Read our FAQ on this year’s revamped balloting format, which includes two phases of fan voting to determine the All-Star starters, and the ability to vote through Google Search.

ATLANTA -- As a child, Anthony Rendon remembers swinging anything he could get his hands on.

• VOTE NOW: Google MLB All-Star Ballot

When a baseball bat was not available, he might have grabbed a souvenir bat, and he and his brother, David, would smash Wiffle balls around their home in Houston. Or Rendon would take the thin rods designed to hold up a tent and use that as a bat to hit around golf balls.

“I was just relentless as a kid,” Rendon recalled in the visitors’ clubhouse prior to Tuesday’s game against the Braves at SunTrust Park. “Not knowing at the time, I just wanted to swing and be a kid, but looking back at it now, it’s like, ‘Dang, I was able to hit that small ball with that small barrel or a stick.’ That probably just helped me even more, just being able to focus on that and try to actually hit it.

"But I didn't know that back then. I was just being an idiot, trying to break something."

Well, that relentlessness helped make Rendon into one of the best players in baseball in the midst of the best season of his career and perhaps in position to make his first All-Star Game. Voting for the 2019 All-Star Game opened Tuesday, and Rendon is the headliner among the Nationals' players on the ballot. It’s a topic that Rendon, always wary of self-promotion, shies away from, however, quipping this past weekend that he would “love to be an All-Star, but without going [to the game], if that’s possible.”

But after long being overshadowed by his peers at a stacked position -- most notably Nolan Arenado in Colorado, Kris Bryant in Chicago and Justin Turner in Los Angeles -- in the National League, Rendon has arguably mashed his way to the front of the line.

Entering Tuesday, Rendon was batting .322/.419/.664 with 10 home runs and an NL-leading 18 doubles. His 1.083 OPS and 176 wRC+ are fourth in all of baseball, trailing only Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers, Christian Yelich of the Brewers and Josh Bell of the Pirates. Rendon was sidelined with a bruised elbow that forced him to miss 14 games, but he still ranks eighth in the NL in Wins Above Replacement, per Fangraphs, with 2.2.

“I think it would mean a lot for us in general, the fans, and for him,” manager Dave Martinez said. “If you look right now, he deserves to be on the team. He deserved, I think, for many years to be on the team. I just want him to continue to do what he’s doing, and hopefully he’s voted on.”

Fans may vote in "The Primary" at MLB.com and all 30 club sites, the MLB At Bat and MLB Ballpark apps up to five times in any 24-hour period. Fans in the US and Canada can also vote on Google Search for every position, or up to 17 unique players per day, by searching "MLB Vote" or the names of their favorite players. Primary voting ends at 4 p.m. ET on Friday, June 21.

The top three vote-getters at each position (including nine outfielders) per league will move on to "The Starters Election," which begins at noon ET on Wednesday, June 26. The votes will reset for a 28-hour voting window that ends at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 27. Starters for the 2019 Midsummer Classic will be unveiled on ESPN that night at 7 ET. The pitchers and reserves will be announced on Sunday, June 30, at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Then on Tuesday, July 9, during the 2019 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard, fans may visit MLB.com and the 30 club sites to submit their choices for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet.

The 90th Midsummer Classic, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 180 countries. FOX Deportes will provide Spanish-language coverage in the United States, while ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage. MLB Network, MLB.com and SiriusXM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information about MLB All-Star Week and to purchase tickets, please visit AllStarGame.com and follow @MLB and @AllStarGame on social media.