{"id":743245,"date":"2026-06-17T18:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T18:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/743245\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T18:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T18:15:09","slug":"blue-jays-1b-vladimir-guerrero-jr-surprised-by-first-place-position-in-all-star-voting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/743245\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. \u2018surprised\u2019 by first-place position in All-Star voting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a> admits he didn\u2019t expect to see himself atop the All-Star Game voting at his position amidst the worst offensive season of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised that I\u2019m in first,\u201d Guerrero Jr. told The Athletic\u2019s Mitch Bannon.<\/a> \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of first basemen doing a better job than me. But I don\u2019t control the fans, I don\u2019t control the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

The starting lineups for the All-Star Game, taking place in Philadelphia on July 14, are determined by fan voting.<\/p>\n

Guerrero Jr. earned 603,014 votes in American League Phase 1 voting, nearly 100,000 more than New York Yankees<\/a> slugger Ben Rice<\/a> (509,830). <\/p>\n

A quick look at the stats shows who\u2019s having the far better season. <\/p>\n

In his third season in the Majors, the 27-year-old Rice is hitting .292 with 20 home runs, 49 RBIs and an incredible 1.007 OPS, which is second best in the MLB behind Houston Astros<\/a> designated hitter Yordan Alvarez<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Guerrero Jr., who\u2019s in the first season of a 14-year, $500 million contract, has put up disappointing numbers all season along, especially from a power perspective. <\/p>\n

The 27-year-old has hit just three home runs over 69 games and hasn\u2019t hit a home run at home this season. He also owns a .276 average with 27 RBIs and a career-low .726 OPS. <\/p>\n

Guerrero Jr.\u2019s strong voting numbers are likely due to a number of factors, including his popularity, his historic postseason run last October and the fact that he plays for Canada\u2019s lone baseball team, a nation with a population of 41.5 million. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf numbers aren\u2019t on the scoreboard, who are you paying to come watch?\u201d manager John Schneider told The Athletic.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys. So I think that plays into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guerrero Jr. is no stranger to the Midsummer Classic, earning a spot in the game in each of the previous five seasons. <\/p>\n

If the eight-year veteran retains his spot in the voting, Guerrero Jr. says he will still take part in the All-Star festivities despite his lack of production. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they vote for me, I gotta go,\u201d Guerrero Jr. said. \u201cIf I\u2019m voted first, I\u2019m going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Jays second baseman Ernie Clement<\/a> is leading the voting for second baseman with 904, 702 votes, well ahead of Texas Rangers<\/a> infielder Ezequiel Duran<\/a> with 287,996.<\/p>\n

Enter Wednesday\u2019s game against the Boston Red Sox<\/a> at Fenway Park, the Blue Jays hold a 35-38 record, one game behind the Athletics<\/a> for third and final Wild Card spot in the American League. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. admits he didn\u2019t expect to see himself atop the All-Star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[712,49,48,462,82,75156,104630],"class_list":["post-743245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-238","tag-vladimir-guerrero-jr-sports-baseball-player-player-statscom-920245"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}