Vladimir Guerrero Jr. jumps to top spot at 1B in All-Star Game balloting..
Four-time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays jumped ahead of seven-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt of the New York Yankees for the top spot at first base in the American League as the first stage of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game balloting nears its conclusion.
Guerrero, who will tie a franchise record if he’s selected by the fans for a fourth time, has garnered 1,192,604 votes for a season that has him batting .279 with 10 home runs and 39 RBI through 76 games. Goldschmidt, the National League’s MVP in 2022, remains within striking distance with 1,118,501 votes.
Also going for a franchise record is Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who seeks a fifth All-Star nod from the fans that would match Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and Dale Murphy for the most in Braves history.
Acuna, who would get to play in front of his home fans July 15 at Truist Field, jumped two spots in the latest tabulations to rank fourth among NL outfielders with 1,140,061 total votes. His leap is likely due to the .396/.504/.698 slash line he has produced — along with 29 runs and eight home runs — in 27 games since returning from the injured list on May 23.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh looks well on his way to his first All-Star appearance as he leads the majors in home runs with 31. His 1,901,389 votes are tops among all AL catchers and rank second overall in the AL.
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, who have combined to win five of the last eight Most Valuable Player awards, continue to lead the way in overall voting.
Judge, the New York Yankees slugger who paces the majors in batting average (.367), on-base percentage (.468) and slugging percentage (.727), leads all players with 2,699,483 fan votes.
Ohtani, who has amassed an MLB-best 76 runs to go with a .291 batting average, 26 homers and 11 steals, paces all National League players with 2,521,718 votes.
This year’s All-Star Game balloting process features two stages of fan voting. The current stage runs through Thursday, June 26. At that point, the top two vote-getters at each position (including six outfielders) in each league will engage in a run-off to determine which players will start July 15 at the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Field.
Here are the top American League vote-getters at each position:
Catcher: Seattle’s Cal Raleigh (1,901,389)
First base: Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1,192,604)
Second base: Detroit’s Gleyber Torres (1,133,888)
Shortstop: Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson (1,120,791)
Third base: Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez (1,780,631)
The top three American League outfielders are Judge, Detroit’s Riley Greene (1,370,098), and Detroit’s Javier Baez (901,969). Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn (937,205) leads all designated hitters.
Ohtani and his Dodgers teammates are well-represented among the National League’s top vote-getters at each position:
Catcher: Los Angeles’ Will Smith (2,099,944)
First base: Los Angeles’ Freddie Freeman (2,095,672)
Second base: Arizona’s Ketel Marte (1,561,235)
Shortstop: New York’s Francisco Lindor (1,641,053)
Third base: San Diego’s Manny Machado (1,683,022).
The top three National League outfielders are Chicago’s Pete Crow-Armstrong (2,005,630) and Kyle Tucker (1,219,866) along with Los Angeles’ Teoscar Hernandez (1,366,537).
Ohtani’s total votes put him in first place in DH voting for the NL, followed by San Francisco’s Rafael Devers (1,103,085) and the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki (641,687).
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