Brewers' Yelich, Moustakas rank second in NL All-Star ballot
Milwaukee Brewers sluggers Christian Yelich and Mike Moustakas rank second on this year’s National League All-Star ballot at their positions, the MLB revealed Tuesday.
Yelich has 1,057,855 votes. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (1,189,380) has more among outfielders.
There have been 377,983 votes for Moustakas, who trails Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies (424,467).
As of now, the two players are set to compete for a starting spot in the All-Star Game under MLB’s new voting format, which is debuting this year. Once the main voting campaign closes June 21, the top three vote-getters at each position (top nine for outfielders) will battle in a one-day poll dubbed the “Starters Election” to determine the starter at each position.
The results are hard to argue with. Yelich leads the big leagues in homers (24) and slugging percentage (.745). He also leads the NL in stolen bases (14) and on-base percentage (.446) and ranks second in batting average (.340).
Moustakas is one of four NL players with 20+ homers. He also leads all NL second basemen with 43 RBI.
Not far outside of the top three at catcher is Yasmani Grandal. Grandal slots in at fifth with 195,922 votes, behind Chicago Cubs’ Wilson Contreras, Atlanta’s Brian McCann, Philadelphia’s Realmuto and St. Louis’ Yadier Molina.
Two other Brewers players rank in the top 10 at their positions: shortstop Orlando Arcia (eighth) and first baseman Jesus Aguilar (ninth). Outfielder Lorenzo Cain ranks 17th with 120,140 votes.
Milwaukee sent five players to the All-Star Game last season, the most in franchise history: Yelich, Aguilar, Cain and relievers Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress.
The All-Star Game will be held July 9 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
