{"id":749023,"date":"2026-07-07T19:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/749023\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T19:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:07:15","slug":"mlb-all-star-roster-replacements-red-soxs-willson-contreras-joins-al-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/749023\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB All-Star roster replacements: Red Sox\u2019s Willson Contreras joins AL squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Willson<\/p>\n

Contreras will replace Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who opted out of the ASG due to low back tightness. Justin Edmonds \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

By The Athletic MLB Staff<\/p>\n

July 7, 2026 Updated 2:30 pm EDT<\/p>\n

Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras has been named an American League All-Star, replacing Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the league announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Guerrero Jr. opted out of next week\u2019s All-Star Game with low back tightness. Contreras will serve as a reserve on the AL roster, with the Athletics\u2019 Nick Kurtz starting at first base.<\/p>\n

Contreras\u2019 addition figures to be the first of many anticipated All-Star replacement announcements.<\/p>\n

Contreras, 34, is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career, hitting .284 with a .921 OPS, 15 doubles and a team-leading 20 homers out of the cleanup spot for the Red Sox. He hit 20 homers in 135 games last season and seems likely to surpass his career-high 24 homers in 2019.<\/p>\n

This marks the fourth All-Star team for which Contreras has been named. He was also an All-Star in 2018, 2019 and 2022.<\/p>\n

Last week, he was in the center of a benches-clearing brawl with the Washington Nationals<\/a>. Starter Cade Cavalli struck out Contreras, then shouted, \u2018Sit down, boy!\u2019 at Contreras as the infielder charged the mound and threw his helmet. Contreras and Cavalli were each suspended<\/a> seven games. Cavalli had his sentence reduced to five games, while Contreras is still awaiting a ruling on his appeal with MLB.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Jul 7, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Contreras will replace Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who opted out of the ASG due to low back tightness. Justin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[374,363,99],"class_list":["post-749023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}