The All-MLB team has existed for as long as Bryce Harper has been a Phillie, and in both years, he has not been viewed as one of the six best outfielders in baseball.
The Phillies had one representative on the 2020 All-MLB team revealed Wednesday night: J.T. Realmuto is the second-team catcher.
While the Phils have just one player on the second annual all-MLB team, the NL East led all divisions with eight. Four Braves, two Mets, one National and one Phillie were selected.
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Three of the Braves (1B Freddie Freeman, DH Marcell Ozuna and SP Max Fried) made the first team. Ronald Acuña Jr. made the second team.
The Nationals’ lone rep was first-teamer Juan Soto, who figures to make the first team for much or all of the next decade. The 22-year-old Soto is probably the top answer to the question, "Who in the NL East would you most like to build your team around?"
The Mets had SP Jacob deGrom on the first team and outfielder Michael Conforto on the second team. Conforto, who hit .322/.412/.515, made the second team over Bryce Harper. Harper had the advantage over Conforto in home runs, RBI, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, but Conforto hit 54 points higher.
The Phillies have had one All-MLB rep each year. Realmuto was the first-team catcher last year but was outperformed offensively in this 60-game season by Royals catcher Salvador Perez, who hit .333 with a .986 OPS and had identical home run (11) and RBI (32) totals as Realmuto in 39 fewer plate appearances.
MLB
This was another example of how loaded the NL East is with elite players. All that talent and the teams didn’t even include Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Harper, Aaron Nola or Zack Wheeler. The division will likely grow even stronger this offseason with the Mets attached to several superstar free agents and the Nationals also looking to add.
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