CINCINNATI (AP) Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun is heading to his sixth All-Star game.
CINCINNATI (AP) - Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun is heading to his sixth All-Star game.
Braun was added to the National League squad as a replacement for the injured Matt Holliday of the Cardinals. Holliday will be replaced in the starting lineup by Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson.
Braun is batting .275 and has 16 home runs, 56 RBIs and 12 stolen bases heading into the All-Star game.
Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez also is representing Milwaukee at the game. Rodriguez has 19 saves out of 19 opportunities this season.
The All-Star game is Tuesday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
CINCINNATI (AP) - Picked to start the All-Star Game for the National League, Zack Greinke wasn't sure he wanted his wife to make the trek from Los Angeles to Great American Ball Park.
"My wife is less than three weeks until having a kid," he said of Emily. "She found a way to get out here even though she probably shouldn't have. That just shows how excited the family is."
A 31-year-old Dodgers right-hander with a big league-best 1.39 ERA, Greinke starts Tuesday night against Houston lefty Dallas Keuchel, known for a distinctive long, bushy beard.
Informed Sunday by AL manager Ned Yost that Keuchel was starting, Houston manager A.J. Hinch opted not to tell the first-time All-Star. Keuchel found out from MLB Senior Vice President Phyllis Merhige when he arrived at the team's hotel on Sunday night.
"I was able to tell my family, but I couldn't really tell many more," he said. "And even my family has loose lips, so I was very thankful for them not telling anybody."
Greinke is 8-2 and enters the game following five straight scoreless starts over 35 2-3 innings. The three-time All-Star can terminate his contract at the end of the season, forfeit a minimum $71 million over the next three years and become a free agent again.
Given his season, he figures to receive lucrative offers.
"These numbers he's putting up are really, really unbelievable," NL manager Bruce Bochy said Monday.
Keuchel, 27, is 11-4 with a 2.23 ERA. Since starting his big league career 9-18 in 2012 and '13, he is 23-13.
He becomes Houston's fourth All-Star starting pitcher after J.R. Richard (1980), Mike Scott (1987) and Roger Clemens (2004).
The AL will open the game with an all right-handed-hitting lineup for the first time; the only previous team to do that was the NL for the first of two games in 1962. This is the first time the AL starting lineup did not have at least one player from Boston or the New York Yankees.
Bochy said having the decision to have the winning All-Star team's league gain home-field advantage in the World Series has increased the intensity of the game. Bochy's Giants opened at home in 2010 and '12 and went on to four game sweeps, then started at Kansas City last year and became the first visitor to win a Game 7 since 1979.
"Your priority is not to get everybody in as much as it used to be," he said. "There is a lot at stake."
Not too long ago, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Gerrit Cole were the ones picking up the extra balls and getting pranked into paying the pricey checks.
Now, along with the likes of Kris Bryant, Matt Harvey and many others, they've become the face of the All-Star Game and the future of the major leagues.
"The Derek Jeter generation in the last few years came to the end of their careers. We have a great new crop of young players," new Commissioner Rob Manfred said.
This is an age when The Kids are All Right - a record 20 of the 76 All-Stars for Tuesday night's game are 25 or younger, according to STATS.
"I think the young talent in baseball is better than it's been in years," said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, one of the older All-Stars at 35. "These are exciting players, players that kids can look up to."
His former teammates - baseball royalty, in the form of Mariano Rivera and Jeter - are gone.
The brash bats who rule the new era belong to Giancarlo Stanton, Yasiel Puig and Manny Machado, trying to solve bold arms led by Chris Archer, Cole and Harvey.
Major League Baseball, which often relies on the nostalgia of its 19th-century roots, is striving to connect with 21st-century youth more familiar with Reddit and Tinder than Josh Reddick and Branden Pinder.
"We're working very hard to give our fans the kind of access to those players and others in order to raise their awareness of these players," Manfred said. "We do realize we have a challenge in that regard because of what I characterize as generational change."
How different it was in 2011, when Trout was 19 and arrived at his first big league camp. Some Los Angeles Angels veterans invited him to dinner Mastro's City Hall Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona.
A waiter brought the check, which came to $1,800, and ace pitcher Jeff Weaver handed it to Trout and told him the bill was his to pay.
When Trout arrived at Tempe Diablo Stadium a few days later, he found a toy truck in front of his locker. Inside were 7,200 quarters.
And Weaver punked the newbie outfielder later in spring training with a message on the right-field scoreboard, urging fans to call "Mike Trout directly with your baseball questions" during an exhibition game - with his actual cell phone number, of course.
"It was pretty creative of them," said Trout, now a four-time All-Star and winner of an MVP award. "It's part of breaking into the big leagues."
At 23, Bryant looks more high school student than big-time ballplayer. He made his big league debut in April, and his 12 homers and 51 RBIs have given Chicago Cubs' fans hope of a first World Series title since 1908.
Face of the game? He doesn't think so.
"It is pretty cool to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys," he said.
Cole, a new All-Star at age 24, hopes to bring the Pirates their first title since 1979. He's just two years removed from bringing the veterans balls and gloves out to the field every day during spring training and proving his worth to teammates with a different kind of pitch.
"We'd sing a lot of songs on the bus," he said. "My voice has gotten better - my pitch probably not so much."
Production on the field. Personality off it. That's what baseball's bosses are looking for.
MLB announced in February it had hired Anomaly its new multimedia creative marketing agency. Its first campaign, "This in Baseball," debuted in April for opening day and featured Trout, Stanton and Puig. Others highlighted this season include Joc Pederson, Nolan Arenado and George Springer.
"When you look at the Mike Trouts and the Bryce Harpers and the Kris Bryants of the world, we're just so fortunate and we need to take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest," said Jacqueline Parkes, Major League Baseball's senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
"My wife is less than three weeks until having a kid," he said of Emily. "She found a way to get out here even though she probably shouldn't have. That just shows how excited the family is."
A 31-year-old Dodgers right-hander with a big league-best 1.39 ERA, Greinke starts Tuesday night against Houston lefty Dallas Keuchel, known for a distinctive long, bushy beard.
Informed Sunday by AL manager Ned Yost that Keuchel was starting, Houston manager A.J. Hinch opted not to tell the first-time All-Star. Keuchel found out from MLB Senior Vice President Phyllis Merhige when he arrived at the team's hotel on Sunday night.
"I was able to tell my family, but I couldn't really tell many more," he said. "And even my family has loose lips, so I was very thankful for them not telling anybody."
Greinke is 8-2 and enters the game following five straight scoreless starts over 35 2-3 innings. The three-time All-Star can terminate his contract at the end of the season, forfeit a minimum $71 million over the next three years and become a free agent again.
Given his season, he figures to receive lucrative offers.
"These numbers he's putting up are really, really unbelievable," NL manager Bruce Bochy said Monday.
Keuchel, 27, is 11-4 with a 2.23 ERA. Since starting his big league career 9-18 in 2012 and '13, he is 23-13.
He becomes Houston's fourth All-Star starting pitcher after J.R. Richard (1980), Mike Scott (1987) and Roger Clemens (2004).
The AL will open the game with an all right-handed-hitting lineup for the first time; the only previous team to do that was the NL for the first of two games in 1962. This is the first time the AL starting lineup did not have at least one player from Boston or the New York Yankees.
Bochy said having the decision to have the winning All-Star team's league gain home-field advantage in the World Series has increased the intensity of the game. Bochy's Giants opened at home in 2010 and '12 and went on to four game sweeps, then started at Kansas City last year and became the first visitor to win a Game 7 since 1979.
"Your priority is not to get everybody in as much as it used to be," he said. "There is a lot at stake."
Not too long ago, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Gerrit Cole were the ones picking up the extra balls and getting pranked into paying the pricey checks.
Now, along with the likes of Kris Bryant, Matt Harvey and many others, they've become the face of the All-Star Game and the future of the major leagues.
"The Derek Jeter generation in the last few years came to the end of their careers. We have a great new crop of young players," new Commissioner Rob Manfred said.
This is an age when The Kids are All Right - a record 20 of the 76 All-Stars for Tuesday night's game are 25 or younger, according to STATS.
"I think the young talent in baseball is better than it's been in years," said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, one of the older All-Stars at 35. "These are exciting players, players that kids can look up to."
His former teammates - baseball royalty, in the form of Mariano Rivera and Jeter - are gone.
The brash bats who rule the new era belong to Giancarlo Stanton, Yasiel Puig and Manny Machado, trying to solve bold arms led by Chris Archer, Cole and Harvey.
Major League Baseball, which often relies on the nostalgia of its 19th-century roots, is striving to connect with 21st-century youth more familiar with Reddit and Tinder than Josh Reddick and Branden Pinder.
"We're working very hard to give our fans the kind of access to those players and others in order to raise their awareness of these players," Manfred said. "We do realize we have a challenge in that regard because of what I characterize as generational change."
How different it was in 2011, when Trout was 19 and arrived at his first big league camp. Some Los Angeles Angels veterans invited him to dinner Mastro's City Hall Steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona.
A waiter brought the check, which came to $1,800, and ace pitcher Jeff Weaver handed it to Trout and told him the bill was his to pay.
When Trout arrived at Tempe Diablo Stadium a few days later, he found a toy truck in front of his locker. Inside were 7,200 quarters.
And Weaver punked the newbie outfielder later in spring training with a message on the right-field scoreboard, urging fans to call "Mike Trout directly with your baseball questions" during an exhibition game - with his actual cell phone number, of course.
"It was pretty creative of them," said Trout, now a four-time All-Star and winner of an MVP award. "It's part of breaking into the big leagues."
At 23, Bryant looks more high school student than big-time ballplayer. He made his big league debut in April, and his 12 homers and 51 RBIs have given Chicago Cubs' fans hope of a first World Series title since 1908.
Face of the game? He doesn't think so.
"It is pretty cool to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys," he said.
Cole, a new All-Star at age 24, hopes to bring the Pirates their first title since 1979. He's just two years removed from bringing the veterans balls and gloves out to the field every day during spring training and proving his worth to teammates with a different kind of pitch.
"We'd sing a lot of songs on the bus," he said. "My voice has gotten better - my pitch probably not so much."
Production on the field. Personality off it. That's what baseball's bosses are looking for.
MLB announced in February it had hired Anomaly its new multimedia creative marketing agency. Its first campaign, "This in Baseball," debuted in April for opening day and featured Trout, Stanton and Puig. Others highlighted this season include Joc Pederson, Nolan Arenado and George Springer.
"When you look at the Mike Trouts and the Bryce Harpers and the Kris Bryants of the world, we're just so fortunate and we need to take advantage of this opportunity to the fullest," said Jacqueline Parkes, Major League Baseball's senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
