For the first time since 1982, there will be no Puerto Rican players at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
In every season from 1983 to 2025, there had been at least one Puerto Rican-born participant. Last year’s representatives included Javier Baez from the Detroit Tigers and Francisco Lindor and Edwin Diaz from the New York Mets.
For one reason or another, notable stars are absent from the rosters. Injuries play a key factor in the nonattendance.
Due to a calf injury, shortstop Francisco Lindor was limited to 40 games before the All-Star break.
Houston Astros infielder Carlos Correa, who last earned a selection in 2024, is out for the year with a torn tendon in his left ankle. Right-hander Jose Berrios underwent Tommy John Surgery in May, though he didn’t make an appearance on the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays during the regular season.
Perhaps Diaz, now a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers as their closer, would have had the strongest chance to make the NL All-Star team if he were healthy. But he threw just six innings before landing on the 60-day injured list, as he required arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow.
Outside of those injury-derailed seasons, there are no tremendously strong All-Star cases to be made from Puerto Rico.
Catchers Victor Caratini and Christian Vazquez are mostly backups with relatively weak hitting profiles on their respective clubs.
Willi Castro is a solid utility man for the Colorado Rockies, but a .710 OPS with a 0.5 bWAR in 82 games doesn’t exactly scream “All-Star”.
Perhaps relievers Fernando Cruz (40 IP, 2.25 ERA, 11.3 SO/9) and Jovani Moran (38 ⅓ IP, 2.82 ERA, 10.8 SO/9) could’ve received some consideration. But the All-Stars selected for the AL squad, including Aroldis Chapman, Louis Varland, and Cade Smith, are more deserving of one of the five spots.
The drought of Puerto Rican players in the Midsummer Classic is likely to be a short one. Again, this is something that hadn’t happened in 44 years.
This comes off the heels of Puerto Rico’s early exit from the 2026 World Baseball Classic, losing in the quarterfinals to Team Italy.
Healthy, bounce-back seasons from Lindor and Diaz, both fan favorites in a world in which fans vote for the All-Star starts, could see their names pop up next summer.
Should a lack of Puerto Rican representation in the All-Star Game be a concern for the island’s professional baseball development, or pure coincidence?
We’ll have to wait until next summer to find out.
Photo: An inured Francisco Lindor looks on from the New York Mets dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, May 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
