As Major League Baseball prepares to hold its first All-Star Game in Florida on Tuesday, the Sunshine State will be well represented between those who played high school and college ball in the state or for one of the two professional teams.
The host Miami Marlins will have two players in the mid-summer classic in Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna. Stanton, normally a right fielder, will be the National League’s designated hitter to start Tuesday’s game and bat second while Ozuna will start in left field and bat eighth.
Florida’s other MLB team, the Tampa Bay Rays, will have one representative as Corey Dickerson will start the game as the American League’s designated hitter and bat sixth.
As for the AL, two players with strong Florida ties will be a part of the action. Yonder Alonso of the Oakland A’s, who played for Coral Gables High School and the University of Miami, was selected to this year’s team while Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox, a native of Lakeland who played college at Florida Gulf Coast, will be the team’s starting pitcher.
The NL will also have a Florida feel with the San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey being selected as the team’s starting catcher. Posey played his college career with the Florida State Seminoles, where he was named the top player in the game during his junior season.
