The MLB made some changes to All-Star voting this season. The primary phase is now complete. The finalists have now been revealed with the top-three at each position (top-nine outfielders) vying to earn a spot as a starter in the All-Star Game.

Voting will resume Wednesday with the slate cleaned. The top vote-getter at each position (top-three outfielders) will be named starters which will be announced on June 27 according to Yahoo.

Let's take a look at the American League finalists first by ranking them in order of most-deserving to least-deserving to win the vote.

Of course, these are subjective rankings, but some shouldn't be argued (there is no way Aaron Judge should be a starter after he missed two months of the season).

Catcher

  • 1. Gary Sanchez - New York Yankees
  • 2. James McCann - Chicago White Sox
  • 3. Robinson Chirinos - Houston Astros

in what has been an outstanding bounce-back season after his 2018 struggles, Sanchez is tied with his now-teammate Edwin Encarnacion for the AL lead with 23 home runs.

McCann and Chirinos are close to a toss-up, but McCann gets the slight nod for second due to the large advantage in batting average (.324 for McCann compared to .234 for Chirinos).

First base

Back to Cleveland after one season with the Phillies, Santana currently owns career-bests in batting average (.293), on-base percentage (.416), and slugging percentage (.541).

Cron and Voit are very close in offensive value, but Cron is listed second due to more defensive versatility at first base.

Second basemen

  • 1. D.J. LeMahieu - New York Yankees
  • 2. Tommy LaStella - Los Angeles Angels
  • 3. Jose Altuve - Houston Astros

Winner of the NL Gold Glove each of the last two seasons, LeMahieu remains stellar in the field (both at second and third) while proving he could hit away from Colorado (.322 batting average, 10 homers, 51 RBIs).

La Stella has a batting average almost at .300 along with 15 homers, numbers that could potentially help him be an All-Star reserve. Altuve has missed 35 games this season while seeing a large decrease in his batting average.

Shortstop

  • 1. Jorge Polanco - Minnesota Twins
  • 2. Gleyber Torres - New York Yankees
  • 3. Carlos Correa - Houston Astros

One of the league’s biggest surprises in the first half, Polanco leads the AL in batting average (.326) hits (96) and has 38 extra-base hits.

Torres and Correa are fairly close in the value they have provided, but Torres gets the edge because Correa is on the IL with a fractured rib.

Third

  • 1. Alex Bergman - Houston Astros
  • 2. Hunter Dozier - Kansas City Royals
  • 3. Gio Urshela - New York Yankees

Finishing fifth in AL MVP voting last year, Bergman has continued his excellent play this season. He has walked more times than he has stuck out while hitting 21 long balls.

Dozier and Urshela have both been pleasant surprises for their team. Urshela has received regular playing time only because of an injury-ravaged Yankees team, but Dozier is ahead due to more plate discipline and showing more pop in his bat.

Outfield

  • 1. Mike Trout - Los Angeles Angels
  • 2. Mookie Betts - Boston Red Sox
  • 3. Eddie Rosario - Minnesota Twins
  • 4. Michael Brantley - Houston Astros
  • 5. Joey Gallo - Texas Rangers
  • 6. Eddie Rosario - Minnesota Twins
  • 7. Austin Meadows - Tampa Bay Rays
  • 8. Josh Reddick - Houston Astros
  • 9. Aaron Judge - New York Yankees

Trout is proving himself once again to be the best player in baseball and looks to be the favorite so far to win his third AL MVP.

He is the league-leader in a bevy of categories including runs (62), walks (68), on-base percentage (.466), and slugging percentage (.642). ESPN recently had an article discussing whether he or peak-Albert Pujols was the better player.

While Betts' numbers have dipped from his 2018 AL MVP season, he still is an excellent defensive right fielder (could win a Gold Glove for the fourth straight season), has more walks than strikeouts, and is one behind Mike Trout for the league-lead in runs.

While a hamstring strain has kept Springer out of action since May 24, he is expected back Tuesday and was off to such an incredible start, he still deserves a starting outfield spot. His .308 average, 1.032 OPS, and 17 homers in just 185 at-bats had him alongside Trout as an early AL MVP favorite prior to the injury.

Brantley has proven to be an excellent signing by the Astros as evidenced by his batting average of .322, but he just doesn't supply the power numbers that the three ahead of him can.

While Gallo is currently on the IL, his .276 batting average is leaps and bounds ahead of his career mark of .203 entering this season.

Rosario has 19 home runs, but he falls to the bottom portion of these outfielders due to his lack of plate discipline (.300 OBP).

Meadows has been superb in his first full season with Tampa Bay, but he missed about three weeks on the season from late April to early May.

One of three Houston outfielders to make the final vote, Reddick is hitting nearly .300 but doesn't supply the power or on-base skills that most of the names above him do.

The least deserving is Judge, as he has only appeared in 23 games after missing two months with an oblique strain.

Designated hitter

  • 1. JD Martinez - Boston Red Sox
  • 2. Nelson Cruz - Minnesota Twins
  • 3. Hunter Pence - Texas Rangers

While Martinez isn’t quite feasting on opposing pitching as he did in 2018 when he threatened to win a Triple Crown, he still is hitting a solid .288 with 16 homers.

While the other two have also been productive (Pence for the first time in years), injuries have forced them to miss time, thus putting them behind Martinez.
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