San Francisco Giants (groin)

SP5: Spencer Strider, Atlanta Braves (Tommy John)

SP6: Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins (Tommy John)

There's some serious position player star power on the IL.

But goodness gracious is the pitching injured list loaded.

There are five active pitchers who have won multiple Cy Young awards, and the only one that isn't presently on the IL is Max Scherzer—who didn't make his 2024 debut until late June.

It's plausible that all of Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom and Blake Snell will be back on the mound within the next month. However, with how often Kershaw and deGrom have been injured in recent years and with Kershaw already suffering a setback in his rehab, we'll believe it when we see it.

One-time Cy Young winners Sandy Alcantara, Shane Bieber and Robbie Ray are also all recovering from Tommy John surgery. Same goes for Spencer Strider, who was perhaps unanimously expected to be the NL's most valuable pitcher this season. Of the bunch, only Ray (currently near the end of his rehab assignment) might pitch again this season.

In addition to that octet, there's also Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shane McClanahan, Eury Pérez, Jesús Luzardo, Jeffrey Springs, Kodai Senga, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Jordan Montgomery, Lucas Giolito, Brandon Woodruff and plenty of other quality arms out of commission right now.

It would almost be quicker to just talk about the ace-tier starters who aren't currently injured, as this season has turned into some sort of dastardly Survivor game for starting pitchers.

RP1: Devin Williams, Milwaukee Brewers (Back)

RP2: Félix Bautista, Baltimore Orioles (Tommy John)

RP3: Liam Hendriks, Boston Red Sox (Tommy John)

RP4: David Bednar, Pittsburgh Pirates (Oblique)

RP5: Robert Stephenson, Los Angeles Angels (Tommy John)

RP6: Jordan Romano, Toronto Blue Jays (Elbow)

The rise of Mason Miller, Emmanuel Clase's dominance and Ryan Helsley's quest for 60 saves have kept this season compelling on the relief pitching front.

But of the 12 relief pitchers who were named All-Stars in 2023, four (Devin Williams, Félix Bautista, David Bednar and Jordan Romano) are currently on the IL.

Both Bednar and Romano have struggled for the innings they did pitch this season, but they had saved a combined total of 130 games over the previous two years, each earning All-Star honors in both seasons.

Neither Bautista nor Williams has appeared in a game in 2024, though at least Williams is nearing a return to the mound. Impressive that both the Brewers and Orioles are leading their divisions despite not having those elite closers at their disposal.

Liam Hendriks missed almost all of last season and will likely miss the entirety of 2024, but he was easily the most valuable reliever in all of baseball from 2019-22.

And Robert Stephenson signed the second-biggest contract (behind only Josh Hader) among free agent relievers this past offseason, but he was lost to a torn UCL before making his Angels debut. He likely won't be back until next June, at the earliest.

Beyond that primary group of six, Matt Brash, Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Gregory Santos, Brusdar Graterol, Daniel Bard and Emilio Pagan highlight the second tier of unavailable relievers.