CHICAGO – As the deadline for the initial phase of All-Star Game voting approaches, there has been some slippage in support for the Rangers.
While three players – second baseman Marcus Semien, shortstop Corey Seager and third baseman Josh Jung – all remain solidly in the running to advance to the second round of voting, catcher Jonah Heim and outfielder Adolis García are currently on the outside looking in. They trail by thin margins, but nevertheless need to make up ground to advance.
The first round of balloting ends at 11 a.m. Thursday. During the initial voting period, fans can submit up to five ballots per 24-hour period on MLB platforms. On Thursday, the top two vote-getters at each position (and the top six outfielders) will advance to the second phase of voting to determine who starts for each league.
In addition, the leading vote-getter in each league during the first phase of voting will receive an automatic starting assignment at the All-Star Game and bypass the second phase. In the AL, that will almost certainly go to Angels DH Shohei Ohtani, who has a 300,000-vote lead over the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge. Semien, who leads at second by 700,000 votes, is the No. 4 overall vote-getter, but is 470,000 votes behind Ohtani.
Seager and Jung, bidding to become the first Rangers’ rookie ever to start an All-Star game, both have comfortable leads over the No. 3 vote-getters at their position. Seager trails Toronto’s Bo Bichette. Jung, who trailed third base leader Matt Chapman of Toronto by 5,000 votes after the first update, is 50,000 votes behind Chapman now.
The closest voting, however, is at catcher where Heim, who had the No. 2 spot behind Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman after the first update, now trails Kansas City’s Salvador Perez by 2,000 votes for the No. 2 spot. Heim leads AL catchers in WAR, according to Fangraphs, just ahead of Rutschman. He has a commanding lead in WAR over Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, who is No. 3.
García, who was fourth among AL outfielders in WAR, has fallen behind a pair of Toronto players for one of the final outfield spots. García trails fifth-place Kevin Kiermaier by nearly 120,000 votes and George Springer by 36,000.
Even if the players don’t advance to the second phase of voting, they still will have a chance to make the team as reserves based on player balloting that takes place through this weekend.
