Betts, Tatis, Harper can be All-Stars in infield and outfield

Read our story on the balloting format, which includes two phases of fan voting to determine the All-Star starters.

Starting an All-Star Game is an honor and accomplishment in and of itself. Doing so multiple times is even more so. But what about at multiple positions, too?

It certainly happens, even considering outfield as one position, but certain combinations are rarer than others. We’ve seen players move around the infield, or have a late-career start at DH.

For rare, consider that just 13 players entering 2024 have started at least one All-Star Game in both the outfield and infield.

Why are we talking about this now, though? Take a gander at the ballot, and you’ll see three stars who have shifted from outfield to infield or vice versa in recent years: Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper and Fernando Tatis Jr. And they’re all in the same league, too.

Here’s a look at the historic feats each can pull off.

Starting in OF and SS: Betts and Tatis

No player has started All-Star Games both in the outfield and at shortstop in a career. Incredibly, two players have a chance to complete that set in 2024.

Betts has five career outfield starts in the Midsummer Classic and is on the ‘24 ballot at short. Tatis started the 2021 All-Star Game at shortstop and is on this year’s ballot in the outfield.

Even each making it, which seems quite likely, would be notable — regardless of starts. Only three players have been selected to an All-Star team in separate seasons at least once as primarily a shortstop that year entering the game, and at least once as primarily an outfielder. They are Harvey Kuenn, Tom Tresh and Ian Desmond, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

But again, none of those three started an All-Star Game at both shortstop and in the outfield, as Betts and Tatis have a chance to do.

5+ OF starts and an INF start: Betts and Harper

Betts and Harper have each started five All-Star Games in the outfield and are on this year’s ballot as infielders, with Harper now a first baseman.

Only three players with at least five ASG starts in the outfield also made at least one infield ASG start — and they’re all Hall of Famers, of course: Henry Aaron (16 OF starts, 1 1B), Stan Musial (10 OF, 4 1B) and Carl Yastrzemski (6 OF, 1 1B).

Think about this. Just three players have done this entering ‘24, and we may see two more add it to their resume on the same day.

At least one OF and INF start: Betts, Harper, Tatis

As noted above, 13 players entering 2024 have started at least one All-Star Game in both the outfield and infield, a select group even without other qualifiers. (Note that from 1959-62, two ASGs were played per year, adding to some players’ start totals but not affecting the context.)

In addition to Aaron, Musial and Yastrzemski, there’s Orlando Cepeda (5 1B, 2 OF), Pete Rose (3 OF, 2 1B, 2 3B, 1 2B), Albert Pujols (5 1B, 1 OF, also 2 DH), Harmon Killebrew (3 1B, 2 3B, 1 OF), Jackie Robinson (4 2B, 1 OF), Alfonso Soriano (3 2B, 1 OF), Lance Berkman (2 OF, 1 1B), Vic Wertz (1 1B, 1 OF), Gary Sheffield (1 3B, 1 OF) and Buddy Lewis (1 3B, 1 OF).

Phase 1 voting is ongoing, but given how good Betts, Harper and Tatis have been, it feels like the NL starting lineup card in Texas could feature some historic feats.