Sight Unseen, Dusty Baker Still Picks Shane McClanahan For All-Star Start

Dusty Baker has never seen Shane McClanahan pitch. But that didn’t stop the manager of the American League All-Stars from naming him the starting pitcher in the Tuesday night game at Dodger Stadium.

Baker, the manager of the Houston Astros during the rest of the season, said he considered Shohei Ohtani, the two-way player who started for the AL All-Stars in Denver last year, but got word that the right-handed hurler would not be available.

Ohtani is scheduled to pitch the first game of the second half for the Angels, who open a weekend series in Atlanta Friday.

Baker, 73, is the oldest manager in the game after 77-year-old Tony La Russa of the Chicago White Sox. But he hasn’t lost his quick wit or his zest for jest. His only faux pas Monday came when he referred to the Cleveland Indians rather than the Cleveland Guardians.

Asked whether he expected fans at Dodger Stadium to boo Astros participants, Baker said, “I’ve been booed many times in many places. And it doesn’t bother me.”

He also noted that most of the players involved in Houston’s sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 World Series have left the team through trade or retirement.

“I’m hopeful that fans at the All-Star Game understand that,” said Baker, who earned the right to manage the AL team this year because his Astros won last year’s American League pennant.

Baker predicted that the 5 o’clock starting time should benefit the starting pitchers because of the way the shadows fall at that hour. He’s pitted against Atlanta’s Brian Snitker, at 66 the oldest manager in the National League.

Snitker, an organization man who’s spent 45 years with the Braves organization, never played in the big leagues. But Baker did – and was hurt when left off the All-Star team in 1980, the last time the game was played in Dodger Stadium.

“I was a little hurt when I wasn’t chosen,” admitted Baker, then the starting left-fielder of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he acknowledged that NL All-Star roster was overloaded with Dodgers.

McClanahan, who leads the American League in numerous pitching categories, is only the second member of the Tampa Bay Rays to start an All-Star Game, following David Price in 2010. He also delivers bang for the buck: at $711,000, he has one of the lowest salaries of any 2022 All-Star.

“I’m going to take the ball and have Dusty see me pitch for the first time,” said McClanahan, whose pay could triple when his one-year contract expires after the season.

The top-paid pitcher in the game, Max Scherzer of the New York Mets, is in the first year of a three-year deal that pays him a record $43 million a season.

Kershaw, a veteran left-hander with three Cy Young Awards but no previous All-Star starts, is working on a one-year, $17 million deal with the Dodgers.

Not one to get excited about the big-game situation, he said he was just going to try to pitch.

“It would have been fun as a fan of the game to watch Ohtani pitch,” he said of the two-way star, whose abilities earned him the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player award. “I just don’t want to see him pitch against us.”

Kershaw is the first pitcher to get an All-Star start in his home ballpark since Scherzer, then with the Washington Nationals, in 2018.

“He’s pitching because of what he means to the Dodgers,” Snitker said. The modest Kershaw was surprised by his selection.

“It means a lot,” he said. “To be honest, Sandy Alcantara, Tony Gonsolin, and Max Fried all have better numbers than I do. Hopefully I don’t screw it up too badly.”

The American League has an eight-game winning streak and 46-43 overall advantage.