The MLB has made changes to All-Star voting this season as fans will now vote on the finalists in each league which consists of the top three vote-getters at each position from the primary phase (nine outfielders).

Voting for the finalists will begin on Wednesday, and the top vote-getter at each position (top-three outfielders) will be named an All-Star starter. The announcement of the starters will be on June 27, according to Yahoo.

After previously taking a look at the American League, let's move on and rank the National League finalists in order of most-deserving to least-deserving to be a starter.

All stats listed are from games played through Monday, June 24.

Catcher

  • 1. Willson Contreras - Chicago Cubs
  • 2. Yasmani Grandal - Milwaukee Brewers
  • 3. Brian McCann - Atlanta Braves

It's close between the top two, but Contreras has hit as he is expected to after a down 2018 season at the plate. His .934 OPS and 15 homers are superb for a catcher, and he has also been well above-average throwing out 37 percent of base stealers.

Grandal is right there with Contreras though, and it can be argued he should be ahead. His numbers are similar (17 home runs, .927 OPS). McCann splits time at catcher for Atlanta with Tyler Flowers and sees much less action than the first two.

First base

  • 1. Freddie Freeman - Atlanta Braves
  • 2. Josh Bell - Pittsburgh Pirates
  • 3. Anthony Rizzo - Cubs

It has been an outstanding season for Freeman.

He leads the NL with 97 hits, has 21 homers (on pace to beat his career-high of 34), and a stellar 1.003 OPS.

Bell is neck-and-neck with Freeman at the plate (leads the NL with 28 doubles and 66 RBIs), but he isn’t as smooth in the field. While Rizzo is having a borderline All-Star caliber season, he isn’t performing quite at the level as the first two.

Second baseman

  • 1. Ketel Marte - Arizona Diamondbacks
  • 2. Mike Moustakas - Milwaukee Brewers
  • 3. Ozzie Albies - Atlanta Braves

Marte has offered excellent positional versatility for Arizona (has actually played more innings in centerfield than second base while also spending time at shortstop), and he has been arguably this season’s biggest power surprise.

Entering the year with 22 career home runs in 1,399 at-bats, he already has 20 this season in 311 at-bats while also being tied for the league-lead with 97 hits.

Moustakas has performed well at second, a position he had never played in the majors before, and he has also hit 22 long balls. Albies is having an outstanding June, but he fell too far behind the other two prior to that.

Shortstop

  • 1. Javier Baez - Chicago Cubs
  • 2. Trevor Story - Colorado Rockies
  • 3. Dansby Swanson - Atlanta Braves

The runner-up for NL MVP last season, Baez continues to rake despite still having minimal plate discipline. His .287 batting average and .879 OPS this season are very much similar to the numbers he posted in 2018.

The story is just behind, largely because a thumb sprain currently has him on the IL, as he leads the NL with 65 runs. While Swanson has shown mild improvement from a very disappointing 2018 season, he’s still currently in another class than the first two.

Third

  • 1. Nolan Arenado - Colorado Rockies
  • 2. Kris Bryant - Chicago Cubs
  • 3. Josh Donaldson - Atlanta Braves

After four straight seasons of winning Gold Gloves and finishing in the top-eight of NL MVP voting, Arenado currently owns career-bests across the board in batting average (.326), on-base percentage (.390), and slugging percentage (.587).

Bryant has rebounded nicely this year from what was a down season in 2018. Donaldson has been hot of late but was far behind the other two until recently.

Outfield

  • 1. Christian Yelich - Milwaukee Brewers
  • 2. Cody Bellinger - Los Angeles Dodgers
  • 3. Ronald Acuna Jr. - Atlanta Braves
  • 4. Charlie Blackmon - Colorado Rockies
  • 5. Joc Pederson - Los Angeles Dodgers
  • 6. Nick Markakis - Atlanta Braves
  • 7. Kyle Schwarber - Chicago Cubs
  • 8. Jason Heyward - Chicago Cubs
  • 9. Albert Almora Jr. - Chicago Cubs

Fresh off winning the 2018 NL MVP, Yelich’s season this year can simply be described as out of this world. He is leading the majors with 29 home runs, a .744 slugging percentage, and a 1.179 OPS. He also leads the NL with 17 steals. Fox Sports mentions how Yelich is going for the record of most consecutive home series with a home run as he currently has hit one in 14 straight, two shy of tying the MLB record set by Aaron Judge.

The top two are really interchangeable due to the insane numbers Bellinger is also posting. The 2017 NL MVP leads the majors in batting average (.353) and the NL in on-base percentage (.450) while mashing 25 homers.

The last starting NL outfield spot goes to Acuna, the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year. There has been no sophomore slump for the 21-year-old as he has a nice stat line featuring a .289 batting average, 18 homers, and ten stolen bases.

Blackmon already has 42 extra-base hits on the year (18 doubles, six triples, 18 homers and is hitting .330.

Pederson has once again been a low-average, high-power hitter batting .232 with 20 round trippers.

An All-Star for the first time in 2018, Markakis is a high-on-base-percentage, low-power hitter who has just as many walks as strikeouts (38 apiece).

Repeat what was said for Pederson for Schwarber, except the latter hasn't hit quite as many homers (16 compared to Pederson's 20).

While his 11 home runs are actually tied for as many as he hit in any of the previous three seasons, Hayward isn't quite the elite right fielder he had been in the past.

It's hard to see how Almora Jr. belongs here as evidenced by his sub-.300 on-base percentage (.286).
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