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David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior Writer
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies lead the initial results in Phase 1 of fan voting for the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.
Judge, who leads the majors in home runs (26), RBIs (64), slugging percentage (.686), walks (57), total bases (181) and OPS (1.110), tops all players with 1,366,315 votes. Harper leads the National League with 1,110,562 votes.
Phase I of the voting runs through June 27, with the top vote-getter from each league earning a starting spot in the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas. In Phase 2, the top two vote-getters at the other positions, and the top six outfielders, advance to determine the remaining starters.
Judge is on target for another historic season. With 26 home runs in the Yankees’ first 74 games, he’s on pace for 57 home runs — and this after a slow start when he hit just .207 with six home runs in April. His OPS+ of 210 matches his final figure from his 62-homer season in 2022. The last player with at least two seasons with an OPS+ over 200 was Barry Bonds and only eight players in American or National League history have had at least two such seasons.
Harper is hitting .280 with 15 home runs and 46 RBIs. It would be his first All-Star start since 2018, his final season with the Washington Nationals. He was voted in as the starter at DH in 2022 but missed the game with an injury.
The closest race is at National League second base, where Luis Arraez of the San Diego Padres leads Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks by just over 4,000 votes.
The surprise leader: Jurickson Profar of the Padres leads all NL outfielders. Now in his 11th season, Profar has never been an All-Star and struggled last season with the Rockies and Padres.
He signed a one-year, $1 million contract to return to San Diego and leads the NL with a .422 OBP. The most anticipated race was at American League shortstop, with Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals both having MVP-caliber seasons. Henderson, however, leads Witt by nearly 200,000 votes thanks to his 22 home runs.
American League leaders:
C – Adley Rutschman, Orioles
1B – Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
2B – Jose Altuve, Astros
3B – Jose Ramirez, Guardians
SS – Henderson, Orioles
OF – Judge, Yankees; Juan Soto, Yankees; Kyle Tucker, Astros
DH – Yordan Alvarez, Astros
National League leaders
C – William Contreras, Brewers
1B – Harper, Phillies
2B – Arraez, Padres
3B – Alec Bohm, Phillies
SS – Mookie Betts, Dodgers
OF – Profar, Padres; Christian Yelich, Brewers; Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
DH – Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers