'Once in a lifetime': Willson, William Contreras batting back-to-back in MLB All-Star Game

LOS ANGELES – There is so much still ahead for Willson and William Contreras.

Already a World Series champion catcher with the Chicago Cubs, Willson Contreras is ticketed for free agency this winter, where the three-time All-Star will test the market still just 30 years old, able to determine his fate, chase another title and a nine-figure contract.

And William Contreras? So young, so much potential, and at 24, he’s already hit 11 home runs in just 46 games this season, voted into the National League All-Star starting lineup by Atlanta Braves fans who have quickly warmed to the catcher and designated hitter.

No, this all won’t end Tuesday.

Yet in a way, this glorious reunion of brothers at the 92nd All-Star Game in one of baseball’s fabled cathedrals could be about as good as it gets, from when the brothers hugged upon reuniting Sunday evening, to FaceTiming with friends and family during Monday’s proceedings and finally, for the first time in their lives, sharing a field Tuesday night.

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At one point, perhaps in the bottom of the second inning, Willson will dig into the batter’s box at Dodger Stadium as the National League’s No. 6 hitter. William will lurk in the on-deck circle, the field around them populated with the world’s greatest players and the brothers possibly overwhelmed with a fact almost too good to be true.

They both belong.

“This is once in a lifetime,” Willson Contreras said Monday of becoming the first brothers since Aaron and Bret Boone in 2003 to play in the same game, and the first to appear in the starting lineup together since Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. in 1992. “This is actually the first time we’ve gotten to spend on the field together in our lives. This is one experience where we can die and we will never forget. It’s amazing for me, my family and I’m proud of everything we’ve done together.

“Hopefully, we can keep that coming. Hopefully, we get to spend more All-Star Games together.”

Getting here was no accident, and staying here wouldn’t be, either.

The brothers are lauded by colleagues as consummate grinders, perfectly suited for the unyielding position of squatting behind the plate and shepherding their pitchers through enemy lineups. The driving force behind their success, father William Contreras, has joined the boys’ mother, Olga, in Los Angeles, along with five other family members.

They are accustomed to Willson’s success, which culminated in one manner during his rookie season of 2016, when the Chicago Cubs broke a 108-year curse to win the World Series, and in another when he ripped 24 homers and posted an .888 OPS, remarkable numbers for a catcher.

William? That’s a bit different. He debuted in 2020 but did not stick until this season, when his clutch bat endeared himself to Braves fans. He’s posted an .877 OPS while DH-ing and backing up fellow All-Star Travis d’Arnaud at catcher, his 11 first-half homers putting him just off the pace to match his older brother’s career high.

Braves fans voted him second in balloting for DH, and he ascended to starter status when No. 1 Bryce Harper suffered a broken thumb. Consider it an opportunity seized.

“I feel thankful for the fans who voted for me;  without the fans, I can’t be here,” says William Contreras. “And I worked hard, so hard in the offseason mentally as well as in shape, to be successful throughout the season.”

It hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“He puts so much work in,” says d’Arnaud, who will back up Willson Contreras at catcher Tuesday. “Right when he shows up to the field, from a defensive standpoint, from a game-planning standpoint.

“He’s matured so much. It’s been incredible to watch him grow.”

In one sense, the Contreras brothers represent the spectrum of baseball experience, William the wide-eyed one and Willson the veteran who must hear the trade rumors swirling around the rebuilding Cubs, along with his future beyond 2022.

William is free to merely envision hitting Truist Park tanks. Willson’s mind can’t help but wander to heavier matters.

“I’ve had some flashes in my mind. It’s not like I haven’t thought of that,” Willson says of his future. “But this is the third (All-Star Game) as a Cubs player and I’m really thankful. They were the first team to gave me the opportunity to be a professional baseball player and I will always be thankful for them, no matter what the future holds.

“I feel like Chicago will always be my home, even if I end up playing in another city.”

It was 13 years ago that the Cubs signed the elder Contreras, then 17, out of Venezuela. William counts that as the highlight of his baseball past with his brother, given their age difference.

Now, Willson can provide a virtual roadmap for his younger brother, from work habits to maximizing your value when it comes time to choose a future home.

“He’s taught me everything,” says William. “He’s my older brother. (Free agency) is a right that my brother has earned and to see how the market treats him, and to go where he wants to go and feel comfortable with the team that signs him.”

Well, Willson hasn’t taught him everything. The older brother said he hasn’t divulged all the details of All-Star week, wanting William to take it all in himself, particularly with elder royalty like Venezuelan legend and honorary All-Star Miguel Cabrera and dozens of other greats milling about.

“He’s going to feel like, ‘I’m here,’ says Willson. “I didn’t want to share my experience with him because I wanted him to experience it first.”

The first moment came with his own brother, when they met Sunday, hugged and said, “We made it.” Shortly thereafter, they were surrounded by parents, an older sibling, in-laws, cousins. The week will eventually fade into a blur of signed jerseys and bats, hugs from old baseball acquaintances and introductions to new ones.

Yet the reason they’re here will surface soon enough.

“They deserve this more than I do,” Willson says of his parents and other loved ones. “Everything we go through, we do as a family.”

Tuesday, they’ll grace the national stage together.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brothers Willson and William Contreras relish 2022 All-Star Game