Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez had the worst season of his career last year and was optioned back and forth between the Tigers and Triple-A Toledo twice.
Now, the 23-year-old has been selected to go to the All-Star game on July 17 in Washington.
He says when General Manager Al Avila told him Sunday "I started crying right away," Jason Beck of MLB.com reports.
"He was very happy and very emotional when we told him in this office," Manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Those are good moments. You like those things as a manager and general manager. Now I hope he just relaxes and doesn't try to throw 80,000 miles an hour."
Many thought Nick Castellanos, who is batting .301 with 15 home runs, would be selected. But that didn't happen.
Chris McCosky of the Detroit News notes about Castellanos,
It was most likely a numbers thing. The American League had a lot of All-Star worthy outfielders and not as many pitchers,
“It is what it is,” Castellanos shrugged. “I’m happy for Joe. It’s not about me not making it, it’s about Joe making it.”
