The Diamondbacks announced Monday that they have teamed up with their fellow defending West Division champions, the Texas Rangers, as both teams seek to have their candidates added to the All-Star team via the MLB.com Final Vote. D-backs second baseman Aaron Hill and Rangers’ right-hander Yu Darvish are among five candidates in each league eligible to voted onto the All-Star team.
"We’re encouraging all our fans who are voting for Aaron to also cast a vote for Yu Darvish, and we hope the Rangers fans will do the same for Hill," said D-backs president and CEO Derrick Hall. "Aaron was so popular in Canada during his time with the Blue Jays, we’re also hopeful that our Canadian fans will vote for Darvish, while the great baseball fans in Japan will hopefully see how deserving Aaron is of their vote."
The D-backs are encouraging fans on Twitter to use the hashtags #FinHillVote and #VoteYu when tweeting. Fans can visit MLB.com/vote and vote as often as possible, as there is no limit on the number of votes each fan can cast. You can also text N4 to 89269 to cast a vote for Hill.
The FOX Sports Arizona Girls and FOX Sports Southwest Girls are also
getting in on the action by forming their own alliance to help get Hill
and Darvish to the All-Star Game, which will be held in Kansas City on July 10. Beginning Monday, FOX Sports Arizona's Mallory
and Danielle are asking their Twitter followers and Facebook fans to
vote for Hill and Darvish, while FOX Sports Southwest's Kaime and Liddy are asking their fans
to do the same.
Hill recently made national headlines after hitting for the cycle twice
in 12 days -- first on June 18 at home against the Mariners and then on
June 29 in Milwaukee against Brewers -- to become just the second player
in MLB history to do so twice in the same season. Babe Herman of the
Brooklyn Robins accomplished the feat on May 18 and July 24, 1931.
Among
NL second basemen, the 30-year-old Hill is tied for first with 11 home
runs, second with a .301 average, 84 hits and a .362 on-base percentage,
third with 38 RBIs and first with 33 extra-base hits and a .516
slugging percentage. He reached base safely in 21 straight games from
April 12-May 4, tied for the ninth-longest streak in the NL this season.
Defensively, Hill has only three errors this season, with his last
coming April 21, giving him 62 straight errorless games.
Balloting is under way now and concludes at 1 p.m. Arizona time on Thursday. The winners, as chosen exclusively by online fan voting totals, will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter.
