Two Nationals Remain in Mix in National League All-Star Voting

The MLB announced the updated National League All-Star voting ballots and two Washington Nationals are in the Top 10 at their positions — James Wood and CJ Abrams. 

Phase one of All-Star voting comes to a close at the end of the week. The top two at each position will move onto phase two to determine who the starter will be in the All-Star Game with the exception of outfielders. All positions in the outfield are voted on together, so six of them will advance to phase two. 

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Wood sits ninth overall among all outfielders. He has some ground to make up if he wants to move onto the next phase as he has totaled up 678,358 votes.

First place is owned by Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs. He is one of the few who have amassed over two million votes and is unlikely to be caught.

However Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks is in sixth place with 1,019,472 and that is who Wood must catch in order to get a spot. 

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Wood is only in his first full season in the Majors as his debut wasn’t until July this past season. This year he has posted a slash of .279/.376/.558 with 21 home runs, 57 RBIs, and 47 walks. 

On defense he has only seen left field and started in 65 games. The other 13 the Nats have played he was in at designated hitter. In his 565 innings in the outfield he’s totaled up 130 putouts, three assists, and one lone error. 

Abrams, a shortstop, is sitting eighth overall in votes at his position. He is unfortunately at a position that only advances two so it is unlikely he will advance with 131,515 votes.

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Fransisco Lindor who plays for the New York Mets has 1.64 million and the second-place Abrams would have to beat out is Mookie Betts, LA Dodgers, with 1.2 million. 

Abrams made his MLB debut in 2022 after being a first round pick in 2019 to the San Diego Padres. He spent part of his first season with them, but finished out the season with the Nationals and has been with them ever since. He is currently on track to have his best hitting season yet. 

As we approach the halfway mark on the season his current slash is .277/.352/.484 which brings his OPS to a total of .836. He’s totaled 26 RBIs, 20 walks, 11 home runs, 15 stolen bases, and 16 doubles in the 65 games he’s played. 

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