SAN DIEGO -- Before the 11th All-Star Game of his career Tuesday night, Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera found himself surrounded at his locker in the home clubhouse.
Hours before the American League topped the National League, 4-2, in the 2016 All-Star Game presented by MasterCard, a handful of the game's top young players surrounded Cabrera as soon as he walked into the clubhouse and sat down. Mike Trout, Manny Machado and Jose Altuve were all chatting up the 14-year veteran.
And it wasn't a one-way conversation.
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"I ask them how they hit," Cabrera said after the game.
It might seem strange for a player with Cabrera's resume to be asking for the advice of players almost a decade younger than him, but the Detroit first baseman doesn't see it that way.
"They all have had great seasons," he said, "so I want to see like ... what's the approach [at the plate]? It was nice to talk to these guys and see what they do before games."
Cabrera is constantly talking with other players about their hitting habits, especially in the midst of a season that hasn't quite been up to the standards he has set. Cabrera has hit .293/.370/.507 through 88 games this season, which are certainly All-Star-caliber numbers yet are still -- somehow -- below his career averages.
So, he looks to those around him, regardless of age. 
Players like Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts -- an "unbelievable" player, according to Cabrera -- who took home a Cabrera jersey after the game.
Players like Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, who started at first in front of Cabrera and used the opportunity to win the All-Star Game MVP Award: "[Hosmer] is one of the best first basemen in the game," Cabrera said of the first-year All-Star.
After he replaced Hosmer in the field to open the seventh inning, Cabrera struck out in the one at-bat he had. In the final three innings of the game, he was trying to stay loose, take care of his body and avoid getting any injuries.
The production in this particular Midsummer Classic was likely not at the forefront of Cabrera's mind. The hitting advice handed back and forth with the likes of Trout, Machado and Bogaerts might have been.
"I always like to pick something up from other guys," Cabrera said. "They ask me the same things, and I ask them."