By Thomas Gibbons
The 2019 MLB All-Star startling lineups were announced Thursday afternoon and two Cubs were announced to take the field for the start of the Midsummer Classic in Cleveland on Tuesday, July 9th: Willson Contreras and Javier Baez
Contreras will be the first Cubs catcher to start consecutive AllStar games since Gabby Hartnett did so in 1936 and 1937. Baez becomes the 4th player to the Allstar game in back-to-back years at different positions.
Through 69 games this season, Contreras is slashing .300/.395/.586 with an OPS of .981 along with 17 home runs and 48 runs batted in. Contreras ranks 8th among NL batters in OPS. Over to Baez, he is slashing .287/.326/.548 with an OPS of .874 through 78 games with 19 HRs and 52RBIs.