With a National League-best eight homers this month, Wil Myers is making quite a case to represent the Padres in next month’s All-Star Game and perhaps even the home run derby.

He’ll be in the neighborhood, either way.

The Padres’ 25-year-old first baseman on Friday was named an ambassador for the Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week events in San Diego. In that role, Myers will promote several events leading up to the July 12 game at Petco Park, including FanFest at the San Diego Convention Center, the All-Star Futures Game and celebrity softball game on July 10 and the All-Star Workout day and derby on July 11.

Naturally, Myers is holding out hope for an official invite.


“That’s what I’m working towards,” he said with a laugh before Friday’s game against the Nationals. “Obviously that would be great, but I’m excited about this opportunity as well.”

Myers was an All-Star Futures Game participant as a Royals prospect in 2011 and again in 2012 in front of the hometown crowd at Kauffman Stadium before winning the AL Rookie of the Year in 2013. Padres team president Mike Dee offered Myers the ambassadorship that might not be entirely unlike his experience at the 2012 All-Star Futures Game.

“That was a really cool experience – being in Kansas City and I was with the Royals at the time,” Myers said. “It was a really cool experience to be around the fans and interact with them. I’m excited to see what happens in San Diego.

Healthy for the first time since that breakthrough season in 2013, Myers has already set career-highs in home runs (15) and steals (8) and his .851 OPS would be a career-best if the season ended today. He has yet to garner much momentum in online fan voting but could still be placed on the team via the players or NL manager Terry Collins, who has already added Padres manager Andy Green to the coaching staff.


Now, Green is stumping for Myers to receive a more substantial role than All-Star Week ambassador.

“He’s a colorful personality to be sure,” Green said. “You don’t know what he’s going to say in any given moment. So if you like that, that’s going to be a lot of fun. But Wil has played extraordinarily well, especially since the calendar has flipped to June. The work he’s put in the last couple of weeks is really playing out on the field right now and I think he’s clearly played his way into All-Star consideration.

“You hope the fans start pulling the lever for him and give him an opportunity to represent the city in more ways than just an ambassador.”