Latest American League All-Star Voting Update Highlighted by Movement

Nine-time All-Star Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers has reclaimed the lead at first base in the latest American League voting update for the 86^th All-Star Game, to be played on Tuesday, July 14^th at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Major League Baseball announced today. Overall, the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot has eclipsed 420 million votes, exceeding the previous record total of 391 million votes (2012). Additionally, each of the 30 Major League Clubs have surpassed their 2014 total votes received. The 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, which is available exclusively online for the first time via MLB.com, Club sites and mobile devices, will be accessible until the voting period ends on Thursday, July 2^nd at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The next National League voting update will be announced tomorrow afternoon.

Cabrera, a fan-elected starter in each of the last two seasons, has received 9,342,149 total votes, which ranks second overall in the AL. The two-time AL Most Valuable Player (2012-13), is attempting to become the fourth Tiger to earn three fan elections, joining Lou Whitaker (1984-86), Lance Parrish (1984-86) and Ivan Rodriguez (2004, 2006-07). In addition, he would join Whitaker and Parrish as the only Tigers to accomplish the feat in consecutive seasons. Overall, the 32-year-old leads the AL with a .346 batting average, .450 on-base percentage and .593 slugging percentage, and he is tied for the league lead with 51 RBI. In addition, the Venezuelan native has added 15 home runs, 13 doubles, a triple and 40 runs scored on the season. Cabrera has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, batting .484 (15-for-31), and collecting multiple hits in six of the nine games. He has also reached base safely in 35 of his last 37 games. Hosmer, who is bidding for his first career All-Star appearance, has received 8,013,745 total votes as he aims to become the first Royals first baseman to win a fan election. The 25-year-old is batting .298 on the season with eight home runs, 14 doubles, two triples, 38 RBI and 38 runs scored.

Across the diamond, Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays has pulled to within 33,000 votes of third base leader Mike Moustakas of the Royals. Donaldson, who trailed by more than 1.6 million votes two weeks ago, has received 9,004,876 votes, while Moustakas remains slightly ahead with 9,037,844 tallies. Donaldson, an All-Star in 2014, is bidding to become the first Blue Jays third baseman and fourth Blue Jays infielder to win a fan election, joining second baseman Roberto Alomar (1991-94), and first basemen John Olerud (1993) and Carlos Delgado (2003). In his first year with Toronto, the 29-year-old Donaldson is hitting .302 with 17 home runs, 18 doubles, 46 RBI and a Major League-best 56 runs scored. In addition, Donaldson leads the AL with 154 total bases and is tied for second with 26 multi-hit games and 35 extra-base hits. Moustakas, who is bidding for his first All-Star selection, ranks fourth in the AL in batting average (.325) and ranks 10^th with 78 hits and a .379 on-base percentage. The 26-year-old has added six home runs, 14 doubles, a triple, 27 RBI and 36 runs scored on the season.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout has garnered 9,148,142 total votes, which ranks third overall in the league and tops among AL outfielders. The reigning AL Most Valuable Player is trying for his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance and third consecutive start after claiming the Ted Williams All-Star Game MVP at Target Field in Minnesota last summer. Trout would join Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson (1982-84) and Rod Carew (1979-84) as well as Vladimir Guerrero (2005-07) as the only Angels to earn at least three consecutive fan-elected starts. The 2012 AL Rookie of the Year ranks second in the AL with a .581 slugging percentage and is tied for third with 18 home runs on the season. Overall, he is hitting .304 with 16 doubles, 41 RBI, eight stolen bases and 52 runs scored. The 23-year-old New Jersey native has scored 405 runs since the start of the 2012 campaign, 52 more than any other Major Leaguer (Miguel Cabrera, 353). 

Trout is joined among the outfield leaders by Royals teammates Lorenzo Cain (9,079,146) and Alex Gordon (7,810,995). Cain, the 2014 AL Championship Series Most Valuable Player, is attempting to make his first trip to the Midsummer Classic. He would join Amos Otis (1973), Bo Jackson (1989) and Jermaine Dye (2000) as the only Royals outfielders to land a fan-elected starting assignment. The 29-year-old Cain is hitting .294 on the season with six home runs, 12 doubles, three triples, 32 RBI, 14 stolen bases and 41 runs scored. In addition, he ranks third in the AL with a .372 batting average with two outs, and he has recorded 29 two-out hits, which ranks fourth in the AL. Gordon, bidding for his third consecutive All-Star selection and first fan-elected start, is hitting .273 on the season with eight home runs, 12 doubles, 31 RBI and 26 runs scored. His 13 go-ahead RBI this season are tied for fourth in the AL, while he's also collected five game-winning RBI. The four-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner leads all Major League players with 65 assists since becoming a full-time outfielder in 2011. He has recorded 169 doubles since the start of the 2011 season, which is fourth-most in the Majors during that span. Cain and Gordon could become the first pair of teammates to earn starts in the AL outfield since Boston's Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez in 2005. Gordon is trailed for third among AL outfielders by 2014 All-Star Yoenis Cespedes (5,929,670) of the Tigers. Two-time All-Star Alex Rios of the Royals ranks fifth with 5,658,024 votes, while five-time All-Star Jose Bautista follows in sixth with 5,299,960 votes.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez continues to lead the AL in voting with 10,199,151 votes as he approaches Josh Hamilton's 2012 all-time single-season record of 11,073,744 tallies. Perez is vying for his first career starting assignment in the Midsummer Classic after making the AL squad as a reserve in each of the last two seasons. The Valencia, Venezuela native would join Darrell Porter (1979) as the only Royals catchers to earn a fan-elected start. Since fan voting was returned to fans in 1970, the only catchers to lead the AL in All-Star balloting were Carlton Fisk of the White Sox (1982), Ivan Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers (2000) and Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins (2010). In addition, the only Royals to pace the league in voting were Hall of Famer George Brett (1981 and 1984) and Jackson (1989). On Saturday, Perez hit his team-leading 11^th home run of the season, which ranks second in the AL among backstops. Overall, Perez leads AL backstops with 65 hits on the season, he is tied for second with 10 doubles and ranks fourth with 30 RBI. In addition, the 25-year-old is hitting .280 on the season with 21 runs scored. Behind the plate, he has thrown out 12 baserunners attempting to steal this season, which ranks fourth in the AL. Since the start of 2013, has thrown out 58 would-be base stealers, ranking second in the Majors behind Toronto's Russell Martin (75). Perez is followed behind the plate by Martin (4,736,279), who is trying for his fourth Midsummer Classic selection and second career fan-elected start (2007).

Nelson Cruz of the Seattle Mariners has received 7,298,451 votes as he attempts to regain the lead at designated hitter over current leader Kendrys Morales of the Royals, who has totaled 7,584,560 votes. Cruz ranks second in the AL with 19 home runs and third with a .572 slugging percentage. Overall, the 34-year-old native of the Dominican Republic is batting .315 with seven doubles, a triple and 36 runs scored as he tries for his fourth Midsummer Classic selection and second consecutive starting assignment. Morales, aiming for his first career All-Star selection, is attempting to become the first Royals designated hitter to earn a fan election. In his first season with Kansas City, the 32-year-old native of Cuba has proven to be a clutch player for his new team, leads the AL with a .386 batting average with two outs and is tied for third in the Majors with 24 two-out RBI. Overall, Kendrys is hitting .289 on the season with eight home runs, 18 doubles (T-5^th in AL), 45 RBI (7^th in AL) and 35 runs scored. 

At second base, Omar Infante of the Royals (6,521,733) and Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros (6,086,193) continue to battle for the top spot, separated by less than 500,000 votes. Infante, a 2010 NL All-Star, is aiming for his first fan-elected start as he tries to become the second Royals second baseman to win a fan election, joining Frank White (1979). The Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela native has 14 doubles on the season, which is tied for fifth among AL second basemen. The 2014 AL batting champion is eight doubles shy of 250 for his career. Altuve, who is bidding for his third career Midsummer Classic selection (2012, 2014), is trying to become just the seventh player (10^th time overall) in Astros history to earn a fan-elected start, and the first to do so since Houston moved to the AL for the 2013 season. He would join 2015 Hall of Fame electee Craig Biggio (1995-98) and Jeff Kent (2004) as Houston second basemen to earn a fan election, while the other Astros fan-elected starters include first basemen Lee May (1972), Jeff Bagwell (1997) and Lance Berkman (2008), and outfielder Cesar Cedeno (1973). The 25-year-old Altuve is batting .287 on the season with five home runs, 11 doubles, 28 RBI, 28 runs scored and an AL-best 17 stolen bases.

Also up the middle, at shortstop, is Alcides Escobar of the Royals, who has received 8,739,920 votes. Escobar is on track for his first career All-Star selection, and he would join Fred Patek (1978) as the only Royals shortstops to earn a fan-elected start. The 28-year-old native of La Sabana, Venezuela is hitting .271 on the season with two home runs, 12 doubles, two triples, 26 RBI, five stolen bases and 33 runs scored. His 26 RBI out of the leadoff spot are second in the AL. Over his last 10 contests, Escobar is batting .317 (13-for-41) with two doubles, a triple and eight RBI. Escobar, who appeared in all 162 contests in 2014, ranks second in the Majors with 532 games at shortstop since the start of the 2012 season, trailing only Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox (540). Escobar and Moustakas could become the seventh pair of teammates to earn starts on the left side of the AL infield, and the first since Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees in 2011. Escobar is followed at shortstop by Jose Iglesias of the Detroit Tigers (6,122,972), who is also attempting to make his first All-Star team.

The Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, the largest program of its kind in professional sports, for the first time, is being conducted exclusively online. Fans around the world can cast their votes for starters 35 times exclusively at MLB.com and all 30 Club web sites - online or via their mobile devices - with the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot. During the voting period, which ends on July 2^nd at 11:59 p.m. (ET), the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot will be available in English and Spanish, and will offer audio CAPTCHA functionality for visually-impaired fans. Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions of the online ballot are also available. Banco BHD sponsors online All-Star balloting in the Dominican Republic, making Spanish-language ballots available to fans in the Dominican Republic via LasMayores.com, the official Spanish-language Web site of Major League Baseball.

Details regarding the unveiling of the 2015 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be available later this week. The AL All-Star Team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the NL All-Star Team will have eight fan-elected starters. The pitchers and reserves for both squads - totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL - will be determined through a combination of "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers - NL skipper Bruce Bochy of the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants and AL manager Ned Yost of the Kansas City Royals.

Following the announcement of the American League and National League All-Star rosters, fans will begin voting to select the final player for each League's 34-man roster via the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote. Fans will cast their votes from a list of five players from each League over the balloting period. Now in its 14^th season with more than 480 million votes cast, fans again will be able to make their Final Vote selections on MLB.com, Club sites and their mobile phones.

This year's final phase of All-Star Game voting again will have fans participating in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. During the Midsummer Classic, fans can vote exclusively at MLB.com and the 30 Club sites - online or via their mobile devices - with the 2015 All-Star Game MLB.com MVP Vote, and their collective voice will represent 20 percent of the official vote determining this year's recipient of the Arch Ward Trophy. 

The 2015 All-Star Game will be played at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday, July 14^th. The 86^th All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.

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Contact:  Patrick Courtney or Michael Teevan, Major League Baseball, (212) 931-7878, twitter.com/mlb_pr

2015 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR BALLOTING UPDATE #5
Monday, June 22^nd