Phillies fans go wild over MLB All-Star voting first appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
With the first wave of MLB All-Star voting set to conclude this Thursday, Bryce Harper remains the National League leader in the overall standings with just over 2 million votes, with teammate Alec Bohm close behind by just under 78,000 votes.
The player who receives the most overall votes in each league will be guaranteed a spot in that league’s starting lineup, which will likely be a Phillies infielder.
Let’s do a quick refresher on the All-Star voting process.
Fans can vote up to five times per day through June 27. This will be referred to as Phase 1. The top two vote-getters at each position will advance to Phase 2, announced on June 27 at 6 p.m. on MLB Network.
· Voting totals will be reset once we move on to the second phase, which will run from June 30 to July 3. During this period, fans can only vote once per 24-hour period for the two finalists for each position.
· The winner will be announced on July 3rd at 7pm on ESPN
Pitchers and reserve players will be selected through a combination of player votes and selections by the Commissioner’s Office.
Rangers: Suarez could very well be the starter in the National League All-Star Game, but that decision will be made by Diamondbacks/National League All-Star manager Torey Lovullo. Suarez leads the majors with 10 wins and a 1.75 ERA. He’s the best pitcher in the league by almost every metric, with Tyler Glasnow the likely second-choice candidate.
Other Phillies pitchers expected to play include Zack Wheeler (likely), Christopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, Matt Stram, Jeff Hoffman and Jose Alvarado.
Among position players:
Catcher JT Realmuto, who could be back from meniscus surgery around the All-Star break, is a close second to William Contreras. Realmuto is 400,000 votes behind Contreras but just 125,000 behind Will Smith.
Harper leads Freddie Freeman by about 700,000 votes for first base. They are the finalists for the position and if Harper leads the league in votes he will automatically become the starter.
For second base, Bryson Stott finished third behind Ketel Marte and Luis Arraez. Stott finished about 200,000 votes behind Arraez in the closest race.
· Bohm received nearly four times as many votes (1.96 million) as the runner-up, third baseman Manny Machado (545,000).
Shortstop Trea Turner finished second to Mookie Betts, who will miss the All-Star Game because of a broken left hand. Turner beat Ellie de la Cruz by about 475,000 votes and is in good form heading into the second phase.
Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas (currently at Triple-A) finished fifth, sixth and seventh in the voting among National League outfielders. The top six finishers will advance to the second phase.
Here are the top eight as of Monday:
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Jurickson Profar: 1,646,276
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Christian Yelich: 1,506,639
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Teoscar Hernandez: 1,413,877
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Fernando Tatis Jr.: 1,390,737
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Brandon Marsh: 1,003,261
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Nick Castellanos: 857,186
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Johan Rojas: 677,753
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Cody Bellinger: 556,912
DH Kyle Schwarber came in third behind Shohei Ohtani and Marcell Ozuna, who have both shown MLB-caliber offensive power this season. Schwarber finished 60,000 votes behind Ozuna.
If they can all stay healthy, all five — Harper, Turner, Bohm, Suarez and Wheeler — are all but guaranteed to make the All-Star team.
The question then becomes who will be selected among Sanchez, Nola, Stram, Hoffman and Alvarado. Stott, Marsh and Castellanos are the more distant candidates because they would have to be selected by fan vote in both phases, given that other players at their positions received far more votes.
For comparison, the Braves had eight All-Star players last season.
This summer, whether that number is 5, 6, 7, 8 or even 9, the Phillies will be well represented at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on July 16th.
