Xander Bogaerts earns reserve spot on All-Star team, joining starter Rafael Devers
It's Bogaerts's fourth All-Star nod.
Xander Bogaerts grabbed his second straight and fourth overall All-Star selection Sunday as a reserve shortstop on the American League team. He and starting third baseman Rafael Devers will represent the Red Sox on July 19 at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s special, you know. I feel like every time it’s different,” said Bogaerts in comments provided by the Red Sox. “It’s definitely something that in the offseason you have in your mind. If you want to say you have some goals set, I think obviously, every player individually would want something like this. To experience it at least once, I feel like if you’re deserving and you get nominated, it’s special.”
Bogaerts finished third in fan voting among shortstops, with Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox earning the start in a second round over Toronto’s Bo Bichette (who was not selected Sunday). Bogaerts was selected to the team in voting by the players.
The 29-year-old is batting .309 with a .835 OPS, both best among American League shortstops. He had seven home runs, 93 hits, and 35 RBIs across 301 at-bats entering Sunday night’s series finale with the Yankees. Bogaerts was 2 for 4 and scored a run in Saturday’s 6-5, extra-inning victory.
He started last year’s All-Star Game, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
“There’s certain guys that get hits. It’s not about swings or swing decisions or whatever. He gets hits,” manager Alex Cora said. “He runs out of the box all the time, so he gets rewarded with those slow grounders to third base and then when he gets hot, he’s fun to watch.”
Since signing with the Sox in 2013, Bogaerts has brought stability to shortstop and is the club’s leader for most games played at the position.
Bogaerts could opt out of the final three guaranteed years of his contract at the end of this season, and the All-Star selection is a promising addition to his resumé.
If there are no late additions, this will be the first time since 2015 the Red Sox will have less than three representatives on the All-Star roster. Relief pitcher John Schreiber was not selected despite a 0.62 ERA across 30 games.
“I feel like we had a lot of guys in this room that could have been nominated, that could have been invited,” Bogaerts said. “Position players and pitchers, but I’m not the one to make the votes, they would have had my vote, most of them did. It’s special for everyone to experience one. As I said, I feel like there were guys in here that deserve to be on it and hopefully they can get in in some type of way in these coming days.”
Four former Red Sox — outfielders Andrew Benintendi (Royals), Mookie Betts (Dodgers), and Kyle Schwarber (Phillies), and lefthander Martín Pérez (Rangers) — were selected.
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