Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez leads the American League in fan balloting for the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game presented by MasterCard, it was announced earlier today on MLB Network. The 2016 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 30th at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The first National League voting update will be announced tomorrow afternoon.
Perez, who was the fan-elected starting catcher for the AL at the 2015 Midsummer Classic, has received 1,094,942 votes thus far. The 26-year-old native of Venezuela is aiming to become the first AL backstop to win consecutive fan elections since Minnesota's Joe Mauer (2008-10). Hall of Famer George Brett is the only player in Royals history to win multiple fan elections (11). Perez, who is batting .277 on the season, leads AL catchers with 46 hits and 11 doubles, and he is tied for first with seven home runs and 25 RBI. In addition, he leads all Major League catchers with 20 extra-base hits. Perez hit safely in 12 consecutive games from May 13th-27th, batting .417 during the streak, which was the second-longest of his career. Behind the plate, Salvador has thrown out 50.0 percent of runners trying to steal (12-for-24), which is the highest caught stealing percentage in the Majors (minimum 10 attempts). Perez has helped the Royals to a 28-22 start, good for a 1.5-game lead in the AL Central.
The remaining AL leaders include: first baseman Eric Hosmer of the Royals (871,222); second baseman Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros (624,218); third baseman Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles (630,028); shortstop Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox (598,847); designated hitter David Ortiz of the Red Sox (963,076); and outfielders Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels (934,137), Lorenzo Cain of the Royals (647,339) and Mark Trumbo of the Orioles (641,594).
The Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, the largest program of its kind in professional sports, is being conducted exclusively online for the second consecutive season. Fans around the world can cast their votes for starters a total of 35 times with the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot, including a maximum of five valid ballots cast in any 24-hour period. The 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot is available in English and Spanish, and offers audio CAPTCHA functionality for visually impaired fans. Banco BHD 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 2016 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 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL - will be determined through a combination of "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers - AL skipper Ned Yost of the defending World Series Champion Royals and NL manager Terry Collins of the New York Mets.
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 34-man roster via the 2016 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 15th season with nearly 600 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 2016 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 Petco Park (July 12th), Gatorade All-Star Worktout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 11th), All-Star Sunday featuring the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game (July 10th), All-Star FanFest at the San Diego Convention Center (July 8th-12th), plus a lineup of additional events taking place around the city. The 87th Midsummer Classic will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries. 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.