AL All-Star Balloting Lacks Tigers

Major League Baseball unveiled the first on what will be weekly updates on the all-star balloting today. Toronto’s Jose Bautista leads all vote getters with over 1.2 million votes, but as one might expect, there is a distinct Yanks/Sawks feel to the rest of the potential squad.

All told, six Yankees are currently in position to start the mid-summer classic, and Red Sox follow them at three spots. There are some surprises here, but nothing you can’t chalk up to typical fan voting.

Derek Jeter leads the shortstop vote by about 260,000 votes over Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera, who is having a dynamite campaign. Despite playing in only a handful of games each, Texas’ Josh Hamilton is on pace to start in the outfield and Minnesota’s Joe Mauer is running second to New York’s Russell Martin at catcher.

Looking for Tigers on this list? It won’t take you long to find them. Alex Avila is ranked third in catcher votes, some 436,000 behind Martin, and Miguel Cabrera ranks third at first base, coming in with a deficit of 170,000 to Mark Teixeira.

That’s it. Really. The update gives the top-five vote getters at each infield position plus DH, then lists about 20 outfielders. You won’t find Victor Martinez or Jhonny Peralta on this list anywhere, despite all-star type performances from both.

The Tigers don’t typically get the votes the big boys out East do, so this isn’t really all that shocking. I would have liked to see guys like Avila, Martinez, and Peralta be getting a bit more respect from the national voters than they have so far, but this is what happens when every national baseball broadcast is contractually obligated to show a Yanks game or a Red Sox game, preferably against each other. Whether the folks at Fox or ESPN want to admit it, baseball is played elsewhere too; they have uniforms and everything, it’s great.

Here’s hoping that Ron Washington and his staff will recognize the strong seasons being put forth by our guys, ’cause the voters sure haven’t noticed.

Like what you see here and want to stay informed of the happenings at MCB? Make sure to follow me on twitter, like us on facebook, or grab our RSS feed.