Washington Nationals: Three Nats lead All-Star vote
Major League Baseball released their second All-Star Game voting update on Monday, featuring lots of Washington Nationals players.
The Washington Nationals were well represented in the first all-star voting update, which was released last week. Major League Baseball released their second all-star voting update on Tuesday, and the Nats were represented even more.
In the first update, Bryce Harper was the leading vote-getter and was in line to start in the outfield. Daniel Murphy had the second most votes in the National League, and was in line to be the starting second baseman.
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Harper is still the leading vote-getter and Murphy is still in line to start at second base, but Ryan Zimmerman has joined them as potential starters. Zimmerman was closely behind the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo in the first update, but has since passed him.
The two are still neck and neck, with Zimmerman in the lead by 12,969 votes, so it will be interesting to follow what happens between now and July. Barring injury, both will most likely be all-stars, but for now they are battling it out for the honor of starting the game.
Zimmerman is having a statistically better season than Rizzo, but the Cubs fan-base is larger and still on their World Series high. Through the first two months of the season, Zimmerman owns a .374/.421/.713 slash line while Rizzo’s slash line is only .236/.372/.458. Rizzo is still having a respectable season, but Zimmerman has been among the best players in the league.
Nats catcher Matt Wieters has been fourth among catchers in the senior circuit in both voting updates. There are some excellent catchers in the league, and he is currently behind Buster Posey, Willson Contreras, and Yadier Molina.
Anthony Rendon was fifth in the first voting update, but has since moved up into fourth among National League third basemen. He passed Jedd Gyorko, but is still behind Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, and Justin Turner. Bryant, Arenado, and Turner are all among the best all-around players in baseball, and finishing behind them is nothing to be ashamed of. Rendon has quietly been putting together a very solid season, and he definitely appears to be worthy of his first all-star game nomination.
Trea Turner, who is still just 23 years old, is fifth among National League shortstops. After breaking onto the scene in 2016, he has endured a bit of a sophomore slump this year, but has still had a respectable season. He is currently behind Corey Seager, Zack Cozart, Addison Russell, and Chris Owings. The fact that Turner is fifth in all-star voting among shortstops and he hasn’t even gotten hot yet speaks to the respect he has earned in his short time in the big leagues.
Since all three outfield positions are grouped into one big voting category, MLB releases the top 15 instead of top five in the voting updates. In addition to Harper receiving the most votes, Jayson Werth also currently ranks twelfth. He has put together a quality season, especially for a 38-year-old. Although he will most likely not be named an all-star, it is nice to see him in the top 15 among National League outfielders.
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The Nats currently have three players who are in line to start the All-Star Game and a few others who are in the running. If you want to vote for your favorite players and make sure they head to Miami this July, you can vote here. Remember to vote Nats!