Major League Baseball

MLB All-Star Game 2022: Sights, sounds from Media Day

Updated Jul. 19, 2022 3:56 p.m. ET

MLB All-Star festivities continue ahead of the highly anticipated 2022 Home Run Derby, which will be held at Dodger Stadium later Monday.

All these events are in preparation for Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game (8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). The schedule kicked off this weekend when baseball's top prospects dazzled in Saturday's MLB All-Star Futures Game, followed by the start of the 2022 MLB Draft on Sunday.

Here are the highlights from Monday's Media Day:

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will start for the National League on Tuesday in the first All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium since 1980, it was announced Monday. Kershaw, 34, is a three-time Cy Young Award winner and is 7-2 with a 2.14 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings this season.

Kershaw will be the third Dodgers pitcher to start in the past seven All-Star Games, following Zack Greinke in 2015 at Cincinnati and Hyun Jin Ryu in 2019 at Cleveland. He will also be the 13th pitcher to start in his home ballpark and the first since Max Scherzer in 2018 in Washington.

On the other side, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan will be on the mound for the American League.

McClanahan, a first-time All-Star, is 10-3 with a major-league-leading 1.71 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 110 2/3 innings this season. He will be the second Rays pitcher to start an All-Star game after David Price in 2010 in Anaheim.

Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani will lead off for the AL as the designated hitter.

Last year, he was the starting pitcher and led off as DH in the AL’s 5-2 win in Denver. This year, he is not going to pitch.

Ohtani is followed in the AL batting order by Aaron Judge (New York Yankees), Rafael Devers (Boston Red Sox), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Giancarlo Stanton (Yankees), Byron Buxton (Minnesota Twins), Tim Anderson (Chicago White Sox), Andrés Giménez (Cleveland Guardians) and Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays).

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will lead off for the NL and be followed by Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals), Trea Turner (Dodgers), Willson Contreras (Chicago Cubs), William Contreras (Braves), Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants) and Jeff McNeil (New York Mets).

The Contreras duo is the first set of brothers to make the All-Star roster in the same season since Aaron and Bret Boone in 2003 and just the fifth pair of brothers in MLB history to start together in an All-Star Game.

The 2022 Home Run Derby, which will take place Monday, is shaping up to be magnificent once again.

As the two-time defending champion, Mets slugger Pete Alonso is seeking to be the event's first back-to-back-to-back winner.

Also suiting up for Monday's annual home run competition is Seattle Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez, who will need to bring his A-game if he hopes to win big.

In 35 Derbies, only twice has a rookie won outright.

The MLB on FOX crew caught up with Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto, who turned down the team's 15-year, $440 million offer this weekend, to discuss his mindset surrounding his future.

Likewise, Judge took some time to comment on his uncertain future with the Yankees.

The crew then sat down with first-time All-Star starter Tim Anderson, who shared how much the accomplishment means to him.

Stay tuned for more updates.