The Tigers are potentially just days away from putting three players in the All-Star starting lineup for the first time in 18 years. But they need your votes, again. While Gleyber Torres ran away with the first phase of voting at second base, Riley Greene and Javier Báez finished second and third among AL outfielders, earning half the spots in the next round of voting for the final two spots behind leading vote-getter Aaron Judge. If voting trends continue, all three have a strong chance to get in. But there’s a final round of voting to determine the starters, and the vote totals don’t carry over. For those who haven’t followed the All-Star balloting process in a few years -- after all, this is the Tigers’ best group of All-Star candidates in a while -- the voting process is divided into two phases. The first phase, which wrapped up Thursday, determines the finalists at each position. The finalists then move on to the second phase of voting, which runs from noon ET Monday to noon Wednesday at MLB.com, Tigers.com and the MLB app. The ballot gets whittled, and fans determine which finalist at each position has the best case to start. • All you need to know about the 2025 All-Star Game All three Tigers finalists have a good argument to make the Midsummer Classic in Atlanta a Tigers party. |
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Torres led voting at second base throughout the first phase, topping Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday by nearly 680,000 votes, and his case only gets stronger. With his eighth home run of the season in Thursday’s 8-0 win over the Athletics, he raised his OPS to .816, highest in the Majors among qualified second basemen and 95 points above Holliday. No other qualified regular at the position has an .800 OPS. His .281 average leads all AL second basemen, and his 2.0 fWAR easily leads his position among American Leaguers. He is a major reason why the Tigers have grown from last year’s comeback to one of the best records in the Majors. “He’s doing things at a really high level,” manager A.J. Hinch said Thursday. Torres was an All-Star reserve in 2018 and ’19, his first two Major League seasons. But winning this vote would mean much more, beyond the starting spot. Torres was a young Yankees phenom in his previous trips. His case this year comes after signing with Detroit as a free agent, looking to prove himself again on a one-year contract. Earning the nod at second base at Truist Park on July 15 would be his best proof yet that he was right to believe in himself. Torres would be just the third Tigers second baseman to be voted to start, joining Placido Polanco (2007) and Lou Whitaker (1984-86). |
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Like Torres, Greene would be the first Tigers outfielder to be voted into the All-Star lineup since 2007, when Magglio Ordoñez earned a spot on his way to an AL batting title and MVP runner-up. With Judge automatically earning a starting spot as the league’s leading vote-getter, Greene enters the final phase of voting in the strongest position for one of the two other outfield spots, both in voting and performance. Not only does Greene rank in the top 10 in bWAR among AL position players, he’s in the top five among AL hitters in several categories, including home runs, doubles, total bases and OPS. Not only does the 24-year-old have the season totals to make his case, he has the momentum of a hitting tear. Though he went hitless Thursday, ending a 15-game streak of reaching base safely, he’s still batting 24-for-62 (.387) with 11 extra-base hits and 19 RBIs over his last 16 games, and .368 with 21 RBIs and a 1.026 OPS for June. |
Báez made a late charge in votes to pass 11-time All-Star Mike Trout and defending All-Star Steven Kwan in votes despite spending most of June starting at shortstop following Parker Meadows’ return from the injured list. The voting reflects fan appreciation for Báez’s comeback season, and his unselfishness to move to center field on the fly in Spring Training after Meadows and Matt Vierling were injured. Trout and Kwan join Greene and Báez as outfield finalists. If Báez gets the nod, it will mark his third All-Star start at three different positions. He started for the National League All-Stars at second base in 2018 and shortstop in ’19. If he and Greene both win the vote, they’d become the first duo of Tigers outfielders to be voted to start an All-Star Game since Ron LeFlore and Rusty Staub in 1976. |
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• What about Tarik Skubal, you ask? All-Star fan voting doesn’t include pitchers -- players vote for that -- but Skubal looks assured of a second consecutive selection to the roster. The question will be whether he gets the nod to start the game. Last year, AL All-Star manager Bruce Bochy selected then-Oriole Corbin Burnes to start over Skubal, who pitched the second inning instead. This year, AL All-Star manager Aaron Boone will likely have a deep group of candidates from which to decide. • Zach McKinstry came within about 76,000 votes of passing Alex Bregman for the second finalist spot at third base. Imagine if someone had predicted that in mid-February after Bregman opted to sign with the Red Sox over the Tigers in free agency. If there was a superutility spot on the roster, McKinstry would be an ideal fit. • Dillon Dingler finished third among catchers with 955,968 votes, about 255,000 votes behind Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk for the second finalist spot behind Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh. • Colt Keith finished fourth at DH, but came within 39,000 votes of Ben Rice for second and a spot in the final phase alongside Orioles slugger Ryan O’Hearn. • Spencer Torkelson finished fourth among AL first basemen with 1,196,578 votes, less than 392,000 votes shy of New York’s Paul Goldschmidt for second behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. • Kerry Carpenter finished seventh among AL outfielders, about 218,000 behind Kwan for the last spot in the final round. |
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