Aaron Judge Leads MLB’s First All-Star Voting Update

Major League Baseball’s home run leader is also pacing the sport in All-Star votes.

MLB released its first ballot update for the Midsummer Classic on Tuesday, and no player received more votes than Aaron Judge’s 1,512,368. Judge leads Dodgers star Mookie Betts by 66,318 votes. Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. (1,398,563), the Angels’ Mike Trout (1,295,854), Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper (1,059,433) and, surprisingly, Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk, (1,057,008) are the only other players who tallied over 1 million votes.

MLB is currently in Phase 1 of its voting process. That period ends at 2 p.m. on June 30. Per league rules, "The leading vote-getter in the American League and National League after Phase 1 will receive a spot in their All-Star team's starting lineup. Aside from those two players, the top two vote-getters at every position, and the top six outfielders, will advance to the finals of voting. If an outfielder is a league's leading vote-getter, only the next four outfield finalists will move on to Phase 2 to determine who starts at the two remaining spots.”

In other words, if voting ended today, Judge and Betts would be automatic locks to start the All-Star Game. Judge has 25 homers this season to go along with a .301/.380/.647 slash line and 50 RBI.

As for other Yankees, catcher Jose Trevino, who is second to Kirk with 387,983 votes, and Giancarlo Stanton, who is fourth among outfielders with 504,537 votes, are in position to advance to Phase 2. Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres could move on as well if they make up some ground. Rizzo is third among AL first baseman with 445,683 votes, while Torres is fourth among second baseman with 379,095 votes. The versatile DJ LeMahieu, meanwhile, is fourth among third baseman with 281,955 votes.

One way or another, Judge and a few of his teammates are bound to represent the Yankees at the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium on July 19. Nestor Cortes is a candidate to start the game for the American League, while Clay Holmes should be part of the team’s bullpen, if not its closer.

While roster space is limited, a handful of other Yankees pitchers have All-Star cases as well, including Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery and Michael King. 

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