All-Star Ballot Update: Giancarlo Stanton in 3rd Among Outfielders

At this point in the season, there is no doubt that Giancarlo Stanton will make an appearance in Minneapolis for the League’s 85th All-Star Game this July. Until today, however, Stanton ranked fourth in voting for National League outfielders behind Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon, Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen, and Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun. As of this afternoon, Stanton’s 863,307 votes now put him third behind Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers (935,276) and Charlie Blackmon (883,186) for National League outfielders.

What’s more surprising is that Stanton was not among the top three outfielders the first time around. Closer Steve Cishek wasn’t the only one puzzled by how the voting originally turned out, stating that, “I think it’s kind of ridiculous. I think people that aren’t even Marlins fans, all they have to do is turn on SportsCenter and see a [home run] ball going 6,000 feet.” Stanton, however, could not care less about votes.

“I think it’s kind of ridiculous. I think people that aren’t even Marlins fans, all they have to do is turn on SportsCenter and see a ball going 6,000 feet.”

Batting a team best .313 on the year, Stanton leads the entire National League with 16 homers and leads the Marlins with 51 RBIs. Of the three outfielders that would start if voting ended today, Stanton’s home run and RBI total is second to none, and his batting average is bested only by Puig’s .340. It goes without saying that Stanton is the leader of this young club, who sit at second in the NL East at 29-28 on the young season, just 2.5 games out of first place.

It would be Stanton’s second All-Star selection if voting holds up, but only the first that the young right fielder would actually get to play in, as knee surgery sidelined him from the All-Star Game in 2012. With still another month to go until the All-Star Game, we hope that Marlins fans continue to vote for Stanton; however, we would all be surprised if the 24 year old right fielder wasn’t starting in Minneapolis on July 15th.