Padres Get One All-Star In 2015

Plenty of guys with San Diego ties are going to Cincinnati

If we could put together an All-Star team full of guys with ties to San Diego, that team would be pretty darn good.

The Padres have only one All-Star representative in 2015 but it's a pretty good one. Justin Upton is going to Cincinnati for the Midsummer Classic. Upton leads the Padres in home runs, RB I and runs scored. He certainly deserves the recognition.

The list of guys who have either played for the Padres or hail from our town is awfully long. Orioles outfielder Adam Jones (Morse High), Dodgers 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez (Eastlake High) and former University of San Diego star Kris Bryant, who will replace injured Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, all earned All-Star spots.

Former Padres 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo is an All-Star as a Chicago Cub and former Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal is now an All-Star as a Los Angeles Dodger. It's that last one that will really draw the ire of Padres fans.

Forget about the fact he was popped for using performance-enhancing drugs. That's not even the main issue here. The main issue is Grandal is on the team instead of Padres catcher Derek Norris (Giants catcher Buster Posey is the starter and Cardinals star Yadier Molina are the other backstops).

The argument can be made the Grandal has better offensive numbers, even though Norris has driven in 12 more runs and scored 11 more runs (likely a product of having 78 more plate appearances. The argument can not be made the Grandal has better defensive numbers.

In fact, according to Fangraphs, Norris is the 2nd-best defensive catcher in the National League (just slightly behind Molina) while Grandal is the WORST defensive catcher in the NL (and it's not even close). So that one is a head-scratcher.

But, as many have pointed out on Twitter, Norris has played an avalanche of innings already this year. Perhaps him getting four days off is more important than the honor of being an All-Star.

Contact Us