ARLINGTON – Ezequiel Duran is getting legitimate support in All-Star balloting but is still in a fight to merely advance past the first phase.
Duran, with 287,986 votes in the first update supplied by Major League Baseball on Monday, is second among AL second basemen to Toronto’s Ernie Clement by a huge margin, but is the leading vote-getter among all the Rangers on the ballot.
And vote totals don’t mean that much in the first round; it’s more about finishing in the top two spots. The top two finishers when this phase ends at 11 a.m. Thursday will advance to Phase 2. All votes will reset for Phase 2 voting. That’s good news for Duran, who currently trails Clement by more than 600,000 votes. Duran has a slim 8,000 vote lead on Cleveland rookie Travis Bazzana for the No. 2 spot.
Entering Monday, Duran had a 1.9 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference, the highest of the three contenders. He also led in OPS+ at 121.
Duran is the only Ranger with a realistic chance to advance to Phase 2. Josh Jung (fourth among third baseman), Joc Pederson (fifth among DHs) and Corey Seager (seventh among shortstops) are the only others among the top 10 at their respective positions. And each of them trailed the No. 2 vote-getter at their respective positions by at least 200,000 votes.
The fan voting for the All-Star Game only has an impact on All-Star starting position players. The player vote will determine reserves and the bulk of the pitching staff. Jacob Latz and Jacob deGrom both factor in as pitching candidates.