After long journey, Mantiply a 1st-time All-Star

PHOENIX -- Over the past week or so, Joe Mantiply kept getting asked for his thoughts on possibly making the National League All-Star team.

By Sunday morning's drive to the ballpark, the D-backs left-hander was starting to get anxious about hearing whether or not he would be selected.

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Then, as Mantiply got ready to go through his pregame catch routine, there was a message sent to the players’ group text-- there would be a meeting at 11:45 a.m. MST.

"Once I got the text, that's kind of when I was like, ‘All right, I want to hurry up and get this over with and see who it is,’" Mantiply said. "That's kind of when the nerves started to jumble in my belly there."

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Arizona manager Torey Lovullo didn't immediately say Mantiply's name, but he instead started to talk about the career of the player selected.

"Torey gave a very nice intro and kind of some background on my career," Mantiply said. "So a little bit into it, I kind of started to figure out who he was talking about, so it started to hit home there."

When Lovullo was finished, it was Mantiply's turn to speak.

"I gave a little speech to the team," Mantiply said. "Just thanking everybody -- everybody that voted for me or had my back and pushed my name through. It means a lot, especially since some of my best friends in the world are in that room. So definitely means a lot that they have my back and wanted me to get it just as much."

The news was embargoed until it was announced on the ESPN selection show, so Mantiply couldn’t tell everyone. But there was one person he had to let know -- his wife, Ella.

Mantiply walked out the backdoor of the D-backs’ clubhouse and into a room across the hall to call her with the news. He emerged a little later wiping tears from his eyes.

"It was awesome," Mantiply said. "She teared up a little bit. She's been there every step of the way, every step through my pro career. She has been right by my side pushing me, so this means as much to her as it does to me."

It hasn't been an easy journey for the 31-year-old Mantiply. He was drafted three times -- in the 48th round by the Mets in 2009, in the 28th round by the Phillies in ‘12 and in the 27th round by the Tigers in ‘13. None of those rounds exist in the current Draft structure.

The D-backs signed Mantiply as a Minor League free agent on Jan. 3, 2020, after he had been with the Tigers, Yankees and Reds organizations, as well as undergoing Tommy John surgery. This year, Mantiply has been dominant as a setup man for Arizona.

Over his past 34 outings, Mantiply has not issued a walk, setting a Major League record by a lefty for most consecutive games without one. The previous mark of 30 was held by Sean Doolittle.

Mantiply has been unscored upon in 32 of his 35 outings in 2022, and he has a 1.83 ERA. Not that he pays attention to the numbers.

"Just a lot of hard work and trust in the process going out every day," Mantiply said. "I don't look at my statistics throughout the year. To me, my statistics aren't going to help me get people out, so I just try to focus on every day -- what I can do best to help this team. It's been working pretty well."

That approach has not only worked well, but has been done at an All-Star level.