McCutchen moving up in All-Star voting

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen made a big move in Tuesday's latest update to National League voting on the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot.

McCutchen's 328,000 votes last week increased his total to 667,692 and launched him into a tight battle with four other outfielders chasing the league leaders for the three starting spots in the July 14 Midsummer Classic in Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park.

McCutchen's charge improved his overall standing from 11th to eighth place. He, the Giants' Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence, San Diego's Justin Upton and Jason Heyward of the Cardinals are all bunched within 127,000 votes of each other. They trail the outfield leaders -- Bryce Harper, Matt Holliday and Giancarlo Stanton -- as well as Nori Aoki, who is fourth with 1,012,117 ballots.

Fans can cast their votes for starters at MLB.com and all 30 club sites -- on their computers, tablets and smartphones -- using the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot until Thursday, July 2, at 11:59 p.m. ET. For the first time, voting is exclusively online, where fans may submit up to 35 ballots.

Fans may also receive the ballot by texting VOTE to 89269 (USA) or 101010 (Canada). Or text VOTA for a ballot in Spanish. Message and data rates may apply. Up to five messages. No purchase required. Reply STOP to cancel. Reply HELP for info.

Following the announcement of the 2015 All-Stars, be sure to return to MLB.com and cast your 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote for the final player for each league's All-Star roster. On Tuesday, July 14, watch the 2015 All-Star Game live on FOX, and during the game visit MLB.com to submit your choice for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2015 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote.

MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage of All-Star Week festivities.

The 86th All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 200 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.

McCutchen's dramatic reversal after a slow start as he dealt with some physical issues -- he was batting .188 on May 6 but since has hit .381 to raise his overall mark to .278 -- has caught the attention of voters. However, the platforms of some deserving teammates haven't yet caught on as much, as he remained the only Pirates player on the leaderboard.

Other Buccos certainly deserving of fans' votes are catcher Francisco Cervelli, whose .377 average in May led all National Leaguers -- not merely players at his position. For that matter, Cervelli's overall average of .326 continues to pace all NL backstops.

Left fielder Starling Marte leads the Pirates with 10 homers and 34 RBIs and has yet to draw enough votes to show up among the league's top 15 outfielders in voting.

Of course, some of the Bucs' most deserving All-Stars are removed from the judgment of the voting public: Young right-hander Gerrit Cole (8-1, 1.90) and older right-hander A.J. Burnett (5-1, 1.81 entering his Tuesday night start against the Giants) are each looking forward to their first All-Star appointments.