MLB's #ASG: All the stars, all the stats

By
Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Baseball is all about statistics: ERA, OPS, BABIP. So how about some Twitter stats from last night’s All Star Game? In total, there were over 1 million Tweets about the game, with a peak of 23,000 Tweets per minute for Mariano Rivera’s relief appearance.

Rivera, the night’s MVP, also came in first on Twitter, with 350,000 mentions during & following the game. Other players atop the standings were Matt Harvey (@MattHarvey33), Prince Fielder (@RealPFielder28), and Mike Trout (@Trouty20).

The #ASG may have taken place at Citi Field, but the Twitter was the best place to connect with the players.

In fact, the National League’s starting pitcher Matt Harvey (@MattHarvey33) even found Twitter to be a valuable source of news about the game:

Fortunately, Harvey didn’t have to deal to the Home Run Derby contestants. Here’s what he would have encountered, as seen directly from the bench:

Players from around the league tweeted their thoughts (and even some scouting reports) during the #HRDerby:

Yoenis Cespedes (@ynscspds) took home the title both in the Derby and on Twitter: he was the most mentioned player with 200,000 Tweets, beating out second-place slugger Bryce Harper’s (@BHarper3407) 120,000 Tweets. Fittingly, Cespedes showed off his hardware in a Tweet:

After the #HRDerby, players turned their attention to preparing for the AL-vs-NL showdown in the #ASG. With Twitter and Vine, you get a peek into the pre-game rituals of big leaguers:

In-game color commentary was provided by those who know the game best: fellow players who didn’t quite make the cut to participate in the All Star Game.

The post-game interview is a staple of sports broadcasts, but during the #ASG, you didn’t have to wait nine innings to hear directly from the players. @MLB used Vine to provide immediate access to the All Stars, many of whom also tweeted themselves from the clubhouse throughout the game.

With Twitter and Vine, @MLB afforded fans exclusive access to all the action on and off the field. After @RobinsonCano was hit by a pitch and left the game — undoubtedly leaving many @Yankees fans on the edge of their seats — fans could get an update on his injury directly from him:

How do two players who are usually rivals get along when representing their league together? With equal parts support and taunting:

Although he may be a veteran All Star, we discovered that Joe Mauer is a rookie when it comes to Twitter, and got to witness his first Tweet:

But sadly, not every player made the cut for the All Star teams. How’d they spend their time? Here’s a glimpse of how they’re spending the All Star break:

Sadly, for diehard fans, there’s one more off-day before the season picks back up. But have no fear: you can use @MLB’s list of players to prevent symptoms of baseball withdrawal.