Julio Rodriguez and George Kirby will join Luis Castillo in All-Star Game

Seattle Mariners will have three players to root for during Tuesday’s 93^rd All-Star Game at T Mobile Park. Tuesday afternoon  Major  League  Baseball announced the addition of outfielder Julio Rodrigues and right-handed pitcher George Kirby to the American League roster.

The two Mariners are injury replacements. Rodriguez will replace Houston outfielder Yorda Alvarez while  Kirby will replace Tampa Bay left-handed pitcher Shane McClanahan.

Pitcher Luis Castillo was named to the American  League roster earlier this week.

Seattle last had three or more All-Star Game representatives in 2018 (Nelson Cruz, Edwin Díaz, Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura). Seattle has not had multiple starting pitchers since Félix Hernández and Hisashi Iwakuma were named to the 2013 team.

Rodríguez, 22, is batting .248 (85×343) with 50 runs, 16 doubles, 1 triple, 13 home runs, 47 RBI and 20 stolen bases, while getting on base at a .310 clip and slugging .414 (.724 OPS). Rodríguez reached 40 career home runs and stolen bases on June 18 in just 200 career games, becoming the second-fastest player to reach that milestone. He trails only Fernando Tatis Jr., who accomplished the feat in just 185 games. Entering play today, Rodríguez ranked T7th (with Yordan Alvarez- HOU) among American League outfielders in FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement (2.2 fWAR).

FORMER ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

The 2022 American League Rookie of the Year award winner made his first career All-Star appearance last season at Dodger Stadium. He became the 5th Mariners player to be named an All-Star in his rookie season. Rodríguez went 0-for-2 in last year’s game, playing the final 5 innings in centerfield.

Rodríguez is the 13th different player to make multiple All-Star appearances with the Mariners. He joins Harold Reynolds (2x, 1987-88), Ken Griffey Jr. (10x, 1990-99), Randy Johnson (5x, 1990-1993-95, 1997), Edgar Martinez (7x, 1992, 1995- 97, 2000-01, 2003), Alex Rodriguez (4x, 1996-98, 2000), Freddy García (2x, 2001-02), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2x, 2001-02), Ichiro Suzuki (10x, 2001-10), Bret Boone (2x, 2001, 2003), Félix Hernández (6x, 2009, 2011-15) Robinson Canó (3x, 2014, 2016-17) and Nelson Cruz (3x, 2015, 2017-18).

HOME RUN DERBY PARTICIPANT

Rodríguez announced on June 23 that he will participate in the 2023 T-Mobile Home Run Derby on July 10 at T-Mobile Park. It will be the second Derby for Rodríguez, who hit a contest-high 81 home runs in last year’s event at Dodger Stadium, finishing in 2nd place to Juan Soto. Julio is set to be the first Mariners player to appear in the event in back-to-back years since Ken Griffey Jr. did it in 3 consecutive seasons (1997-99), winning the contest in both the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

Of Seattle’s 50 All-Star players, 17 have been born outside the United States. Seven were born in the Dominican Republic. In addition to Rodríguez, Dominican-born players RHP Michael Pineda (2011), RHP Fernando Rodney (2014), 2B Robinson Canó (3x, 2014, ’16-’17), OF/DH Nelson Cruz (2015, ’17-’18), INF Jean Segura (2018) and RHP Luis Castillo have been named to the All-Star team with Seattle.

KIRBY QUALITY PITCHING

Kirby, 25, is 7-7 with a 3.21 ERA (36 ER, 101.0 IP), 86 strikeouts and just 9 walks. His 9.56 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the Majors among qualified pitchers, while his 13 quality starts this season are tied for the American League lead (also: Kevin Gausman-TOR). Kirby ranks tied for 6th in the American League with 2.4 fWAR.

Kirby becomes the 9th pitcher in franchise history drafted or signed by the club to be named an All-Star, joining Mark Langston (1987), Matt Young (1983), Sasaki (2x, 2001-02), Hernández (6x, 2009, 2011-15), Michael Pineda (2011), Hisashi Iwakuma (2013), Edwin Díaz (2018) and Yusei Kikuchi (2021).

• Mariners back at full strength heading into first road trip of 2026
• George Kirby sees dominant start vs. Yankees come undone in 6th
• Mariners experience 2 positives and 1 negative on a busy Tuesday
• Mike Macdonald,” We are a different team.”
• Nikola Petkovic suffers season ending knee  injury

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