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Dateline: 1,209 Kilometers from the Gulf of Mexico
Elly De La Cruz made the National League All-Star squad for the 95th Midsummer Classic in Atlanta on July 15.
He was picked for the second year in a row.
His teammates TJ Friedl and Andrew Abbott are on the outside looking in.
Friedl is slashing .280/.368/.409 with 14 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 31 RBI. He has been on base 138 times from the leadoff spot in the batting order only Shohei Ohtani has more with 156. Friedl scored 50 runs and stolen nine bases.
Abbott had a rough outing on Friday, giving up four runs in 3 1/3 innings. The pitching line lifted his ERA from 1.79 to 2.15. If Abbott had enough innings to qualify fot the ERA title he would be fifth in baseball just ahead of Zack Wheeler's 2.19. Among the pitchers named to both squads, just Hunter Brown, Tarik Skubal and Jacob DeGrom have a lower ERA. Nine All-Start pitchers have a higher ERA.
De La Cruz was chosen as reserve with the New York Mets, Francisco Lindor as the starter.
Lindor slashes .260/.333/.452.
De La Cruz slashes .277/.349/.487.
De La Cruz has more doubles triples two to zero; more home runs 18-17; more RBI 60-49 and more stolen bases 22-14.
Reds' manager, Terry Francona, assembled the team Sunday in Philadelphia to announce that De La Cruz made the NL squad.
"I tried to strike a balance," Francona said. "It's a huge honor for Elly and we want him to feel that way. You want to let the ballclub show their appreciation and their excitement for him. At the same time you want to make sure that guys like Friedl and Abbott, not to have a downer meeting, but to say, hey we really respect what you guys are doing. It morphed into, hey, we're a team. That's what we ultimetley care about."
Francona addressed the system of selection. "As long as you know what the process is and it's been changing. So it's not necessarily the best players. Every team must be represented and that's not a bad thing. As long as you know going in there's going to be some guys left out. That's just the way it is."
Carson Spiers and Hunter Greene are rehabbing in Louisville. Spiers will pitch four innings on Tuesday as the pitch count allows. Greene will take another MRI.
"Out of an abudance of caution, we want to see another MRI before we send him out there," Francona said.
