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CLEVELAND -- Each Indians player entered the clubhouse Wednesday morning and walked straight to the ping pong table where “Vote ‘Los” T-shirts were on display. They found their size and immediately made an outfit change to promote Carlos Santana's All-Star campaign.

The Starter’s Election is open through Thursday at 4 p.m. ET, and the Indians are doing everything they can to get Santana to start in front of his home crowd at Progressive Field in the 2019 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard in what would be his first All-Star appearance in 10 seasons in the big leagues.

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Santana finished second among American League first basemen in the All-Star Primary, behind Luke Voit of the Yankees and ahead of C.J. Cron of the Twins. In the new voting format, the top three vote-getters from each position in the Primary advanced to the Starters Election, and will begin with a clean slate.

Santana took advantage of his final game before the polls opened, boosting his All-Star resume Tuesday with his team-leading 18th home run of the year and extending his on-base streak to 20 consecutive games. He entered Wednesday leading Cron and Voit in batting average (.290), homers, on-base percentage (.412), slugging percentage (.545) and OPS (.957).

While Santana's offensive numbers have exploded this season, Indians manager Terry Francona has also been impressed by his first baseman’s improvement defensively.

“You know what, when I first came here, it took me -- and I should’ve understood this -- [when] Carlos played first, it was his off day from catching before I got here,” Francona said. “Even when I got here, he’d catch and then, to keep his bat in the lineup, they’d put him at first. So it was kind of like an easier day for him.

“Well when I came here, I tried to explain to him, ‘Hey, you’re gonna be our first baseman. We need you to be a first baseman.’ And to his credit, man, he’s worked really hard at it, and he’s turned himself into a good first baseman. … Now that he’s full-time over there, man, he’s really worked at it, too. He’s been good. He’s way more athletic than I think people give him credit for or even that maybe he looks.”

Carrasco playing catch

Carlos Carrasco took some time away from the ballpark after announcing he had a blood condition earlier this month. And even though the hurler isn’t ready to reveal what exactly he’s battling through, he’s become a familiar face around Progressive Field once again and has started to play catch.

“I think they think, one, it’s good for him, because it’s something he enjoys,” Francona said. “It’s not gonna hurt him in any way, and they’ve encouraged him to have activity. Again, depending on how he’s feeling and things like that, but definitely to throw. And I think we all feel like it’s really not just good for his arm, but good for his brain and good for his psyche and everything.”

Injury updates

Francona said that Bradley Zimmer has resumed throwing again in Arizona after suffering a setback with his shoulder just as he was nearing a rehab assignment. He is able to hit without pain and is throwing up to 60 feet.

Also in Arizona, Danny Salazar pitched in another simulated game on Tuesday, and is expected to transition to a real game in Goodyear in five days.

This date in Indians history

2004: Ben Broussard hit a walk-off RBI double in the 12th inning to beat Colorado, 4-3.