All-Star Ballot Update: Cubs Have Four Top Vote-Getters, Five Starters
If Anthony Rizzo’s lead over Brandon Belt at first base was a player, it would have a pretty good shot at the All-Star Game. The voting is significantly closer at the other positions as of the most recent update, but the Cubs continue their total dominance of the balloting process. Barring some incredible surges in the next couple weeks, the Central leaders will have five players in the starting lineup when the final NL roster is announced on June 30.
When last week’s update was released, Addison Russell had been getting some pressure from Colorado’s Trevor Story. With a nearly 300,000-vote lead at this point, however, Russell looks to be pretty firmly entrenched. Kris Bryant and Ben Zobrist lead at third and second by nearly 500,000 votes each and Dexter Fowler is over 600,000 votes up on fourth place in the outfield (Jason Heyward).
As has been the case throughout the process, catcher remains the one spot at which the Cubs aren’t leading. Yadi Molina continues to top the backstops, though Buster Posey is right on his cleats. Whether due to splitting votes with David Ross or just because he hasn’t played all that well, Miguel Montero has fallen back to fourth. Can’t win ’em all, I guess.
Now that the Cubs are pretty much guaranteed more than half of the NL lineup, it’s time for fans to get out and vote some underperforming AL players onto that squad.
CATCHER
1. Yadier Molina, Cardinals: 933,300
2. Buster Posey, Giants: 856,013
3. Wilson Ramos, Nationals: 600,181
4. Miguel Montero, Cubs: 579,933
5. Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers: 434,029
FIRST BASE
1. Anthony Rizzo, Cubs: 1,748,850
2. Brandon Belt, Giants: 584,533
3. Paul Goldschmidt, D-backs: 485,008
4. Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers: 474,762
5. John Jaso, Pirates: 276,254
SECOND BASE
1. Ben Zobrist, Cubs: 1,601,381
2. Daniel Murphy, Nationals: 1,123,357
3. Neil Walker, Mets: 384,255
4. Joe Panik, Giants: 374,271
5. Josh Harrison, Pirates: 309,085
THIRD BASE
1. Kris Bryant, Cubs: 1,629,623
2. Nolan Arenado, Rockies: 1,166,247
3. Matt Carpenter, Cardinals: 424,794
4. Matt Duffy, Giants: 330,644
5. David Wright, Mets: 273,002
SHORTSTOP
1. Addison Russell, Cubs: 1,170,012
2. Trevor Story, Rockies: 887,971
3. Brandon Crawford, Giants: 501,557
4. Corey Seager, Dodgers: 476,525
5. Zack Cozart, Reds: 393,101
OUTFIELD
1. Dexter Fowler, Cubs: 1,611,833
2. Bryce Harper, Nationals: 1,451,270
3. Yoenis Cespedes, Mets: 1,395,577
4. Jason Heyward, Cubs: 993,073
5. Ryan Braun, Brewers: 845,093
6. Jorge Soler, Cubs: 678,395