Clay Buchholz, David Ortiz, and Dustin Pedroia selected to 2013 American League All-Star team

Red Sox right-handed pitcher Clay Buchholz, designated hitter David Ortiz, and second baseman Dustin Pedroia were selected to the American League roster for Major League Baseball's 84th All-Star Game which will take place on Tuesday, July 16 at Citi Field in New York, NY. Through fan balloting, Ortiz was elected as the American League's starting designated hitter for the 2013 Midsummer Classic. Buchholz and Pedroia were elected by the player ballot - a vote of the players, managers and coaches. In addition, right-hander Koji Uehara can be selected as the final player on the American League's 34-man roster via the 2013 All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote sponsored by freecreditscore.com.

Earlier today, Major League Baseball announced the complete rosters for both the American and National League All-Star teams as well as the players eligible for the Final Vote.

Ortiz, 37, received 6,226,301 votes through the fan ballot, the fifth-most among AL players. This year will mark his ninth overall selection, and sixth as a starter, all of which have come with Boston. Since his first All-Star season in 2004, Ortiz has been named to the AL squad nine times with 2009 being the lone exception. His nine all-star selections are the most among all major leaguers over the last 10 seasons. Ortiz's nine All-Star seasons are tied with Bobby Doerr for the third-most in franchise history, trailing only Carl Yastrzemski (18) and Ted Williams (17). This is his fifth fan-voted selection as a designated hitter, extending his all-time record. Through his 68 games for the Red Sox this season, he has hit .321 (81-for-252) with 19 doubles, two triples, a team-leading 17 home runs, and 61 RBI, also a club best. Entering play today, Ortiz ranks fourth in the AL in batting average, second in on base percentage (.409), third in slugging percentage (.615), third in OPS (1.024), sixth in RBI, and tied for sixth in extra-base hits (38). 

Buchholz, 28, is an All-Star for the second time in his career. He was also selected to the AL squad in 2010 but did not pitch in the exhibition due to injury. In 12 starts this season, he is 9-0 with a 1.71 ERA (16 ER/84.1 IP), just 57 hits allowed, and 81 strikeouts. Buchholz has not pitched since being placed on the disabled list on June 18 (retroactive to June 9) with a neck strain. Among pitchers with at least 60.0 innings, he ranks first in the majors in ERA and has the lowest opponent slugging percentage (.270), and has held opponents to the second-lowest average in the AL (.195). Buchholz has held opponents to two runs or fewer in 11 of his 12 starts, including four scoreless outings.

For Pedroia, 29, this marks his fourth overall All-Star Game selection, as he was also an AL All-Star from 2008-10, including a start in the 2008 contest at Yankee Stadium. His four All-Star selections as a second baseman are the second-most in club history behind Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr who had nine. So far this season, Pedroia has hit .323 (109-for-337) with 24 doubles, five home runs, and 49 RBI in a team-high 87 games, tied for the most in the majors. Among all major league second basemen, he began the day ranked first in batting average, on-base percentage (.404), and hits, all the third-best marks overall in the AL. He also leads AL second basemen in runs scored (53) and multi-hit games (33). Defensively, he leads major league qualifiers at second base with an .864 zone rating and tops AL second basemen with a .997 fielding percentage.

Right-handed reliever Koji Uehara was added to the Final Vote ballot by AL All-Star manager Jim Leyland. An eight-time All-Star in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League, Uehara, 38, is in his fifth major league season and first with the Red Sox. In 38 games for Boston this year, Uehara, has gone 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA (8 ER/37.0 IP) and five saves. Among AL relievers in 2013, he ranks in the Top 10 in strikeouts (4^th, 52), opponent batting average (5^th, .160), WHIP (2^nd, 0.78), and strikeout to walk ratio (3^rd, 6.5).

Since the MLB All-Star Game Final Vote was instituted in 2002, the Red Sox have had four players on the ballot, Johnny Damon in 2002, Jason Varitek in 2003, Hideki Okajima in 2007, and Kevin Youkilis in 2010. Damon, Varitek, and Okajima received the most votes in their respective years and were elected.

Fans can cast their votes from a list of five players from each league over a five-day period, and the winners will be announced after the voting concludes on Thursday, July 11th.  Now in its 12th season with more than 350 million votes cast, fans again will be able to make their Final Vote selections on MLB.com, club sites and their mobile phones.