An injury to Toronto Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada opened the door for Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber to join the 2016 American League All-Star team.
Per Major League Baseball‘s official Twitter account, Kluber was named to the squad as an injury replacement after Estrada went on the disabled list with back problems.
Kluber, who won the 2014 AL Cy Young Award, has not made an All-Star team prior to this year, even though he’s been one of the league’s best pitchers over the last three years.
The one stat for Kluber that jumps out this year is his high 3.79 ERA, which would be his worst mark over a full season since a 3.85 mark in 2013.
However, as ESPN.com’s Keith Law noted in his breakdown of All-Star snubs, everything else Kluber has done made him worthy of inclusion on the team:
Kluber’s ERA is unsightly at 3.79, but he has the best FIP in the AL at 2.96, and the gap is really about Kluber’s having a bizarre, probably flukish time with men on base, especially with men in scoring position: Hitters have slugged .529 off him in 82 such plate appearances. That’s well above his career slugging percentage allowed with men on base (.430), which is why I say it’s likely a fluke and not a good reason to leave off the roster someone who is clearly one of the top 10 pitchers in the league.
In addition to Kluber’s stellar fielding independent ERA, he is tied for first in the AL with 3.1 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, fourth with 114 innings pitched and fifth with 114 strikeouts.
It would be one thing if this were a one-year fluke for Kluber, but he’s been one of the AL’s best pitchers over the last three seasons. He doesn’t stand out as much in Cleveland’s rotation as he once did, however, because Danny Salazar made his first All-Star team this year, Carlos Carrasco has been terrific since returning from the disabled list and Trevor Bauer is having a breakout season.
Kluber gives the first-place Indians three All-Star representatives, along with Salazar and shortstop Francisco Lindor. It’s been a great summer for sports in Cleveland already, and now the city’s baseball team will be well-represented on the Midsummer Classic stage to show the country it is a legitimate contender.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com