NEW YORK – National League MVP Freddie Freeman was one of three Atlanta Braves named to the All-MLB first team on Wednesday night.
The batting first baseman was joined by Braves, who was referred to as batsman Marcell Ozuna, and starting pitcher Max Fried. Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was selected for the second team, making the NL-East champions more honors than any other club after a 2020 season reduced to 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
San Diego had two players on the top team: shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado.
Cy Young winners Trevor Bauer of the Cincinnati Reds and Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians also formed the first team. Right-hander Yu Darvish from Chicago Cubs and New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom rounded out the five starters.
The rest of the first team consisted of Salvador Perez from Kansas City, DJ LeMahieu from New York Yankees and Mookie Betts from world champion Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Trout from the Los Angeles Angels and Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals. The helpers were Nick Anderson from Tampa Bay and Liam Hendriks from Oakland.
AL MVP Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox was the first baseman on the second team, which also included Philadelphia catcher JT Realmuto, Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager and Indian third baseman Jose Ramirez belonged to. Acuna was accompanied in the outfield by Michael Conforto of the Mets and Mike Yastrzemski of the San Francisco Giants. The batsman-designate was 40-year-old Minnesota veteran Nelson Cruz.
The starting pitchers were Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, Dinelson Lamet of the Padres, Kenta Maeda of the twins and Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Toronto Blue Jays. Cleveland closer Brad Hand and NL Rookie of the Year Devin Williams from Milwaukee were the helpers.
The votes for the second annual all-MLB team were cast by fans, media members, broadcasters, former players and other Major League Baseball officials.
Betts got the most votes from fans. Forelle, deGrom and LeMahieu were the only players to be elected to the first team in the past two years.
