Major League Baseball

Rocky Mountain high: Colorado dominating early NL All-Star voting

Published May. 28, 2014 4:57 p.m. ET

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The Dodgers have the payroll. The Giants have the rings. Yet it's a third National League West team dominating All-Star voting in the early going, according to figures released by MLB on Wednesday.

Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, at or near the top of virtually every offensive category in the NL, is thus far the leading vote-getter in the NL with 745,823 (second only to the 764,007 collected by the Angels' Mike Trout), and one of three Rockies leading at his position. Third baseman Nolan Arenado and outfielder Charlie Blackmon are the other two.

Tulowitzki, a three-time All-Star, entered Wednesday tops in all of baseball in batting average (.373), on-base percentage (.476), slugging (.711), OPS (1.187) and runs (45). His 14 home runs are second in the NL and his 37 RBI are third. Colorado began the day third in the NL West at 28-24, five games behind San Francisco and a half-game behind Los Angeles.

The Midsummer Classic will be played at Minnesota's Target Field on July 15 and will be televised live on FOX.

However, even if all three Rockies finish tops at their position, it does not mean all will actually start (or play) in the game. Arenado is currently on the disabled list with a broken finger suffered on a head-first slide into second base on Friday. FOX Sports MLB Insider Jon Paul Morosi reported Arenado could be out until close to the All-Star break.

Perhaps most surprising in the voting, however, is who is not currently in position to start the All-Star Game. Miami's Giancarlo Stanton, the guy leading Tulowitzki in homers (15) and RBI (49) is fourth in voting among outfielders. His 426,228 votes are more than 20,000 behind Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun for third. Reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates is second with 467,378. Blackmon has 549,394.

The only other NL batter with more RBI than Tulowitzki, the Dodgers' Yasiel Puig (with 38), is fifth among outfielders.

Los Angeles leads all of baseball with a payroll north of $238 million — nearly $150 million more than the $92 million the Rockies pay their players. That difference has so far bought the Dodgers a half-game over the Rockies in the standings, and two fewer leaders at the ballot box. LA's Adrian Gonzalez does lead all first basemen in votes.

As for the Giants, winners of two of the last four World Series and current owners of the best record in baseball, they currently have no players leading at their position, though catcher Buster Posey and shortstop Brandon Crawford are both second. Posey trails the lone leader from reigning NL champion St. Louis, catcher Yadier Molina, who is the only NL player beside Tulowitzki with more than 600,000 votes.

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 3. You can vote here.

MLB released the first totals for the American League on Tuesday.

Here are the top-two vote-getters at each position (1-4 in the outfield):

NATIONAL LEAGUE LEADING VOTE-GETTERS

Catcher

1. Yadier Molina, Cardinals: 640,464

2. Buster Posey, Giants: 421,100

First base

1. Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers: 349,762

2. Freddie Freeman, Braves: 308,961

Second base

1. Chase Utley, Phillies: 509,390