Six Giants named All-MLB nominees

On Wednesday the nominees for the 2021 All-MLB teams were announced, and six San Francisco Giants players were listed: catcher Buster Posey, shortstop Brandon Crawford, outfielder Kris Bryant, starting pitchers Kevin Gausman and Logan Webb, and reliever Jake McGee.

That’s some very deserved recognition for the group, which features four players who were All-Stars this year, and at least one more who would be an All-Star if teams were voted on at the end of the year.

This is just the third season of having All-MLB teams, of which there are two (a first and second team, with both leagues eligible for both teams). So far the Giants have had just one selection: Mike Yastrzemski as a 2020 second-team All-MLB choice.

Posey led all Major League catchers in fWAR this season, and is up against Willson Contreras, Yasmani Grandal, Salvador Pérez, J.T. Realmuto, Will Smith, and Mike Zunino. He seems a lock to make one of the teams in his final MLB season, which is fitting.

Crawford finished fourth in fWAR among shortstops, and is competing against Tim Anderson, Bo Bichette, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, Nicky Lopez, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Trea Turner. It is truly ridiculous how stacked the shortstop position is right now.

A slow final month to the season means Bryant finished just 17th among outfielders in fWAR. There are three outfield spots on each team, and he’s up against Randy Arozarena, Mookie Betts, Nick Castellanos, Adam Duvall, Adolis García, Mitch Haniger, Bryce Harper, Enrique Hernández, Teoscar Hernández, Aaron Judge, Cedric Mullins, Tyler O’Neill, Bryan Reynolds, Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, and Jesse Winker.

Gausman and Webb made for a formidable top of the rotation, finishing 10th and 20th, respectively, in fWAR. Five pitchers are selected for each team, and those two find impressive competition in Sandy Alcántara, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos, Walker Buehler, Corbin Burnes, Dylan Cease, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Lance Lynn, Lance McCullers Jr., Charlie Morton, Shohei Ohtani, Freddy Peralta, Robbie Ray, Carlos Rodón, Max Scherzer, Julio Urías, Adam Wainwright, Zack Wheeler, and Brandon Woodruff.

And finally there’s McGee, who had a strong year, but only finished 40th in fWAR among bullpen pitchers. Two relievers are named to each team, and the other nominees are Aroldis Chapman, Emmanuel Clase, Giovanny Gallegos, Josh Hader, Liam Hendriks, Raisel Iglesias, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, Andrew Kittredge, Jonathan Loaisiga, Mark Melancon, Ryan Pressly, Jordan Romano, Garrett Whitlock, and Devin Williams.

You can vote for the All-MLB selections here.