One-Hit-Wonder All-Stars

When you think of the roster on an MLB All-Star team, you would expect to see the biggest and brightest stars baseball has to offer. OF Mike Trout, OF Mookie Betts and SP Jacob deGrom are a few players that are almost guaranteed All-Star selections in any given year. However, in the modern era, a random, unestablished player can slip into an All-Star roster. This list focuses on those one-hit-wonder All-Stars — players on the cusp of becoming elite but who fizzled out after their career season.

1B Gaby Sánchez, Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins were an organization known for producing promising young talent that would often flame out early into their careers. Sánchez is an excellent example of that, only posting two solid statistical years in his seven MLB seasons. Sánchez was a top-five rookie of the year candidate in 2010, posting a .273 batting average with 19 home runs and 85 RBIs.

Those stats fell a bit in 2011, though it was enough to get him into the All-Star Game. Perhaps his bid was helped by the Marlins making a campaign video, which they posted to the MLB official YouTube page. Unfortunately, Sánchez fell off so fast he doesn’t have many notable moments in his career. After his 2011 All-Star appearance, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 2012 season after 50 games. He made little noise in his 309 games there, and I still question why he was selected for the All-Star game to begin with. 

OF Dominic Brown, Philadelphia Phillies

Brown joins a list of Phillies outfielders that had strangely phenomenal years, despite never having lasting success. He was previously touted as a top prospect in baseball, though he struggled through his first few seasons in the big leagues. It seemed like Brown put it all together in 2013, earning a trip to the All-Star Game as a reserve. In retrospect, Brown’s All-Star season sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of his career numbers.

Brown hit 27 of his 57 career home runs in 2013, meaning almost half of his career total came during his All-Star campaign. Brown was awful defensively, and when he stopped producing with his bat, he became replaceable. I think he caught the Jeff Francoeur Syndrome. He found his wheelhouse and excelled at hitting a specific type of pitch. The following season he saw less of that particular pitch, he couldn’t adjust and his stats fall flat. Being an outfielder doesn’t help his situation, mainly because it is such a replaceable position. The Phillies waived Brown in 2015. He played a few years in the minors before playing in the Mexican League in 2018.

LHP Ricky Romero, Toronto Blue Jays

Romero was a top-five draft pick in 2005. He rose through the minors quickly and made his debut in 2009, owning a 1.19 ERA through three starts. Unfortunately, this streak was ended by a strained oblique muscle he injured while sneezing. 

Romero earned an All-Star nod during the 2011 season, where he finished with a 15-11 record and a 2.92 ERA. 

The following season, he was named Opening Day starter but quietly struggled with knee injuries over the year. His ERA was sporadic, posting a 4.34 ERA in the first half and a 7.35 in the second half, yet Toronto continued to use him as an ace despite a massive decline in performance. He finally revealed his injury troubles, with Blue Jays’ doctors claiming he had pitched with torn quads in both legs. His final MLB appearance was in 2013. 

RHP Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians

Masterson was a pitcher whose potential outweighed his mediocre stat line. He had several small moments of greatness before his All-Star appearance, making his rapid decline even more confusing. Masterson was the first Boston Red Sox player since 1912 to post his first four consecutive wins at Fenway Park. He also struck out four batters in an inning while with the Indians, ironically facing Boston.

He had a masterpiece of a season in 2013, being a top 10 pitcher in wins (14), strikeouts (195) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.1). In addition, he led the league in complete-game shutouts (3), and his first two wins of 2013 came against reigning CY Young Award winners RHP R.A. Dickey and LHP David Price.

After his dominant season, Masterson struggled with the Indians in 2014 and was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals mid-season while injured. He signed back with Boston in the offseason, struggled to the tune of a 5.61 ERA and was designated for assignment in August 2015.

RHP R.A. Dickey, New York Mets

Dickey is the prime example of how weird baseball is. The whole year is summed up by one pitch in Dickey’s arsenal: the knuckleball. During the 2012 season, Dickey kept hitters off-guard in the box by gassing a fastball over the plate or throwing a prolonged, awkward-moving pitch slumping through the air. As a result, he led the league in strikeouts (230), complete games (5) and complete game shutouts (3), all while facing more batters than any other pitcher that year.

Dickey struck out about 100 more batters that year than he did in 2011. Unfortunately, he fell back to earth in 2013 after his trade from the Mets to the Blue Jays. It was predicted that he would struggle in the American League, and his numbers were far removed from his Cy Young Award-winning season the year prior. It’s unfathomable that his pitching was never the same before or after 2012. He had a magical year and is one of the biggest anomalies when looking at pitching stats.

The Verdict

There is no overbearing excuse for why these players couldn’t consistently put together quality seasons after their All-Star appearances. Admittedly, most of them were in their late 20’s, when they should be at the height of their prime, but that doesn’t explain how they played drastically worse after an offseason than they did the previous year. Baseball is one of the weirdest sports to track while using statistics due to highly inconsistent performances from players in the game. It’s just that unpredictable.

Cover photo courtesy of Jim McIsaac/Getty Images