The latest results for the National League All-Star balloting have been released and Yadier Molina has regained the lead at catcher. The St. Louis Cardinals backstop has 2,639,744 votes–less than 5,000 votes more than San Francisco’s Buster Posey, who has 2,634,846 tallies.
Molina would be the first catcher since Mike Piazza (’94-’02) to be voted to at least three straight starting assignments.
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Matt Carpenter is now up to 3,140,056–second only to Bryce Harper overall in the NL–to expand his lead at third base, with more than twice as many votes as Chicago’s Kris Bryant.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Carpenter of the numbers after the last update. “It’s definitely a thrill knowing that there’s fans out there who want to see you play in it. It’s very humbling.”
“It’s a good feeling to know the work you put in is being recognized and you always appreciate fan support.”
Jhonny Peralta (2,441,384 ) is maintaining a lead over San Francisco’s Brandon Crawford (1,821,037) at shortstop and Matt Holliday (2,693,412) is second overall amongst NL outfielders. Holliday’s start is now in obvious jeopardy because of the quad strain.
Second baseman Kolten Wong also made a significant charge in this last voting period, climbing to within 113,058 of Miami’s Dee Gordon.
Wong is hitting .307 on the season with 13 doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 27 RBI and 34 runs scored. With a fan election, he would join Tommy Herr (1985) as the only Cardinals second basemen to earn a fan-elected start. In addition, the trio of Wong, Peralta and Carpenter are aiming to become the first trio of teammates to start in the NL infield since the 2004 Cardinals (Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria).
Over 200 million votes have been cast. The ballots close on Thursday, July 2nd at 11:59pm (ET).
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
