2021 Marlins MLB All-Star candidates, ranked

Fan voting to determine the starting position players for the 2021 MLB All-Star Game got underway on Thursday. The following Marlins are on the ballot: C Jorge Alfaro, 1B Jesús Aguilar, 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr., 3B Brian Anderson, SS Miguel Rojas, OF Corey Dickerson, OF Starling Marte and OF Adam Duvall. You also have the option of writing in a handful of the club’s lesser-used role players.

Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, will be hosting the exhibition on July 13. There was no Midsummer Classic during 2020’s shortened season. The year before that, Sandy Alcantara was Miami’s lone representative.

Which Marlins are most likely to be selected for the National League roster in ‘21? With about one month remaining to build up their résumés, here’s who I foresee being the top candidates.

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1. LHP Trevor Rogers—Duh. The back-to-back NL Rookie of the Month award winner is the only Marlin who I’d say has better than a 50-50 chance of making the cut. If Rogers simply avoids the injured list between now and decision time (regardless of results), he’s a virtual lock.
2. 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.—Second base is lacking in starpower so far during this MLB season, particularly in the Senior Circuit. Chisholm is behind the durable Jake Cronenworth (Padres) in this race, but he still has the time and talent to reclaim the status he had in April as a potential “face of the franchise” player. He’ll need to avoid additional missed games and improve upon his 26.1 K-BB%.
3. RHP Pablo López—The Venezuelan right-hander is just as great if not even better than he was in 2020. However, he has yet to have an attention-grabbing “statement game” (only Game Score above 70 came against a depleted Mets lineup), plus I always worry about López’s injury risk considering his troubling history in that department.
4. 1B Jesús Aguilar—Agui leads the NL in runs batted in and his antics on the field are a boon to his celebrity. A previous All-Star selection in 2018, he’d be on track to do it again if only his road production (130 wRC+) translated to LoanDepot Park (76 wRC+).
5. RHP Sandy Alcantara—The stat that seems to be weighted the heaviest when making All-Star pitching choices is earned run average. NL starters as a whole have a 3.96 ERA in 2021, so it will be difficult for Alcantara to stand out from the crowd with his 3.66 mark.
6. SS Miguel Rojas—We’ve reached the “it would take a miracle to make it” portion of the article. Currently recuperating from a left finger injury, even a healthy Rojas would be overshadowed by fellow NL shortstops Fernando Tatís Jr., Trea Turner and Brandon Crawford.
7. CF Starling Marte—Marte would rank top 10 in the NL in batting average and OPS if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. It’s a moot point, of course, because he could play every inning of every remaining Marlins game between now and the All-Star break and still fall short of qualifying. Unless Marte elevates his game this month to a level we’ve never seen before, he won’t be able to measure up to the other elite outfielders.
8. RHP Yimi García—The Dominican reliever has recently had his closer’s role come into question. Maybe that plus his pending free agency provides the motivation García needs to begin another dominant stretch (like we saw from him last September). He’ll need at least 15 saves by early July to get into the conversation.
9. RHP Anthony Bender—When will the baseball world take notice of #BenderMania?! As long as that flawless 0.00 ERA remains intact, we can’t rule out the possibility of him crashing the All-Star party.

40. RHP Paul Campbell (there have been 40 total Marlins players used this season)