The 2020 All-AL Central Team

[Matthew Taylor]

Each year in college football, conferences release their “All-Conference” teams, recognizing the best player at each position from their conference. Now that the 2020 regular season has wrapped up, let’s see who made the 2020 All-AL Central Team.Outlined below is how the All-AL Central Team shook out, with the best player from the AL Central recognized at each position. Also outlined below are the preseason selections, the players selected by the selection committee (me) as the best players position-by-position coming into the 2020 season. This article will outline the All-AL Central team selections, as well as look at which preseason selections played up to expectations and maintained their title as the best at their position through the duration of the 2020 season.

 

Your 2020 All-AL Central team:

 

Catcher: Salvador Perez

Preseason selection: Yasmani Grandal ❌

 

After missing the entirety of the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery and missing the start of this season with a COVID-19 diagnosis, Salvador Perez responded by posting excellent numbers over the 2020 campaign. Perez ended the 2020 season with a .333/.353/.633 slash line and led all Major League catchers in wins above replacement, despite missing the beginning of the season.

 

Despite providing excellent defense behind the plate, Yasmani Grandal struggled at the dish this season, hitting just .230.

 

1st Base: José Abreu

Preseason selection: Miguel Sanó ❌

 

After signing a $50M contract extension in the offseason, José Abreu rewarded the White Sox with a massive season at the plate in 2020. Abreu led baseball with 60 RBI and led the American League with a SLG% of .617. Abreu was clutch all season long for the White Sox and has a case for American League MVP honors.

 

Preseason selection, Miguel Sanó, had a very up-and-down season in 2020. After missing out on much of Summer Camp with a COVID-19 diagnosis Sanó had a slow start to the season, beginning the year going 1-for-17. In the middle of the season Sanó caught fire, posting a 1.126 OPS over a 21 game stretch. Sanó then struggled with a neck injury to end the year and saw his play suffer down the stretch as a result.

 

2nd Base: César Hernández

Preseason selection: Luis Arráez❌

 

César Hernández wasn’t on anybody’s radar as the starting second baseman for the All-AL Central team, but because of his consistent play and injury to front runner, Arráez, Hernández earned the honor. In a season where the Cleveland Indians offense struggled for much of the year, Hernández was consistently solid, slashing .283/.355/.408 over 58 games and providing solid second base defense.

 

Arráez struggled with knee problems all season, and though he ended the season with another high batting average of .321, he was only able to appear in 32 games. Expect Arráez to bounce back in a big way in 2020.

 

Shortstop: Tim Anderson

Preseason selection: Francisco Lindor ❌

 

After winning the batting title in 2019, many pointed to Anderson’s sky-high BABIP as a reason why he was due for regression in 2020. Anderson’s batting average took a slight dip, but his overall game improved as his .886 OPS was a career high. At just 27 years old, Anderson is only beginning to enter his prime.

 

Lindor, like most of Cleveland’s offense, struggled for much of the 2020 season, posting a career low OPS of .750.

 

Third Base: José Ramírez

Preseason selection: Josh Donaldson ❌

 

After a slow start to the 2020 campaign that had Ramírez hitting just .230 through the season’s first 30 games, Ramírez finished the season as the hottest player in baseball. Over the season’s final 29 games, Ramírez slashed .358/.447/.792 and propelled the Indians to a near AL Central division title. It will be a tight race between José Abreu and Ramírez for the American League MVP.

 

Josh Donaldson had some promising moments in the 2020 season, but unfortunately his season will mostly be remembered by injury as he played in less than half of Minnesota’s games in 2020 and missed out on the postseason completely.

 

Outfield: Eloy Jimenez

 

Outfield: Luis Robert

 

Outfield: Whit Merrifield

 

Preseason selections: Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Max Kepler ✅✅❌

 

Chicago’s outfield was expected to be impressive in 2020 and they certainly were. They were led by Eloy Jiménez who followed up his rookie campaign with an even better year in 2020. Over 55 games, Eloy posted an OPS of .891, 40% better than average.

 

Through August of the 2020 season, Luis Robert looked like every bit of the prospect he was hyped up to be and more, posting an OPS of .960. Robert struggled mightily down the stretch of the season, as he hit just .136 in the month of September. Though he had a tough final month of the year, Robert still did enough for an All-AL Central spot, especially with his elite center field defense.

 

Rounding out the All-AL Central outfield is Whit Merrifield. Merrifield put together his second season in a row playing in 100% of his team’s games and once again had successful numbers at the plate, slashing .282/.325/.764. It was another poor season for the Royals, but Merrifield was not at all to blame.

 

Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz

Preseason selection: Nelson Cruz✅

 

Nelson Cruz was the easy choice as the designated hitter on the All-AL Central team, and he left no room for debate as to who was the best DH in the division in 2020. Cruz once again dominated at the plate, posting a .992 OPS and leading the Twins with 16 home runs. As an impending free agent, the Minnesota Twins will have a massive decision to make on whether or not they choose to bring back the 40-year-old designated hitter.

 

SP: Shane Bieber

SP: Lucas Giolito

SP: Kenta Maeda

SP: Dallas Keuchel

SP: Carlos Carrasco

 

Preseason selections: Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito, Mike Clevinger, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi ✅✅❌❌❌

 

The starting pitching was suspected to be the strength of the American League Central, and that turned out to be the case. The starting pitching in the AL Central was led by the dominant quartet of Bieber, Maeda, Giolito, and Keuchel who posted ERAs of 1.63, 3.48, 2.70 and 1.99 respectively. Bieber was dominant from start to finish for the Indians and will win the Cy Young, Maeda was the ace that the Twins had been seeking, Gioltio posted a career-high 12.07 K/9 and turned in a no-hitter, and Keuchel posted a team-low ERA of 1.99. Rounding out the starting pitchers for the American league was Carlos Carrasco, an amazing turn-around for a guy who recently returned from a Leukemia diagnosis last year.

 

RP: James Karinchak

RP: Brad Hand

RP: Evan Marshall

RP: Tyler Duffey

RP: Alex Colomé

 

Preseason selections: Tyler Duffey, Alex Colomé, Brad Hand, Taylor Rogers, Aaron Bummer ✅✅✅❌❌

 

While Taylor Rogers and Aaron Bummer weren’t the class of the American League Central relief pitchers as expected, they were replaced on the All-AL central team by some dominant relievers in their own right in James Karinchak and Evan Marshall. Karinchak as a rookie, led all AL Central relievers in fWAR with 1.1 and owned an absolutely ridiculous K/9 of 17.67, which is the highest single season K/9 in the expansion era. Marshall was a god-send for Chicago in 2020 as he filled in for the injured Aaron Bummer and was dominant with a 2.38 ERA and 11.91 K/9. The remainder of the All-AL Central relievers were the expected names in Brad Hand (2.05 ERA, 13.50 K/9), Tyler Duffey (1.88 ERA, 0.79 WHIP) and Alex Colomé (0.81 ERA).

 

Overall, only 8 of the 19 2020 Pre-Season All-AL Central team members made it on the team following the 2020 season. The biggest reason for this was the complete no-show from the Minnesota Twins offense in 2020. After dominating baseball at the plate in 2019, the 2020 crop only produced one position player on the All-AL Central team with Nelson Cruz.

 

From the 19 spots on our All-AL Central Team here is how many players each team in the AL Central contributed:

• Minnesota Twins - 3 (9 preseason selections)
• Chicago White Sox - 8 (6 preseason selections)
• Cleveland Indians - 6 (4 preseason selections)
• Kansas City Royals - 2 (0 preseason selections)
• Detroit Tigers - 0 (0 preseason selections)

What are your thoughts on the 2020 All-AL Central team? What surprised you most about how the team shook out after the season? Do you disagree with any of the selections? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

 

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[Twinsfan#2]

Feels like Rosenthal and Staumont were snubbed here... I know Rosenthal was traded but I’d argue he should still be eligible

[Dantes929]

And yet, the Twins still won the Division.    Still a team game I guess.  This isn't depressing to me.    I expect a lot of guys to have good rebound seasons.

 

[mikelink45]

The Twins season is well reflected here.  I would want to combine NL and AL central division since they were combined for the season.  But most of all this is why we stumbled to the championship (no we did not win it).  Maeda and Cruz saved us.  Or BP could not even get one person on the list - and we bragged about them all season.  

[Nine of twelve]

 

 Or BP could not even get one person on the list - and we bragged about them all season.  

Which team does Tyler Duffey pitch for? I thought he was on the Twins' roster.

[mikelink45]

 

Which team does Tyler Duffey pitch for? I thought he was on the Twins' roster.

You got me - I really missed that one.  So glad he stepped up since so many dropped in value. 

[joemama]

The pitching was good, but it was also reflective of generally weak hitting across both the AL and NL Central divisions. That lack of hitting showed up in the playoffs:

Minnesota 0-2, 2 runs scored;

Cleveland 0-2, 12 runs scored...against the Yankees, who are out;

Chi Sox 1-2, 11 runs scored...against the A's, who are out;

Chi Cubs 0-2, 1 run scored;

St. Louis 1-2, 16 runs scored...against the Padres, who are out.

Cincinnati 0-2, 0 runs scored; and

Milwaukee 0-2, 2 runs scored.

TOTAL 2-14 and 44 runs (2.75 per game).

Against teams still playing, the Twins, Reds, and Brewers went 0-6 combined and scored 4 runs. Brutal.

I think we (our Twins) can be better - several guys were struggling down the stretch - but there's clearly a need for some changes.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Despite providing excellent defense behind the plate, Yasmani Grandal struggled at the dish this season, hitting just .230.

?

 

Obviously Perez had a better season, but we're not seriously saying a hitter "struggled" in 2020 based on a .230 batting average, are we? The whole league only batted .245, and Grandal still had a 113 OPS+ in 2020. For his career, he has a .240 AVG and 115 OPS+.

 

I'd say Grandal simply met expectations, while Perez exceeded them.

[Matthew Taylor]

 

?

 

Obviously Perez had a better season, but we're not seriously saying a hitter "struggled" in 2020 based on a .230 batting average, are we? The whole league only batted .245, and Grandal still had a 113 OPS+ in 2020. For his career, he has a .240 AVG and 115 OPS+.

 

I'd say Grandal simply met expectations, while Perez exceeded them.

 

He was fine at the plate, but a step below from where he had been the previous two seasons. He struck out more than ever before and posted his lowest SLG% since 2015.

[stringer bell]

Buxton only played 39 games, but a case could be made for him over Robert. I believe Buck had a higher WAR and his hitting numbers (OPS and OPS+) were better, plus he is a better defender than Robert. 

 

Same old story. The Twins need to find a way to have Byron on the field for 140+ games and he might be an All-Star and perhaps an MVP candidate.

[Battle ur tail off]

 

Buxton only played 39 games, but a case could be made for him over Robert. I believe Buck had a higher WAR and his hitting numbers (OPS and OPS+) were better, plus he is a better defender than Robert. 

 

Same old story. The Twins need to find a way to have Byron on the field for 140+ games and he might be an All-Star and perhaps an MVP candidate.

 

No, Buxton shouldn't have a case made for him IMO. You can't just constantly be hurt and make anyone's top list. 

Also on your second statement, I agree. The problem is, he will never be on the field for more than 80-90 games per year. He has shown this over and over. 

[stringer bell]

 

No, Buxton shouldn't have a case made for him IMO. You can't just constantly be hurt and make anyone's top list. 

Also on your second statement, I agree. The problem is, he will never be on the field for more than 80-90 games per year. He has shown this over and over. 

It's not a perfect comparison because he became a DH, but the same was said about Paul Molitor early in his career and he was durable later in his career.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

He was fine at the plate, but a step below from where he had been the previous two seasons. He struck out more than ever before and posted his lowest SLG% since 2015.

FYI, better to use ISO (isolated power) than SLG, because SLG basically double-counts batting average. Still a drop for Grandal in 2020, but not as big -- and the whole league dropped too.

 

And like the league batting average was near an all-time low, league K% climbed to another all-time high. (Grandal's rise in K% still outpaced that, but it's worth noting, especially in such a small sample -- for example, Grandal was owned by Cleveland pitchers in 2020, which may have had an outsized effect on his overall stats as compared to a normal season schedule.)

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Buxton only played 39 games, but a case could be made for him over Robert. I believe Buck had a higher WAR and his hitting numbers (OPS and OPS+) were better, plus he is a better defender than Robert.

By WAR, OPS, and OPS+, Kepler and Rosario appear better than both Robert and Merrifield in 2020 too, and don't have quite the playing time problems of Buxton.

 

[stringer bell]

 

By WAR, OPS, and OPS+, Kepler and Rosario appear better than both Robert and Merrifield in 2020 too, and don't have quite the playing time problems of Buxton.

Comparing Buxton and Robert, though, is CF vs. CF. I believe Buxton led the Twins in WAR despite playing not 2/3 of the games.