Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, a Miami area native, has pulled out in front of the highly competitive first base field in the latest American League balloting update for the 2017 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard, it was announced earlier today on MLB Network. The 2017 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, which is available exclusively online via MLB.com, Club sites and mobile devices, will be accessible until the voting period ends on Thursday, June 29th at 11:59 p.m. (ET).
Hosmer, who ranked third among first basemen last week, has received 936,734 votes to jump ahead of Oakland's Yonder Alonso (887,645) and Detroit's Miguel Cabrera (831,289), while Toronto's Justin Smoak (787,787) and Cleveland's Carlos Santana (722,315) remain close behind. Last week's leader Alonso, a product of the University of Miami, is batting .301 on the season with 17 home runs and 37 RBI in a bid for his first career All-Star selection. The 27-year-old Hosmer is aiming for his second consecutive All-Star selection after drawing a fan election last season. With a fan-elected start, Hosmer would become the third Royals player to earn consecutive fan elections, joining Hall of Famer George Brett (11 straight at third base from 1976-86) and teammate Salvador Perez, who currently leads AL catchers in pursuit of a third straight fan election.
In the outfield, George Springer of the Houston Astros (1,176,95) is holding off Cleveland's Michael Brantley for the third starting spot behind overall AL leader Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees (2,631,284) and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels (2,030,074). Springer, who is batting .284 on the season with 20 home runs and 45 RBI, would become just the second Astros outfielder to earn a fan election, joining Cesar Cedeño, who was selected to start by the fans for the National League in 1973. Judge, who leads the Majors with 23 home runs and paces the AL with a .335 batting average, owns the second-highest vote total across all of Baseball, trailing Washington's Bryce Harper (2,827,330). Judge and Springer are bidding for their first All-Star selections, while the 25-year-old Trout is already aiming for his sixth selection and fifth consecutive fan-elected starting assignment. In addition to Brantley, several outfielders remain within striking distance of a starting nod, including Avisaíl García of the Chicago White Sox (970,994), Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox (946,510) and Springer's Astros teammate Carlos Beltrán (834,067).
The remaining AL leaders include: the aforementioned backstop Perez (1,453,088); second baseman Jose Altuve of the Astros (2,185,035); shortstop Carlos Correa of the Astros (1,658,255); third baseman Miguel Sanó of the Minnesota Twins (1,302,090); and designated hitter Nelson Cruz of the Seattle Mariners (1,118,873). Perez is challenged by Houston's Brian McCann (1,051,138) and Gary Sánchez of the Yankees (1,045,471), while Altuve is followed by Starlin Castro of the Yankees (1,450,472). Correa is entrenched in a close race with fellow Puerto Rico native Francisco Lindor of the Indians (1,300,013). Sanó is trailed by reigning AL Player of the Week José Ramírez of the Indians (891,731), and Matt Holliday of the Yankees (927,247) and Tampa Bay's Corey Dickerson (926,163) remain in pursuit of Cruz at designated hitter.
The Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, the largest program of its kind in professional sports, is being conducted exclusively online for the third consecutive season. Fans around the world can cast their votes for starters a total of 35 times with the 2017 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, including a maximum of five valid ballots cast in any 24-hour period. The 2017 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot is available in English and Spanish, and offers audio CAPTCHA functionality for visually impaired fans. Banco BHD León once again 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 2017 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be available in the coming weeks. 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 23 for the NL and 22 for the AL - will be determined through a combination of "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the Commissioner's Office.
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 32-man roster via the 2017 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 16th season with over 680 million votes cast, fans again will be able to make their Final Vote selections on MLB.com, Club sites and their mobile devices.
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 2017 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.
MLB All-Star Week includes the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard at Marlins Park (July 11th), Gatorade All-Star Workout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 10th), All-Star Sunday featuring the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game (July 9th), All-Star FanFest at the Miami Beach Convention Center (July 7th-11th), plus a lineup of additional events taking place around the city. The 88th Midsummer Classic 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 of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM 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 @AllStarGame on social media.