MILWAUKEE — For four straight seasons, no National League outfielder received as many All-Star votes as Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun. And in 2011, no National League player, regardless of position, was voted for more times than Braun.
But with early voting numbers out Tuesday in anticipation of July's All-Star Game, despite nearly identical numbers to last year’s NL MVP season, Braun is third in voting among outfielders with 1,112,971 votes. That number trails No. 1 NL vote-getter Matt Kemp’s total of 1,952,910 votes.
Braun does, however, rank fourth among all players in votes on the NL side. He’s also the only Brewer to ever start four consecutive All-Star Games.
Braun is far from the only Brewer to receive a significant amount of votes. Rickie Weeks (fourth-most for second basemen), Aramis Ramirez (fifth-most for third basemen), Alex Gonzalez (fifth-most for shortstops), Jonathan Lucroy (fifth-most for catchers) and Corey Hart (12th-most for outfielders) all are among the leaders. With Gonzalez out for the season with a torn ACL and Lucroy out for four to six weeks with a broken hand, neither would be likely to play in the All-Star Game, even if they were voted in.
Voting remains open until Thursday, June 28 at 10:59 CT.
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