Major League Baseball promotes its star players, the likes of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and Fernando Tatis Jr. The league has never launched a marketing campaign around Kevin Pillar.
“I was never deserving of it,” Pillar said Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
The league depends upon rosters populated by players like Pillar, the Angels outfielder who played at West Hills Chaminade and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Pillar has been good enough to play 12 years in the majors, but he never has made an All-Star team.
On Tuesday, however, the league promoted Pillar in a curious place.