With about a month left until the 2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Bryce Harper leads all MLB players with 1,459, 235 votes. Teammate, Daniel Murphy, is the only other player that has surpassed one million votes up to this point as he leads the vote tally for second base.
Ryan Zimmerman, the third National leading at a position, currently holds a lead at first base over Chicago Cub Anthony Rizzo. A year after where the Cubs had four of the infield spots taken, they at least one player cracking the starting lineup with Kris Bryant at third base.
The rest of the infield would hold Los Angeles Dodger, Corey Seager, at shortstop, with NL West rival San Francisco Giant, Buster Posey, behind the plate. Fellow Cub, Jason Heyward, and Colorado Rockie, Charlie Blackmon, round out the outfield Positions with Harper as Blackmon, who is looking to make his first All-Star game, is nearing one million votes.
Russell Could Still Crack Top Two
Despite facing allegations of domestic violence and adultery, the 23-year old shortstop who had 101 runs batted in last year is currently in third place with 537,688 votes. He is facing a 10,000 vote gap behind second place vote getter Zack Cozart of the Cincinnati Reds. With under a month left to vote, Russell still has a chance to make the top two.
In year's past, the top two vote-getters at each position typically make the All-Star game.
Russell has been hitting a low .200 average, but Russell was part of back-to-back home runs that helped the Cubs beat the Rockies Sunday afternoon. If Russell could go on a hot streak, he could surpass Cozart given the Cubs strong fan base.
Mark Reynold Getting Snubbed
Reynolds is not receiving a lot of respect in the MLB community. The power-hitting first baseman is hitting .314 for the season with 17 home runs and 54 runs batted in, but he doesn't even crack the top five first baseman for fan voting. Zimmerman, Rizzo, Freddie Freeman (Braves), Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks), and Matt Carpenter (Cardinals) all surpass him.
Cubs Making Noise Despite .500 Team Play
The defending World Series Champions may just be 31-31, but they are rocking the polls thanks to their strong fan base. As of now, the Cubs have three players holding down the second most votes, while the Cubs have their starting outfield in the top six.
Catcher, Wilson Contreras, second baseman, Javy Baez, and first baseman, Rizzo, are all in second place for their respective positions, while Heyward, Ben Zobrist, and Kyle Schwarber hold the number three, four, and six positions in the polls.
