On Tuesday, July 9, the 2019 MLB All-Star Game will be held at Progressive Field in Cleveland. All-Star Game voting launched two weeks ago, and on Monday MLB released the first American League voting update. On Tuesday, the National League update dropped.
Here are the NL players currently leading the vote at each position:
Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers leads all MLB comers with 1,189,380 votes as of this initial update. Both he and Christian Yelich (1,057,855) have more votes than AL leader Mike Trout of the Angels (951,002). Elsewhere in the NL outfield, Ronald Acuña Jr. with 518,760 has a safe for the moment grip on that last outfield spot. He's trailed by Joc Pederson of the Dodgers (344,440 votes), Albert Almora of the Cubs (294,445), Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies (278,070), Jason Heyward of the Cubs (270,745), Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs (252,557), Alex Verdugo of the Dodgers (242,988), and Bryce Harper of the Phillies (242,719).
Yes, Harper, the six-time All-Star who's in first season in Philly, is presently 10th in the NL vote for outfielders. That's significant because under the revised voting structure, just the top nine outfielders will advance to the second phase of the balloting.
Regarding Josh Bell, here's this Pirates All-Star factoid:
Josh Bell is currently leading NL 1B in All-Star voting.
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 11, 2019
The last Pirates player to start at an infield position in the ASG was Bobby Bonilla at 3B in 1988.
The last Pirates 1B to start was Dale Long in 1956.
Bell right now is at 621,915 votes, and in second among first baseman is Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs with 461,210 votes.
The first phase of voting concludes at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, June 21. At that point, the top three vote-getters at each position (and top nine in the outfield) will move on to the second phase of voting. Right now, here's who's on pace to advance in the NL:
C - Willson Contreras, Brian McCann, J.T. Realmuto
1B - Josh Bell, Anthony Rizzo, Freddie Freeman
2B - Ozzie Albies, Mike Moustakas, Ketel Marte
3B - Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant, Justin Turner
SS - Javier Baez, Dansby Swanson, Corey Seager
OF - Cody Bellinger, Christian Yelich, Ronald Acuña Jr., Joc Pederson, Albert Almora, Charlie Blackmon, Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber, Alex Verdugo
Developing!
