​Justin Wrobleski has been among the National League’s most effective pitchers this season, yet he missed the All-Star nod. He owns the eighth-best ERA in baseball and has been a central figure in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pursuit of the most wins in the league, but recognition at the midseason showcase eluded him. A common critique leveled at him compared with his peers is the number of starts he has made; however, the quality of those starts should, in principle, carry more weight than the raw count of innings.
“We run a six-man rotation, and I don’t want him to bear undue blame for not making a couple more starts he potentially could have had,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on Tuesday. “He’s won 10 games for us. To become the beneficiary of decisions in pitching, you have to go deeper into games. It’s about winning; the ERA is stellar, the innings per outing are solid, and I just think he’s performed enough to earn that opportunity.”
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On Tuesday, Braxton Ashcraft and Jesús Luzardo were announced as replacements for the All-Star Game. Both starting pitchers are unquestionably worthy of the nod, yet each has appeared in two more games than Wrobleski. Even so, Wrobleski trails them by less than 10 innings in total workload. The Dodgers’ six-man rotation approach is a strategy many teams avoid, and it appears to be working against Wrobleski at times. Nevertheless, he has delivered strong numbers whenever he has taken the mound. He began the season with a 4.81 ERA and just eight starts, and since then he has grown into a pivotal role as the Dodgers chase a potential three-peat, stepping up when his team needed him most.