Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado. (Daniel Petty, The Denver Post)
Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, streaking through the second half of May at the plate, is the No. 5 vote-getter in the first round of National League All-Star team voting, released Wednesday by Major League Baseball.
Arenado’s 309,823 votes trailed leading third baseman Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals with 1,113,060 votes. The Cubs’ Kris Bryant is second, followed by the Reds’ Todd Frazier and the Mets’ David Wright.
“He’ll be in the All-Star Game. One way or the other,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said after . “That’s my campaign speech.”
Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is the only other Rockies player in the top 5 among vote totals, ranking third with 525,917 votes. He trails No. 1 Jhonny Peralta (595,741) of St. Louis and the Cubs’ Starlin Castro.
Arenado came into Wednesday with nine home runs, second most in the NL behind only Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier. They both homered in the first inning Wednesday at Great American Ball Park. Arenado ranks second in RBIs (28 before Wednesday) among NL third baseman, behind Cubs rookie Kris Bryant (31).
Second baseman DJ Lemahieu, left, and third baseman Nolan Arenado both won Gold Gloves in 2014 for the Rockies.
(Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post).
DJ LeMahieu, the Rockies’ fourth-year second baseman, has played the first two months at an all-star level, with a .331 batting average and 23 RBIs through Tuesday. He is not among the top five at his position. Miami’s Dee Gordon is No. 1 with 934,249 votes, followed by the Cardinals’ Kolten Wong, Dodgers’ Howie Kendrick, Reds’ Brandon Phillips, and Giants’ Joe Panik.
LeMahieu trails only Dee Gordon (.368) in NL batting average among second baseman, and only the Mets’ Daniel Murphy (24) in RBIs.
Both Arenado and LeMahieu won Gold Glove awards for their defense last season and seem on pace to do it again. Colorado left fielder Corey Dickerson is also receiving votes. He’s 10th among outfielders.
The 86th All-Star Game will be played July 14th in Cincinnati. Here
The first NL Balloting Update is in:
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR)
Tags: all-star, All-Star Game, Dee Gordon, DJ Lemahieu, Gold Glove Awards, Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, Todd Frazier
