Washington Nationals News: Bryce Harper Selected As NL All-Star Starter
By Matt Weyrich
The Washington Nationals’ right fielder Bryce Harper has officially made the National League All-Star Team starting lineup, Major League Baseball announced Sunday on ESPN. He finished with 13,964,950 votes, a new NL record, eclipsing Buster Posey’s previous record by more than 6.3 million votes. Harper is hitting .344/.370/.719 on the season with 25 home runs, 60 RBIs, and 57 runs scored. He won back-to-back NL Player of the Week Awards in May, as well as NL Player of the Month.
#Nats RF @Bharper3407 broke the NL voting record & will start in OF in the MLB All-Star Game! http://t.co/IYVGKyPXYF pic.twitter.com/rIHJOa3dvF
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 5, 2015
This announcement comes as no surprise, as Harper has led the way in every ballot update throughout the season. Fellow outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Holliday were voted in as well. However, as Stanton is on the Disabled List with a broken hand, and Holliday may sit as well, injury replacements will be selected for them.
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No other Washington Nationals position players were named to the All-Star Game as of now, leaving players such as Denard Span and Yunel Escobar left awaiting to see if they make the team as reserves tomorrow. Harper is only the fourth player in franchise history to have worked his way into the starting lineup via fan vote. The Nationals have had a player selected as a candidate for the “Final Vote” in each of the past three seasons, but have failed each time to garner enough votes to make the team.
Tomorrow night at 7:00pm ET on ESPN, MLB will release the pitching staffs for each of the teams, when fellow Nat Max Scherzer, and perhaps Drew Storen, is expected to join Harper on the NL roster. Scherzer has been arguably the best starting pitcher in all of baseball, going 9-6 with 1.82 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 118.2 innings over the first half of the season. Both he and Harper make for a formidable duo, as each headline the Cy Young and MVP discussions, respectively.
Bryce Harper makes his 3rd All-Star team, in his age-22 season. Mike Trout did the same last year. Mind-boggling.
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) July 5, 2015
NL Manager Bruce Bochy is expected to release the starting lineup in the upcoming week, but Harper is already expected to be hitting either third or fourth. The most complete hitter in all of baseball, it would be a crime to hit him any lower. Unfortunately, Bryce may not be participating in this year’s Home Run Derby, as his preferred pitcher, his father, is currently recovering from a torn rotator cuff and would not be able to throw.
The All-Star Game will be held Tuesday, July 14th at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio. The game begins at 7:00pm ET, and will be aired on FOX. If there’s any speculation as to who could be taking home the All-Star Game MVP Award, then look no further than Bryce Harper. He’s a player you do not want to miss.