Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers are in the midst of career years, but both are currently relying on player ballots and the commissioner’s office to get the nod to Arlington, TX for an All Star Game appearance. While they are more than worthy for the honors, there are only 12 available spots for the 2 of them amongst a loaded AL position players group.
Tanner Houck is a lock. Given how every team requires representation and the overall AL star power, it’s unclear whether the Red Sox will receive 3 players in the All-Star Game. Despite how well the team and both Duran and Devers have played this year, it might come down to one or the other (Adley Rutschman, Salvador Perez, and David Fry all have better cases than Connor Wong).
Both players should make the All-Star team, but if the players and commissioner’s office HAD to pick between the two, who should they choose?
Is Devers or Duran more deserving of an All-Star Game appearance?
First off, Devers and Duran lead the Red Sox in practically every offensive category, and are amongst the American League leaders in most categories. That being said, Devers possesses the superior slash line. Devers is posting a .288/.369/.568/.937 while Duran has a .287/.351/.497/.848. In fact, Devers ranks 3rd in the AL in slugging percentage and 4th in wOBA. However, a large factor in Devers’ superior rate stats is due to Duran playing in 84 games to Devers’ 72. Lastly, Devers does have 18 home runs to Duran’s 10, and 47 RBIs to Duran’s 40.
Duran has more doubles and, of course, triples than Devers, and similarly he’s collected more total bases and extra base hits. Duran ranks 4th in the AL with 43 extra base hits. As expected given his skill set and spot in the lineup, Duran has 58 runs scored to Devers’ 50, and Duran has 100 hits to Devers’ 78. Duran also is amongst the AL’s leaders in stolen bases with 21.
When it comes to legacy, it feels more crucial for Devers to continue to pad his All-Star Game appearances. Devers is 27, has a World Series ring, and this would be his 3rd All-Star Game. All-Star Games should be based off of productivity on the field rather than fame, but the spectacle is a product of star-power at the end of the day. Devers has 602,047 votes to Duran’s 241,641, and while Duran plays in a more densely packed position it’s hard to say that Duran has more fame than Devers in the baseball world.
Duran has been more valuable than Devers, on both offense and defense. In terms of fWAR and bWAR, Duran leads Devers in both oWAR and dWAR (defensively, Duran is far superior to Devers). While Devers leads Duran is many offensive categories, Duran’s availability, defense, athleticism and productivity hitting leadoff has proven to be a more valuable commodity than Devers to the Red Sox. My choice would be Duran by a hair.