Before the season, if you had to pick the most likely White Sox to be the team’s lone representative in the All-Star Game, Avisail Garcia would probably be pretty far down on the list.
But there he is, heading to Miami on the strength of a .318/.362/.512 line and defense that’s good enough to put him on a 4-5 WAR pace. He hasn’t played the last few games due to a knee that he tweaked sliding into first base on a pickoff attempt during the Yankees series, but considering he’s hitless over his last 21 plate appearances, the time off might have allowed him to regroup.
Garcia is currently a reserve outfielder, but the American League will need another third starter since Mike Trout is on the disabled list.
Outside of Garcia, the Sox didn’t have any compelling All-Star cases outside of maybe Jose Abreu, whose strong series against the Rangers might have happened a little too late in the first half to attract support. It’s hard to quibble with the American League first basemen outside of a lack of name recognition — Justin Smoak and Yonder Alonso, both of whom are their teams’ lone representative. Abreu could still make the team with an injury, and the same can be said for David Robertson or Tommy Kahnle once the pitching staffs shuffle around.