The 2019 All-Star fan voting is underway. Currently, Yankees players are in the Top Three in all five infield positions. A couple of surprises too…
The annual All-Star fan voting is a one of a king thing. As a team game, baseball rarely emphasizes individual play during a season. The Cy Young, Most Valuable Player, Manager of the Year, etc. awards all come after the season is concluded. Team Standings reign otherwise as a mark of a season’s success or failure.
For the war-torn Yankees, the current All-Star fan voting has to be a welcome, if not surprising, recognition from fans across America of individual players who are making the Yankee’s season possible.
Of the five infield positions, Yankees players are in the Top Three in the voting as of June 10. Voting continues until June 21 at 4:00 P.M. and is available online here. Here’s a look at the totals so far: (Source: MLB.com)
The anomalies are astounding. Gary Sanchez, last year’s punching bag here and elsewhere, leads all catchers and currently has the widest margin over his nearest competitor in all of the All-Star fan voting.
Luke Voit, who came into the season as the next in line for the Kevin Maas or Shane Spencer award as the next Yankee to disappear into the sunset after an amazing run the year before, leads all in the All-Star fan voting at first base.
DJ LeMahieu, the ultimate “utility guy”, plays all positions in the infield. MLB had to put him somewhere, though, and it’s likely that’s hurting him a bit in the All-Star fan voting.
And how about Gio Urshela? Second in the voting, though by a large margin… Is that not a testament to fans knowledge of the game and how much he is contributing to the Yankee’s success this season?
And finally, there’s Gleyber Torres in a close battle at shortstop. Moved over by Aaron Boone to fill in for Didi Gregorius, Torres is shining both offensively and defensively in his sophomore season as a regular.
The All-Star fan voting also acknowledges the absence of the Yankees Royalty in the outfield. Sidelined for most of the season, Aaron Judge still amasses more than 300,000 votes, placing him seventh in the balloting. Fittingly, Mike Trout has garnered the most votes of anyone in the voting.
MLB Still Working To Get The All-Star Fan Voting Right
Major League Baseball, in agreement with the Player’s Association, announced changes in the All-Star fan voting process earlier this year.
Older fans will recall the days when ballots could only be filled out by fans in attendance at the ballpark. This method placed teams like the Yankees and Dodgers drawing 4 million fans a year at a decisive advantage to elect their own players, placing teams like the Marlins and Tampa Bay at a distinct disadvantage.
Padding the ballot still exists today given the fact that one person can vote up to five times a day for the duration of the balloting. But at least you can vote from the couch at home.
Today, we are in the midst of what MLB is calling the Primary stage of the All-Star fan voting. This is the one that ends June 21. Next up is what’s called “The Starters Election” with the top three vote-getters at each position on the ballot.
“The Starters Election” will begin at noon ET five days later and lasts for 28 hours. The results, which will be reset from the primary, will choose catchers, four infield positions and three outfielders for each league and be announced on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET on June 27.
Did you get all that? Don’t worry, you’ll hear enough about it when the time nears.
The new process will be evaluated when it is concluded here and elsewhere, and of course by MLB itself. On paper, it sounds like fun and the Starters Election adds an element of suspense.
Meanwhile, there’s enough suspense for Yankees fans in seeing if Sanchez, Voit, LeMehieu, Urshela, and Torres can hang on to those top three spots…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
