Monday, June 10, 2019

Yankees' Sanchez & Voit Among Leaders In American League All-Star Vote

Gary Sanchez.



Two-time American League Most Valuable Player and seven-time All-Star Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels leads all AL players in the first balloting update for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game.

Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez and first baseman Luke Voit are the leading vote-getters at their positions, which would give the Bronx Bombers two starters.


The AL balloting update was announced on MLB Network. The 2019 Google MLB All-Star Ballot, which is available exclusively online and via mobile devices at MLB.com, all 30 Club sites, the MLB At Bat and MLB Ballpark mobile apps and on Google Search (U.S. and Canada only) will be accessible until the “The Primary” voting period ends on Thursday, June 21st at 4:00 p.m. (ET).

Trout, who has been voted a starter in each of the last six All-Star Games, has accumulated 951,002 votes to pace the American League. With a fan election this year, Trout would become the first player in Angels history to earn seven fan-elected starts, eclipsing Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who also has six. In addition, he would become the 11th player in AL history to garner seven fan elections with one Club, joining Cal Ripken Jr. (BAL, 17); George Brett (KC, 11); Ken Griffey Jr. (SEA, 10); Carew (MIN, 9); Derek Jeter (NYY, 9); Ichiro Suzuki (SEA, 9); Iván Rodríguez (TEX, 9); David Ortiz (BOS, 8); Manny Ramirez (BOS, 7); and Dave Winfield (NYY, 7).

Trout is joined among the AL outfield leaders by Houston’s George Springer (776,352) and Tampa Bay’s Austin Meadows (468,111). Meadows is closely contested for third by both Michael Brantley of the Astros (458,577) and reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts of the Red Sox (450,407). Rounding out the top nine on pace to advance to the Starters Election are Minnesota’s Eddie Rosario (344,215), Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees (308,134), Joey Gallo of the Texas Rangers (281,179) and Houston’s Josh Reddick (220,079). Minnesota’s Max Kepler (202,822) is less than 18,000 votes shy of reaching Reddick for the final outfield spot in the Starters Election.

Three other AL frontrunners have cushions of less than 100,000 votes, with potential first-time All-Stars leading at each, including second base, where Trout’s teammate Tommy La Stella (487,598) leads Houston’s Jose Altuve (448,131) and DJ LeMahieu of the Yankees (379,820). At shortstop, Minnesota’s Jorge Polanco (395,210) is outpacing Carlos Correa of the Astros (329,421) and Gleyber Torres of the Yankees (322,958).

At first base, New York’s Luke Voit (393,356) is ahead of Minnesota’s C.J. Cron (302,586) and José Abreu of the White Sox (286,145). Twins second baseman Jonathan Schoop (179,972), shortstop Tim Anderson of the White Sox (281,862) and first baseman Carlos Santana of the host Cleveland Indians (250,615) each rank fourth at their respective positions in a bid to advance to the next phase.

Rounding out the AL leaders are catcher Gary Sánchez of the Yankees (737,107), third baseman Alex Bregman of the Astros (630,159) and designated hitter J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (491,955). Sánchez, an All-Star in 2017, is vying for his first fan election while outpacing James McCann of the White Sox (289,475) and Jason Castro of the Twins (199,497), while Castro is holding off Houston’s Robinson Chirinos (197,976) by less than 2,000 votes in a highly contested race to advance to the Starters Election. Bregman, who is bidding for his second career All-Star selection and first fan election, ranks ahead of Gio Urshela of the Yankees (269,716) and Hunter Dozier of the Kansas City Royals (216,809), who holds a slim lead over the fourth-ranked Rafael Devers of the Red Sox (202,569) for the third spot in the Starters Election. Martinez, a two-time All-Star and the 2018 fan-elected designated hitter, paces Hunter Pence of the Texas Rangers (329,321) and Nelson Cruz of the Twins (21,702), while Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (166,275) lurks in fourth place.

Overall, six different AL Clubs are represented among the nine positional leaders, including four potential first-time All-Stars in La Stella, Meadows, Polanco and Voit. Additionally, nine AL Clubs are represented among the players on pace to advance to the Starters Election.

The voting period for “The Primary” concludes at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, June 21st. Later that evening, during the MLB Network Showcase telecast of the New York Yankees hosting the Houston Astros, the top three vote-getters at each position (and the top nine outfielders) in each League will be revealed on MLB Network, and they will move on to the second phase of voting. During the initial voting period, fans can submit up to five ballots per 24-hour period on MLB platforms, and can vote for every position, or up to 17 unique players per day on Google.

“The Starters Election” will begin at 12:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, June 26th, with fans voting among the finalists at each position during a 28-hour window that concludes at 4:00 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, June 27th. Results of “The Starters Election” will be announced at 7:00 p.m. (ET) that night on ESPN. During this second phase of voting, in which fans can vote once on MLB platforms and submit up to 17 unique player votes on Google, vote totals will reset (i.e., vote totals from “The Primary” do not carry over) and the winner at each position (including three outfielders per League) will be named a starting position player for the 2019 Midsummer Classic.

The AL All-Star Team, which will be managed by Alex Cora of the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox, will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the NL All-Star Team, led for a second consecutive year by Dave Roberts of the defending NL Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, will have eight fan-elected starters. The pitchers and reserves for both squads – totaling 24 for the NL and 23 for the AL – will be determined through a combination of “Player Ballot” choices and selections made by the Commissioner’s Office. The balance of the All-Star rosters will be announced on Sunday, June 30th at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

During each phase of voting, the 2019 Google MLB All-Star Ballot will be available when fans search in English and Spanish. The ballot at MLB.com and Club sites also offers audio CAPTCHA functionality for visually impaired fans. Banco BHD León once again sponsors online All-Star balloting in the Dominican Republic, making Spanish-language ballots available to fans in the D.R. via LasMayores.com, the official Spanish-language web site of Major League Baseball.

Fans will once again have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. During the Midsummer Classic, fans can vote exclusively at MLB.com and the 30 Club sites – online or via their mobile devices – with the 2019 All-Star Game MLB.com MVP Vote, and their collective voice will represent 20 percent of the official vote determining this year’s recipient of the Arch Ward Trophy.

MLB All-Star Week includes the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard at Progressive Field (July 9th), Gatorade All-Star Workout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 8th), All-Star Sunday featuring the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Celebrity Softball Game (July 7th), PLAY BALL PARK at the Huntington Convention Center (July 5th-9th), plus a lineup of additional events taking place around the city. The 90th Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 180 countries. FOX Deportes will provide Spanish language coverage in the U.S., while ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and SiriusXM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information about MLB All-Star Week and to purchase tickets, please visit www.allstargame.com and follow @MLB and @AllStarGame on social media.

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