Results and Analysis of the 2022 MLB All-Star Ballot Second Update

Results and Analysis of the 2022 MLB All-Star Ballot Update

Written by: Nathan Middleton

Major League Baseball released its second ballot update for the 2022 All-Star Game today. I will be going over the new format, the leaderboard, my ballot, and my predictions.

What Are the Selection Rules?

There will be two rounds of voting

The top two players at each position make it to the final round (six outfielders)

The exception is the top vote-getter in each league (who automatically makes the team)

Phase One ends Thursday, June 30th

Now for the leaders in each position

American League

First Base

Vlad Jr is the clear front-runner here as he has almost double the second-place total and more than double the third-place total. The real race is between Ty France and Anthony Rizzo to see who will join him in the finals.

Second Base

Jose Altuve is leading but is not quite assured of a spot in the finals while Santiago Espinal is in second with Andres Gimenez and Gleyber Torres still having a shot at the top two.

Third Base

Not much of a contest here as Jose Ramirez and Rafael Devers are a deserving top two and third place is almost 500K votes back.

Shortstop

Bichette is up about 240K votes up on second place but is not assured of finishing in the top two as second-place Tim Anderson and third place Xander Bogaerts are separated by just 22K votes.

Outfield (three starters)

Judge and Trout will fight it out for the automatic starting spot, which means that only players ranking second through fifth would advance to the final round to compete for two spots. Currently third through fifth are; George Springer, Giancarlo Stanton, and Taylor Ward but Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Teoscar Hernandez, and Byron Buxton have a real shot at reaching the top five.

Catcher

Alejandro Kirk is WAY out in front over a million votes clear of second place and Jose Trevino is almost there as well as he is up 300K votes on Salvador Perez (with Martin Maldonado close behind him).

Designated Hitter

Yordan Alvarez and Shohei Ohtani are the clear top two. Somehow Yordan Alvarez has never been an All-Star (which will deservingly change).

National League

First Base

Paul Goldschmidt (the likely NL MVP if the season ended today) is about 600K votes ahead of second-place Pete Alonso. The fight for second will be between Alonso, Freeman, and Olson.

Second Base

This is a three-horse race for two spots between Jazz Chilsholm Jr., Ozzie Albies, and Jeff McNeil who are separated by about 120K votes.

Third Base

Manny Machado is the runaway leader almost 600K votes clear of the field but Nolan Arenado and Austin Riley are only separated by less than 70K votes.

Shortstop

Trea Turner is almost certain to finish in the top two and Dansby Swanson has a solid 260K vote lead over Francisco Lindor who is the only threat to the top two.

Outfield (three starters)

One of Betts and Acuna will be the automatic starter so only second through fifth place will advance to the final round. Pederson, Marte, and Soto are third through fifth right now but Adam Duvall, Mark Canha, Marcell Ozuna, and Cody Bellinger could still get into the top five.

Catcher

Willson Contreras is virtually certain to reach the final round while Travis d'Arnaud is up by 180K votes on Yadier Molina for second place.

Designated Hitter

Bryce Harper is well over a million votes clear of third place while William Contreras is over 400K votes clear of third place (Albert Pujols).

Overall Leaders

The new CBA and voting procedure means that the top vote-getter in each league gets the only automatic All-Star starting spot.

In the AL Judge leads by about 300K votes over Trout.

In the NL Betts is up by less than 75K votes on Acuna.

No one else in either league is within 500K votes of being the top vote-getter.

My All-Star Ballot

American League

First Base: France

Second Base: Altuve

Third Base: Devers

Shortstop: Bogaerts

Outfield: Judge, Trout, and Buxton

Catcher: Kirk

DH: Alvarez

National League

First Base: Goldschmidt

Second Base: McNeil

Third Base: Machado

Shortstop: Turner

Outfield: Pederson, Betts, and Schwarber

Catcher: Contreras

DH: Harper

My Finalist Predictions

American League

Winner: Judge

First Base: Guerrero and Rizzo (France is injured so he may drop a bit)

Second Base: Altuve and Espinal

Third Base: Ramirez and Devers

Shortstop: Bichette and Bogaerts

Outfield: Trout, Springer, Stanton, and Ward

Catcher: Kirk and Trevino

DH: Alvarez and Ohtani

National League

Winner: Acuna (Betts is hurt so I think Acuna will pass him)

First Base: Goldschmidt and Alonso

Second Base: Chisholm and Albies

Third Base: Machado and Riley

Shortstop: Turner and Swanson

Outfield: Betts, Pederson, Marte, and Soto

Catcher: Contreras and d'Arnaud

DH: Harper and Contreras

Links to Check Out

Here is the All-Star Ballot for you to fill out

https://www.mlb.com/all-star/ballot

My Twitter Account

https://twitter.com/nathanjm000