MLB Writer Names Red Sox’s Two Most ‘Forgotten’ All-Stars Of 21st Century

Not every MLB All-Star is a superstar.

All-Star selections are often cited in Hall of Fame conversations, but sometimes a player catches fire and receives a one-time nod after three strong months. Other times, the voters simply make a questionable call.

With that in mind, The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner dug deep to identify each team’s most “forgotten” All-Star over the last 25 years. The Red Sox were the only club to garner two choices.

Kepner remembered pitchers Matt Clement and Steven Wright, who respectively made their lone All-Star appearances in 2005 and 2016.

“Both pitchers went 13-6 in their one standout season with the Red Sox, and you probably don’t remember them in the midsummer classic,” Kepner wrote. “Wright — the last knuckleballer to make an All-Star team — didn’t get to pitch, but Clement tossed a scoreless inning in Detroit and struck out Carlos Beltrán.”

Red Sox fans are more likely to recall Wright, who spent his entire MLB career in Boston from 2013 to 2020. The knuckleballer posted a 3.86 ERA in 347 2/3 innings.

Wright made the 2016 All-Star Game after going 10-6 with a 2.68 ERA in 17 first-half starts. Although he stumbled with a 5.06 second-half ERA, the right-hander still ended the season with a stout 3.33 ERA in a career-high 156 2/3 innings.

Wright allowed 24 runs in five starts the following year, but he was a valuable member of Boston’s bullpen in 2018.

Clement, on the other hand, had a shorter run in Boston. He joined the Red Sox in 2005 following seven seasons with the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins and Chicago Cubs.

More data is now available to measure a pitcher’s performance. That wasn’t the case 20 years ago, so Clement made the All-Star Game with a 3.85 ERA because of his 10 wins. He finished the season with a 4.57 ERA before posting a 6.61 ERA in 2006, the final season of his MLB career.

None of Boston’s three 2025 All-Star selections (Alex Bregman, Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman) should make such a list in 2050.