He talked about it as a magical far away place – a fantasy country for baseball’s elite – that he hoped to visit one day, despite being the first “half” eligible for selection.
“Oh, that would be wonderful,” he said. “Obviously, I want to go. But if it’s not for me this year, I’m okay with that. But if I went, it would be a dream come true.
The dream became reality for the Mariners on Friday afternoon.
Just before the team took the field for pregame practice, manager Scott Servais held a team meeting to announce that Munoz had been selected to the American League All-Star roster as the replacement for teammate Logan Gilbert. .
When the players were informed of the meeting taking place at 4:15, Munoz thought it would have something to do with the All-Star Game, but he did not want to be arrogant enough to think that he had to. is being selected.
“I was very nervous,” he said. “I thought a little bit that maybe it could happen because we have everyone together. I was thinking, ‘Maybe, hopefully.’
As Servais announced that another member of his team had been selected to the All-Star Game, mariachi music blared over the speakers in the visitors clubhouse at Angel Stadium and the players cheered.
“I don’t even know if he said my name or not,” Munoz said. “He just started playing the song and then he looked at me and said, ‘Congratulations, Muni. You made the All-Star team. It was a really great feeling.'”
After this Munoj addressed his colleagues.
“I thanked everyone because they were always playing 100%,” he said.
Munoz gave a speech in English, his second language, which was a reminder to Servais of how far the young fireballer has come as a player and a person.
“I’m very proud of him and how much he’s grown,” Servais said. “Probably one of the most impressive things from when we first got him and he was coming back from surgery – his ability to overcome his fear of using the English language. “It was really great to see.”
With Gilbert starting Sunday’s series finale in Anaheim, he is ineligible to pitch in Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic at Globe Life Field. Munoz’s selection would give the Mariners a chance to get someone into the game. Both will fly to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Munoz had a resume worthy of preliminary selection. In 37 appearances this season, he has made 15 saves with six holds and allowed only six earned runs in 37 1/3 innings with a 1.45 ERA. He has struck out 45 batters with just 16 walks. And six of those 15 saves have been for four outs or more, the most in MLB. He is one of three AL relievers with more than 10 saves and an ERA under 2.00, joining Emmanuel Klaas of the Guardians and Kirby Yates of the Rangers.
“He has grown as a pitcher,” Servais said. “He’s always been a great arm, a great thrower, but we’ve really seen him develop as a pitcher.”
Like Gilbert and many other pitchers on the staff, Munoz has continually worked on improving his pitches and adding to his repertoire. He has refined his slider and added a two-seam fastball to go with a four-seam fastball that can reach triple digits.
And while he’s eager to talk to and learn from other teams’ pitchers, he’s most interested in meeting and talking to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.
“He looks like he’s having a lot of fun out there,” Munoz said. “It will be awesome for me to be able to talk to everyone and hopefully learn a lot of things.”
And the judge?
“A lot of things, like what he’s thinking when I’m pitching to him,” Munoz said. “I know he’s not going to say a lot of things because we’re going to face them again, but just ask him and learn as much as you can.”
This story will be updated.