SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies shortstop Trevor Story still has his All-Star dream.
Story, who went deep twice Thursday night to tie the National League rookie record with 21 home runs by the All-Star break, ranks third among NL candidates for the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote in the last ballot update Friday. He's trailing the Giants' Brandon Belt and the Pirates' Starling Marte, and he's ahead of the D-backs' Jake Lamb and the Brewers' Ryan Braun.
• Cast your Esurance Final Vote for Story
However, fans still have time to help Story (#StoryTime) pull out a comeback win. For the fifth consecutive year, the Final Vote will include social balloting, as Twitter support for the 10 candidates over the last six hours of balloting will count toward their vote totals. From 10 a.m.-2 p.m. MT today, any tweet that includes a designated player hashtag will be tabulated as part of the official vote total used to determine the winners.
The winner of each league's Final Vote will be added to the roster for the All-Star Game presented by MasterCard on Tuesday at Petco Park in San Diego. Coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. MT.
:: Complete All-Star Game coverage ::
"I'm proud of it," Story said. "You grow up dreaming about maybe being an All-Star and I still have a chance. It's very humbling."
Fans can vote for the 2016 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote until 2 p.m. MT today. The winners, as chosen exclusively by online fan voting totals, will be announced during a Final Vote-themed telecast of "MLB Now" featuring commentary from political analyst Jeff Greenfield, live on MLB Network and MLB.com from 2-3 p.m. MT. MLB Network will provide extensive coverage across all of its studio programming during the Final Vote, including interviews with the candidates, frequent updates, heat maps indicating the cities where votes are being cast for each candidate, news on player and club campaigns and a running countdown clock leading up to the announcement.
Story, who put forth a late push in fan voting for the starting shortstop position but couldn't overcome the Cubs' Addison Russell, established himself as a candidate from the beginning. For example:
• On April 4 at Arizona, Story became the first NL player to hit two home runs in his MLB debut, as well as the first Major Leaguer to hit two homers when making his debut in an opener.
• He became the fifth player in Majors history to homer in the first four games of a season. He joined Willie Mays (1971), Mark McGwire (1998), Nelson Cruz (2011) and Chris Davis (2013).
• Story is the first player since 1900 whose first four career hits were homers.
• Story earned NL Rookie of the Month honors for April by hitting 10 home runs -- an NL record for rookie homers in a month and tied with Jose Abreu (2014) for the Majors mark.
Those numbers state the case nicely for him. Beyond that, Story is not planning a campaign.
"I'm too worried about playing baseball," Story said. "We've got people for that, for sure. I know I'm in good hands. We'll let them take a swing at it."
Baseball fans have cast nearly 600 million online votes for Final Vote candidates since the program's inception in 2002. In addition to MLB.com and the official club websites, fans can use their mobile devices to cast votes at MLB.com/vote or via text message. To receive the ballot, text the word "VOTE" to 89269. To vote for a specific player, fans can text their choice to 89269. EXAMPLE: Text "A3" to vote for AL Player 3 or "N3" to vote for NL Player 3. Message and data rates may apply. Text "STOP" to end and "HELP" for information. Mobile voting in Canada also is available and fans should text their choices to 101010.
Next Tuesday, watch the 2016 All-Star Game presented by MasterCard 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 2016 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote. The 87th All-Star Game, in San Diego, will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB.com, MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.