Nationals Bryce Harper and Jordan Zimmermann earn National League All-Star status
Harper and Zimmermann will join Davey Johnson and head athletic trainer Lee Kuntz at Citi Field
Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper and right-handed starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann were named National League All-Stars by Giants field manager Bruce Bochy and Major League Baseball. Harper and Zimmermann will be joined at the 84th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will be held at Citi Field in Flushing, NY on Tuesday, July 16, by Nationals field manager Davey Johnson and Head Athletic Trainer Lee Kuntz.
Harper is batting .263 with 13 home runs and 28 RBI in 50 games for the Nationals this season. Harper is a career .268 hitter with 33 doubles, 35 home runs and 87 RBI in 189 career games spanning two seasons. He is the first National to earn All-Star status on multiple occasions.
The 20 year-old Harper is slated to be the youngest player in history to start an All-Star Game for the National League. Harper is the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, which he earned by hitting .270 with 26 doubles, nine triples, 22 home runs and 59 RBI in 139 games for the 98-win Nationals in 2012.
Zimmermann, 27, is currently 12-3 with a 2.57 ERA in 18 starts this season for Washington. He leads the National League in wins and fewest pitches per inning (13.9). He also ranks among NL leaders in, among others, walk rate (second, 1.3) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (fourth, 4.94/1).
Zimmermann becomes the Nationals' sixth homegrown All-Star, joining Harper (2012, '13), Stephen Strasburg ('12), Ian Desmond ('12), Ryan Zimmerman ('09) and Chad Cordero ('05). Zimmermann has as not suffered a loss in DC in over a year, going 14-0 with a 2.60 ERA in 22 starts since his last losing decision at Nationals Park on May 17, 2012 vs. Pittsburgh. Washington's record in those 22 home starts is 19-3.
Johnson, 70, returns to New York, where he managed the Mets from 1984-90, as a member of Bochy's staff along with Mets field manager Terry Collins. Johnson became the fourth manager in Nationals history on June 26, 2011. He is 183-149 in portions of three seasons as Nationals manager.
Johnson, who crossed paths in the Mets organization with Bochy in 1982, has authored six division titles, one pennant and one World Championship (1986 Mets) during his stellar managerial career. He skippered the National League All-Star team to a 13-inning, 2-0 victory over the American League in the 1987 All-Star Game played in Oakland.
Serving his seventh season with the Nationals, Kuntz makes his first All-Star appearance. Kuntz was named Washington's Head Athletic Trainer on January 12, 2007, after stints in the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals organizations.