Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer, Kenley Jansen, Trea Turner, Julio Urías named to All-MLB team

Five Dodgers were named to the All-MLB team, which was announced on Tuesday afternoon. Max Scherzer and Walker Buehler are first-team starting pitchers, while shortstop Trea Turner, starting pitcher Julio Urías, and closer Kenley Jansen are on the second-team.

All-MLB teams include a catcher, one player at each infield position, three outfielders (can be any position), five starting pitchers, and two relievers. Selection of the first and second teams is a combination of fan voting plus, as MLB describes, “a decorated panel of media members, broadcasters, former players and other officials throughout the game.”

Turner made 58 of his 61 starts with the Dodgers at second base, with Corey Seager entrenched at shortstop. Turner started 101 times at shortstop this season — 98 times with the Nationals and three with Los Angeles.

Turner hit .328/.375/.536, a 142 wRC+, with 28 home runs, 34 doubles, and 32 stolen bases in 2021. He led the majors in batting average and led the National League in hits (195), total bases (319), steals, and FanGraphs WAR (6.9). He finished fifth in NL MVP voting.

“He’s just a special player, and a game-changing player,” Buehler said of Turner on the last day of the regular season. “I think Trea Turner needs to be on the minds of some people. Maybe he’s not being spoken about enough.”

Scherzer (2.46) and Buehler (2.47) finished second and third in the NL in ERA, and were third and fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting. Urías, who led the majors with 20 wins and led the NL in walk rate (5.1 percent), finished tied for seventh in Cy Young voting.

Scherzer led the NL in WHIP (0.864) and batting average against (.185), was second in strikeouts (236) and third in walk rate (5.2 percent). Buehler was second in the NL in innings pitched (207⅔) and batting average against (.199), setting career bests in innings and starts (33). Urías set career highs in starts (32), strikeouts (195), and innings (185⅔). Combined with the postseason, Urías’ inning total (200⅔) was 73 more than his previous high, set in 2016.

This is second All-MLB honor for Scherzer, who was a first-team starting pitcher in 2019 with the Nationals.

Jansen had a 2.22 ERA and 3.08 FIP with 86 strikeouts in 69 innings in 2021, and finished second in the NL with 38 saves, his highest total since 2018.

All-MLB teams are in relative infancy, with this the third year of existence. The Dodgers have had multiple players honored in each year:

• 2019: Cody Bellinger (first-team OF), Hyun-jin Ryu (second-team SP)
• 2020: Mookie Betts (first-team OF), Clayton Kershaw (second-team SP)
• 2021: Max Scherzer (first-team SP), Walker Buehler (first-team SP), Julio Urías (second-team SP), Trea Turner (second-team SP), Kenley Jansen (second-team RP)