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This time it’s fun: Bryce Harper pitches an All-Star draft

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper (34) hits an RBI single against the Atlanta Braves on July 9.
(Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
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Bryce Harper, he of the “Make Baseball Fun Again” cap, has an idea to make the All-Star game fun.

National League versus American League? A tired format.

How about appointing the two leading vote-getters as captains, then putting the rest of the All-Star players into a pool and letting the captains draft the teams?

Mike Trout in center, me in right, and Mookie Betts in left,” Harper said. “It would be really cool to see. It would be really cool to be a part of that.”

Under that format, Harper and Aaron Judge would have been this year’s captains. Harper said it would be great fun for fans to see a player face his teammate in the All-Star game.

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“I could be facing Max Scherzer,” he said. “[Clayton] Kershaw is facing Justin Turner.”

Turner was asked what he thought of Harper’s proposal.

“I don’t like it,” Turner said.

Don’t want to mess with the traditional format?

“I don’t want to face Clayton,” Turner said, smiling. “If I could be the captain, and I could pick Clayton, then it’s a deal.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin

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