BREAKING:Detroit Tigers’ Riley Greene earns a spot in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game despite being overlooked in fan voting.
Everyone anticipated that Tarik Skubal, the ace of the pitching staff and one of baseball’s top pitchers, would represent the Detroit Tigers at the All-Star Game.
But what about Riley Greene?
While fans overlooked the 23-year-old rising superstar, his fellow players chose him to join Skubal in representing the Tigers at the 2024 All-Star Game on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The 94th Midsummer Classic between the American League and National League kicks off at 8 p.m.
“It’s awesome,” Greene said in response to his first All-Star selection. “Just showing up every day trying to help the team win, and good things happen.”
Manager A.J. Hinch addressed the team before Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, announcing that the Tigers had multiple All-Stars this year. He first revealed Skubal, the obvious choice, and then announced Greene.
Greene received a lot of support from his teammates.
This was significant because Greene, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 draft, wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the All-Star Game. Despite playing at an All-Star level in the first half of the season, he was overlooked in the fan voting and didn’t finish in the top 20 among AL outfielders.
“I didn’t really pay attention to any of the voting,” Greene said. “I was just playing baseball.”
Though Greene wasn’t focused on the fan voting, his teammates championed his case for representing the Tigers in the All-Star Game, where Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Steven Kwan will start in the AL outfield.
“He deserved it,” said Skubal, who has a 2.37 ERA in 18 starts. “He plays every day. It’s special stuff what he can do against left-handed pitching, right-handed pitching, it doesn’t matter. I’m glad he’s on my team so I don’t have to pitch to him.”
