DENVER – Freddie Freeman was third among first basemen in the latest National League All-Star fan voting update announced Monday, and the only Brave within a figurative arm's reach of the leader at his respective position.
Evan Gattis, who leads major league catchers with 12 home runs, was fourth in the NL voting at his position. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons was fifth, and Justin Upton was eighth among outfielders. Outfielders aren’t separated by specific outfield position in the All-Star balloting.
The top five vote-getters were listed at each defensive position except the outfield, where the top 15 were named. There are three more weekly updates before the All-Star team is announced. Pitchers are selected by the All-Star managers.
Freeman had 710,778 votes as of Monday, trailing Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez (888,906) and the Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt (784,026). Freeman was a first-time All-Star in 2013 after winning the last spot on the team over the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig and three others in the highly publicized “Final Vote” competition.
Gattis (556,620) was more than a million votes behind leader Yadier Molina (1.62 million) of the Cardinals, whose closest competition is the Giants’ Buster Posey (1.07 million). The Brewers’ Jonathan Lucroy (771,313) was third.
Simmons (467,395) was fifth among shortstops, a few laps behind the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki, the overall leader in NL fan voting with just over 2 million. Puig led outfielders with 1.47 million votes, ahead of the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton (1.26 million) and the Brewers’ Carlos Gomez (1.19 million). Upton had 781,140 votes as of Monday.
Phillies veteran Chase Utley was the second-base leader with 1.34 million votes, nearly double the total of the next-leading vote getter at the position, the Dodgers’ Dee Gordon. At third base, David Wright (859,082) was the leader over the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado (766,364).
