Bieber, J-Ram are Indians' All-MLB finalists

Finalists for the 2020 All-MLB Team presented by CohnReznick were revealed Sunday, with MLB Network’s exclusive announcement of this year’s official All-MLB Team set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. This year marks the second annual selection of the All-MLB Team, which recognizes and commemorates the top performances by players

Finalists for the 2020 All-MLB Team presented by CohnReznick were revealed Sunday, with MLB Network’s exclusive announcement of this year’s official All-MLB Team set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.

This year marks the second annual selection of the All-MLB Team, which recognizes and commemorates the top performances by players in the regular season.

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Like 2019, the All-MLB Team will be split into a first and second team, each with one catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop and designated hitter, plus three outfielders, five starting pitchers and two relievers.

The selection process, featuring a star-studded group of nominees, started in early November, with 50% of the vote coming from fans and 50% coming from a panel of experts. Fans were able to vote once every 24 hours until 2 p.m. on Nov. 13.

Here’s a look at the 2020 All-MLB Team finalists, listed alphabetically by position.

Catcher
Travis d’Arnaud
Salvador Perez
J.T. Realmuto

The 2020 season saw d’Arnaud thrive (.321/.386/.533, nine homers) in his first year with the Braves, while Perez returned from Tommy John surgery to hit .333 with 11 homers and a .986 OPS for the Royals. As for Realmuto, he continued to show outstanding skills on both sides of the ball, remaining an elite pitch-framer while contributing an .840 OPS over 47 games for the Phillies.

First base
José Abreu
Freddie Freeman
Luke Voit

This position is as impressive as it gets, featuring both of this year’s MVP Award winners in Abreu and Freeman as well as the Major League home run leader in Voit. Abreu led MLB in RBIs (60) and total bases (148) and the American League in hits (76) and slugging percentage (.617), while Freeman topped all players in doubles (23) and runs (51) while posting a 1.102 OPS. As for Voit, he went deep 22 times and drove in 52 runs over 56 games.

Second base
Jake Cronenworth
DJ LeMahieu
Brandon Lowe

Cronenworth was one of the top rookies in the game this past season, slashing .285/.354/.477 over 54 games for the Padres. LeMahieu, meanwhile, followed up a stellar showing in 2019 with a terrific encore, winning the MLB batting title with a .364 average and leading the AL in on-base percentage (.421) and OPS (1.011). However, LeMahieu’s Yankees finished second in the AL East to the Rays, thanks in part to Lowe’s 14 homers and .916 OPS.

Third base
Manny Machado
José Ramírez
Justin Turner

After an underwhelming first season with the Padres, Machado registered career highs in average (.304), on-base percentage (.370) and slugging (.580) while playing all 60 games in 2020. Ramírez also rebounded from an up-and-down campaign, blasting 17 homers, scoring an AL-best 45 runs and recording a .993 OPS for the Indians. And Turner remained a consistent performer for the Dodgers, hitting .307 with a .400 on-base percentage.

Shortstop
Corey Seager
Fernando Tatis Jr.
Trea Turner

Tatis was one of the biggest stories of the year, turning heads with his electric skill set and finishing with 17 homers, 11 steals and a .937 OPS. Seager actually outperformed the Padres shortstop by a slight margin in that final category, recording a .943 OPS along with his .307 average and 15 homers. And Turner produced a big league-leading 78 hits with 12 homers, 12 steals and a .335/.394/.588 slash line.

Outfield
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Mookie Betts
Michael Conforto
Bryce Harper
Eloy Jiménez
Juan Soto
George Springer
Mike Trout
Mike Yastrzemski

The group of outfield finalists is loaded with star power. Collectively, these nine players produced 120 home runs with a .966 OPS and recorded 20.3 Wins Above Replacement, per FanGraphs. Betts (3.0), Yastrzemski (2.7), Trout (2.6), Soto (2.4), Acuña (2.4) and Conforto (2.0) all ranked among MLB’s top 20 position players in fWAR.

Designated hitter
Michael Brantley
Nelson Cruz
Marcell Ozuna

Splitting his time between left field and designated hitter, Brantley hit .300/.364/.476 in 2020, his sixth season in the past seven years with at least a .299 average. Cruz, meanwhile, continued to swing a potent bat despite his advanced age, slugging 16 homers and posting a .992 OPS at age 39. And Ozuna made a run at the NL Triple Crown, leading the NL in homers (18) and RBIs (56) while finishing third in average (.338).

Starting pitcher
Trevor Bauer
Shane Bieber
Gerrit Cole
Yu Darvish
Jacob deGrom
Max Fried
Clayton Kershaw
Dallas Keuchel
Dinelson Lamet
Kenta Maeda
Aaron Nola
Hyun Jin Ryu

Bieber and Bauer won the Cy Young Award in their respective leagues this past season, and they are joined here by the pitchers who finished second (Maeda), third (Ryu), fourth (Cole) and fifth (Keuchel) in the AL race, as well as the hurlers who placed second (Darvish), third (deGrom), fourth (Lamet), fifth (Fried), seventh (Nola) and ninth (Kershaw) in the NL voting.

Relief pitcher
Nick Anderson
Alex Colomé
Jake Diekman
Brad Hand
Liam Hendriks
Devin Williams

Anderson (0.55), Colomé (0.81), Diekman (0.42) and Williams (0.33) all posted sub-1.00 ERAs in 2020, while Hand (2.05 ERA, 16 saves) and Hendriks (1.78 ERA, 14 saves) ranked first and second, respectively, on MLB’s saves leaderboard.