Matt Carpenter won’t be able to take part in his third All-Star Game on July 12, but the St. Louis Cardinals will send Aledmys Diaz to San Diego in his place.
Per Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, Diaz was named to the National League squad after Carpenter went on the disabled list with an oblique injury.
Carpenter is on the short list of NL MVP candidates this season. He leads the league with a .420 on-base percentage and .414 weighted on-base average and ranks fifth in wins above replacement (3.5), per FanGraphs, and sixth in slugging (.568).
During Wednesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Carpenter appeared to tweak his side on a check swing and had to be taken out for examination.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said after Wednesday’s game that he has “a high level of concern” regarding Carpenter’s injury, per Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
Diaz has been one of MLB’s biggest surprises this season. The 25-year-old rookie is hitting a robust .319/.382/.534 with 35 extra-base hits in 77 games. He was never regarded as a top prospect in the Cardinals system, not even making the team’s top 30 prospects in 2015, per MLB.com.
San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford would have seemed like a more deserving replacement for Carpenter. He has a longer track record of success, was an All-Star last year and ranks eighth in the NL with 3.3 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs.
Since Carpenter and Diaz play for the same team and there’s a reasonable case to be made that Diaz should have been on the initial roster, he is not an egregious replacement choice.
Carpenter was also St. Louis’ only All-Star selection, and MLB likes to have all 30 teams represented in its summer showcase event, so Diaz became the logical option if the Cardinals needed to send someone to San Diego.
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