Resurgent Braun takes over third place

MILWAUKEE – Ryan Braun has regained his third place standing in the fourth round of National League All-Star voting results, which were announced by Major League Baseball today. Braun, who trailed San Francisco outfielder Melky Cabrera by just over 25,000 votes a week ago, now leads Cabrera by a slim 3,168,617 to 3,045,884 advantage. Matt Kemp (4,118,524) and Carlos Beltran (3,717,483) continue to rank first and second, respectively, among NL outfielders.

With a tight race and just three days of online voting remaining at brewers.com (continues through Thursday at 10:59 p.m. CT), below are three reasons that fans should vote Braun as a starter to this year’s All-Star Game in Kansas City:

1.) Braun has put up numbers surpassing his 2011 NL MVP season after the same amount of games

• Through 69 games this season, he is batting .314 with 20 HR and 52 RBI with a .602 slugging percentage compared to last season when he batted .311 with 14 HR and 49 RBI to go along with a .556 slugging percentage.

2.) Braun ranks among the National League leaders in numerous statistical categories

• He ranks among the National League leaders in HR (T1st, 20), slugging percentage (2nd, .602), total bases (3rd, 159), RBI (4th, 52), extra-base hits (T5th, 34), OBP (7th, .394), batting average (9th, .314) and runs (T9th, 47). Below is a statistical comparison among the NL’s top-voting outfielders:

3.) Braun’s best numbers are against American League pitching

• Over the past two seasons, he has hit safely in all 28 games in Interleague play and has batted .391 with 7 HR and 30 RBI during this time. In fact, his current 28-game Interleague hitting streak ranks third on the all-time list since Interleague play began in 1997 (Matt Lawton, 37g, 6/5/99-7/12/01 and Ichiro Suzuki, 31g, 7/1/06-6/21/08). This season, he batted .406 with 6 HR and 19 RBI in 15 games against American League opponents.

Second baseman Rickie Weeks (4th, 1,202,051 votes) and catcher Jonathan Lucroy (5th, 1,216,744) also rank among the NL leaders in voting at their respective positions in the fourth round of voting results for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game

The 2012 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be unveiled this Sunday, July 1 on the 2012 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show on TBS at noon CT.  Both the National League and American League teams will have eight fan-elected starters. The pitchers and reserves for both will be determined through a combination of "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers – Tony La Russa and Ron Washington.

At brewers.com, all fans voting 21 or more times for their favorite Brewers will be entered into a drawing to win Ryan Braun’s Miller Park Suite for a night, complete with tickets, food and a personal visit from the 2011 National League MVP. There is a maximum of 25 votes per email address. More information and rules may be found at brewers.com. Additionally, fans voting online will be eligible to purchase Field Outfield and Club Outfield seats for select Brewers games at a savings of up to 50% (details available after voting at Brewers.com).

Last season, Braun led National League outfielders in voting for the fourth straight season and led all NL players in voting for the first time (5,928,004). He is the only Brewers player to ever be elected to start in four consecutive All-Star Games (did not play in 2011 due to injury). Weeks was selected to his first All-Star Game as the NL’s starting second baseman and Prince Fielder started and made his third All-Star appearance in 2011. In 2010, Braun and Corey Hart started for the Brewers (Hart was named as a starter after an injury to Atlanta’s Jason Heyward).

In 2009, Braun and Fielder joined Trevor Hoffman as All-Stars. In addition to Braun in 2008, Hart was named that year to the National League All-Star team via the Monster All-Star Final Vote. In 2007, Fielder received the second-most votes in the National League en route to his first career All-Star team, becoming the first Brewers player to be voted to the All-Star Game since Paul Molitor was selected at third base in 1988. A complete list of All-Stars in franchise history can be found on page 283 of the 2012 Brewers media guide.

The 83^rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday, July 10 at Kauffman Stadium on FOX, beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT.