No Mariners Position Players Fare Well in First All-Star Game Voting Update
The Seattle Mariners may be faring well in the standings this season, but they are not faring well in the All-Star Game voting.
The All-Star Game, which will be played next month in Arlington, Texas, currently would not feature any Mariners' position players as starters - and it's not even particularly close.
Here's the update from the Talkin' Baseball crew:
Here's the first All-Star ballot update pic.twitter.com/zN0CPFW2Tl
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 17, 2024
Cal Raleigh is currently in 10th place among American League catchers while Ty France is eighth among first basemen. Jorge Polanco, despite hitting .195 and being injured, is ninth at second base and JP Crawford is eighth among shortstops. No M's players rank in the Top 10 at designated hitter and no M's players are featured at third base. In the outfield, Julio Rodriguez is 10th and that represents the M's best chance at earning a starter.
Given the Mariners' offensive struggles, it's not really surprising to see the voting shaping up this way. Popular M's "X" user @thejagepage helped spell out the situation further:
It doesn't surprise me that no #Mariners are close in ASG Votes - here the highest player position rank in fWAR:
C - 7th
1B - 18th
2B - N/A
SS - 19th
3B - 8th
OF - 20th
DH - 21st
Combine that with ugly traditional numbers, and there ya go.
It doesn't surprise me that no #Mariners are close in ASG Votes - here the highest player position rank in fWAR:
— Jage (@thejagepage) June 17, 2024
C - 7th
1B - 18th
2B - N/A
SS - 19th
3B - 8th
OF - 20th
DH - 21st
Combine that with ugly traditional numbers, and there ya go.
Per MLB.com, here is how the voting works:
The top two vote-getters at each position (and the top six outfielders) in each league will be revealed on MLB Network at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 27. The leading vote-getter in each league will receive an automatic spot in their team’s starting lineup while the other top vote-getters will advance to Phase 2 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.
Regardless of how the M's stack up on the position player side of things, they should feature prominently on the pitching side of the roster. Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Andres Munoz all have chances to make the roster. Castillo and Kirby were on the team a season ago.
The M's are 43-31 and lead the American League West by 8.5 games. They'll play the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday afternoon at 3:40 p.m. PT.
