Matt Kemp slipped from fifth to sixth in the latest National League All-Star fan voting update announced Monday.
The Braves left fielder’s deficit increased to about 138,000 votes behind Jason Heyward of the Cubs, who remained third in the voting. That will put Heyward in line for the final starting-outfield spot if he maintains that position.
Fan voting selects the starting position players for the team, while reserves and pitchers will be selected by a combination of players’ ballots and the commissioner’s office. The All-Star game will be played July 11 at Marlins Park in Miami.
As in each of the previous fan-vote updates, the only other Braves mentioned among the leading vote-getters are second baseman Brandon Phillips and injured first baseman Freddie Freeman, each fourth at his respective position. Phillips has 350,150 votes, putting him more than two million votes behind Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy, whose vote total is second overall among NL players behind Nationals teammate Bryce Harper (2,827,330).
Harper and the Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon, a former Georgia Tech player, have a huge lead on the rest of the NL outfielders. Blackmon (2,259,867) is second followed by Cubs outfielders Heyward (973,333) and Ben Zobrist (887,804), the Marlins’ Marcell Ozula (871,393) and Kemp (835,324).
Each team will have an All-Star representative and Kemp appears to be the Braves’ most likely selection, though cases could also be made for Phillips and for catcher Tyler Flowrs, who isn’t listed among the five leading vote-getters at his position.
