Ernie Clement is collecting All-Star votes as if they were hits in October. Clement, the Toronto Blue Jays second baseman, was the surprise leader among American Leaguers in the balloting update released by Major League Baseball on Monday.
Clement, who set a record for hits in a postseason with 30 last fall, is the only AL player with more than 2 million votes so far. The only National Leaguer with more votes, naturally, is Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with 2.3 million for the designated hitter spot.
Ohtani is a four-time Most Valuable Player, a six-time All-Star and a global sensation. Clement was waived and released before joining the Blue Jays three years ago, and wasn’t even on the All-Star ballot last summer.
Clement had 2,054,130 votes, about 80,000 more than the next-closest AL player, Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez. Through Sunday, Clement was hitting .292 with a .751 OPS and an AL-best 20 doubles. His closest AL challenger among second basemen, Ezequiel Duran of the Texas Rangers, has just 531,182 votes.
AL All-Star voting leaders
PositionPlayerTeamVotes
C
Athletics
1,414,697
1B
Blue Jays
1,458,461
2B
Blue Jays
2,054,130
3B
Rays
1,310,879
SS
Royals
1,701,407
OF
Yankees
1,788,499
OF
Angels
1,735,051
OF
Twins
1,106,264
DH
Astros
1,974,459
Here are a few more takeaways from the first phase of voting, which ends on Thursday at noon ET. After that, the ballot shrinks to the top two at each position (and top six in outfield), with the leading vote-getter in each league clinching a starting spot.
What’s up with that NL outfield?
It’s no secret that players like Juan Soto, James Wood and Corbin Carroll are really, really good. At least, we didn’t think so. All three outfielders are former All-Stars with an OPS over .900. Inexplicably, though, Andy Pages of the Los Angeles Dodgers still tops the voting, which makes you wonder if they’ve paid attention since early May. Pages was scorching early, with a .336 average and .945 OPS through May 6, when he smashed three homers in a game. In 40 games since, however, Pages is hitting .210 with a .686 OPS. Brandon Marsh of the host Philadelphia Phillies ranks second and the injured Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves ranks third, with Soto sixth, Wood seventh, Carroll 10th, and another guy even further back….
Please Consider Another
That’s something else PCA could stand for, as fans continue to ignore a player who started for the NL just last summer. Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs has been nearly unstoppable in June, hitting .437/.481/.930 with nine home runs and six stolen bases. Yet Crow-Armstrong continues to rank 14th among NL outfielders. Heck, even his former teammate, the extremely well-paid Kyle Tucker, has about 175,000 more votes despite an abysmal first half for the Dodgers.
NL All-Star voting leaders
PositionPlayerTeamVotes
C
Braves
1,755,768
1B
Dodgers
1,779,538
2B
Braves
972,537
3B
Dodgers
1,933,390
SS
Nationals
1,192,774
OF
Dodgers
1,518,451
OF
Phillies
1,256,874
OF
Braves
1,216,288
DH
Dodgers
2,310,735
Buxton making a move
Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins was the only newcomer among the leaders, passing Cody Bellinger of the New York Yankees for the No. 3 AL outfield spot. The top two in the AL outfield – the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout – are both on the injured list.
Witt keeping streak alive
It feels like Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. has been on the scene a long time, but this would be his first starting All-Star assignment. A victory by Witt, drafted second overall by the Royals in 2019, would mark the ninth election in a row with a different starting shortstop for the AL The others: Carlos Correa in 2017, Manny Machado in 2018, Jorge Polanco in 2019, Xander Bogaerts in 2021, Tim Anderson in 2022, Corey Seager in 2023, Gunnar Henderson in 2024 and Jacob Wilson in 2025.
Red Sox still an afterthought
First baseman Willson Contreras has the most votes among Red Sox players with 369,895, which ranks sixth at his position. Only one other team has a leading vote-getter with less support: the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies. Their catcher, Hunter Goodman, has 224,944 votes to rank fifth at his position.