Rangers Most Deserving All-Star

All-Star Game voting is going on now, but MLB.com believes that the Texas Rangers’ most deserving All-Star isn’t one that fans can vote on.

MLB.com named such a player for each team, with left-handed pitcher Martin Pérez being the Texas choice. Pérez, who has never been an All-Star, was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for May.

It’s hard to argue with the logic.

Pérez finished the month of May with a 4-0 record. In 42 1/3 innings, he had a 0.64 ERA, 33 strikeouts and a 1.4 WAR (wins above replacement).

The media that covers the Rangers named Pérez the team’s Pitcher of the Month for May.

Pérez is making his one-year, $4 million contract with the Rangers look like a bargain. He also could be a trade target come July, if the Rangers are inclined to move him.

Each team sends at least one player to the All-Star Game, which is July 18 in Los Angeles.

Pérez starts Tuesday against Philadelphia and has a 2.10 ERA entering the game in 81 1/3 innings pitched. He has 65 strikeouts and just 18 walks.

Pérez also accomplished the following in May:

His 1.42 earned run average was the lowest in franchise history through a pitcher's first 10 starts in a season. The previous low was 1.60 by another left-hander, Kenny Rogers, in 1995.

Per Stats Inc., Pérez was just the third MLB pitcher since 1913 — when earned runs were officially tracked — to post an eight-start span in which he went undefeated, did not allow a home run, had six or more innings pitched in each game and allowed one or fewer earned runs in each game. The other two pitchers are Hall of Famers Bob Gibson (1968) and Walter Johnson (1913-14).

In the last 33 seasons Pérez was the fourth AL pitcher to post an ERA in a month with 40 innings pitched at 0.64 or lower — Minnesota’s Johan Santana (0.46, September 2004), Oakland’s Cory Lidle (0.20, August 2002) and Boston’s Pedro Martinez (0.64, July 2022).

Only Yovani Gallardo (June of 2015, 0.54) had a lower ERA than Pérez in a month with at least five starts.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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