Yesterday, MLB unveiled the first batch of All-Star voting totals for next month’s game which, in case it slipped your mind, is set to take place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. There’s still a long stretch of baseball to play before we reach the Midsummer Classic, but the initial vote counts already offer a promising outlook for the hometown Phillies in terms of how many of their players could end up representing the team on their own turf.
If the ballots were closed right now, Brandon Marsh would be penciled in as a starter for the National League squad. Obviously, that’s not how it works, but it’s still a great sign that Marsh’s outstanding performance this season is drawing the attention it warrants. He appears to be a strong candidate to appear in some form at the game. The same goes for Kyle Schwarber, who almost certainly won’t surpass Shohei Ohtani in DH votes and thus won’t get the starting nod, but he seems poised to secure the NL’s backup DH spot, sitting comfortably as the second-highest vote-getter by a wide margin. Elsewhere, Bryce Harper currently sits third among first basemen, trailing Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman by a fair amount, though it’s not entirely unreasonable to think he could narrow that gap his numbers are comparable to or better than both of theirs. A reserve or replacement role isn’t out of the question for him.
From there, things take a peculiar turn. Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott each hold second place at their respective positions, despite their sluggish starts to the year. Justin Crawford and Adolis Garcia are outpacing players like Pete Crow-Armstrong and Jackson Chourio. Trea Turner, meanwhile, ranks fourth among NL shortstops even though he’s been one of the weakest qualified hitters in the league so far. Clearly, a lot of this comes down to Phillies fans packing the ballot box for their home team, but it’s all but certain that none of this latter group will actually crack the roster unless something shifts dramatically or the Philly faithful fully commits to the bit.
So, with the first voting update now in hand, what’s the read on the NL leaders so far? And how about the Phillies’ potential contingent? Keep in mind that this snapshot doesn’t include pitchers, where the Phillies should have at least one representative in Cristopher Sánchez. Even so, these early totals look favorable for Philadelphia’s prospects of having a solid presence at their own All-Star showcase.
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