Arlington, Texas-Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish has been selected to the pitching staff for the American League for the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will take place on Tuesday, July 11 at Marlins Park in Miami.
The complete American and National League teams were announced today by Major League Baseball.
In addition, shortstop Elvis Andrus was named as one of five infielders in contention for the 32nd and final spot on the American League team. That All-Star will be selected in on-line fan balloting via the 2017 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote on texasrangers.com, mlb.com, and mobile devices that begins at 7:00 p.m. CDT today and concludes on Thursday, July 16 at 3:00 p.m. CDT. The winners of the Final Vote will be announced live on MLB Network's MLB Tonight on Thursday, July 6^th at 5:00 p.m. CDT.
HOW TO VOTE VIA TEXT
Fans can also vote via text message up to 35 times per phone beginning at 7:00 p.m. CDT TONIGHT and until balloting closes at 3:00 p.m. (CDT) on July 6. To vote for Andrus, text A1 to 89269.  Message and data rates may apply. Text "STOP" to end and "HELP" for information.
For the sixth consecutive year, the last day of the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote also will include social balloting, as Twitter support from the 10 candidates' fans over the last six hours of balloting will count toward their final vote totals. From 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (CDT) on Thursday, July 6^th, any tweet that includes the #ElectElvis hashtag will be tabulated as part of Andrus' official vote total used to determine the American League winner..
The Rangers also a ticket special for the Sunday, July 9 game with the Los Angeles Angels as well as a sweepstakes scheduled as part of the club's Final Vote campaign for Andrus. Full details can be found at texasrangers.com/vote.
The Rangers also announced they the club will partner with the Washington Nationals and N.L. Final Vote candidate Anthony Rendon (#VoteRendon and Text to N3) in the 2017 MLB All-Star Gate Final Vote effort. Most details will be announced over the next four days.
Darvish, who is a Major League Baseball A.L. selection, has been named to the A.L. All-Star Team for the fourth time. He was named to the team via player votes in both 2013 and 2014 and was selected in his rookie year of 2012 by virtue of winning the A.L. final man vote. Darvish did not pitch in 2012 at Kansas City, was replaced due to injury in 2013 at New York's Citi Field, and worked a scoreless inning in relief in 2014 at Minnesota. His four All-Star selections are the most ever for a Texas pitcher, one more than Kenny Rogers.
Darvish is 6-6 in 17 starts for the Rangers in 2017 ranks among the A.L. leaders in strikeouts (3^rd, 107), opponents average (3^rd, .205), innings pitched (4^th, 107.0) and ERA (6^th, 3.11).
Andrus is joined on the Esurance MLB All-Star Game A.L. Final Vote by Boston's Xander Bogaerts, Kansas City's Mike Moustakas, New York's Didi Gregorius, and Tampa Bay's Logan Morrison.
He is batting .302 with 11 homers and 50 RBI in 80 games and is among the A.L. leaders in stolen bases (2^nd, 20), hits (3^rd, 97), and average (11^th). Andrus has been selected as a reserve on A.L. All-Star teams in 2010 and 2012.