PSA Community Poll: 2022 AL All-Star Starters

Yesterday, Phase 2 of the 2022 MLB All-Star Game Ballot opened up, with the top two vote-getters at each position (five for outfielders) advancing to the run-off election that will close on Friday afternoon at 1:59 pm ET, with the results announced on ESPN five hours later. Unlike the first round, in which you could vote five times per day, fans are limited to just a single vote every 24 hours.

Before you head on over to the official ballot to cast your daily vote to help Jose Trevino and Giancarlo Stanton join Aaron Judge in the American League starting lineup, vote in our polls below and let us know who you think deserves a trip to Los Angeles later this month!

All stats are prior to the start of play on Tuesday, July 5th, and polls will remain open until 6:30 pm ET on Friday.

First Base

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looks to be the first AL first baseman to start back-to-back All-Star Games since 2022 Hall of Fame honoree David Ortiz did so back in 2006 and 2007. Both games took place in National League ballparks prior to the introduction of the universal DH in the All-Star Game.

Although Vladdy ran away with the competition last year, in truth he ought to be the underdog in 2022, as Seattle’s Ty France edges him out in every major offensive category except home runs and slugging percentage. The downside is that France has been out since June 23rd with an elbow injury, so while he could return to action soon, he has played in 10 fewer games than Guerrero.

France is looking for his first All-Star selection, while Guerrero is looking for his second.

Second Base

This is probably the hardest selection for Yankees fans to make, and it’s not because the performances of the two options are at all comparable. By every single metric, Jose Altuve deserves to make his fifth All-Star start in seven seasons (and eighth selection overall). The only full-time second baseman whose stat line comes even close to him is Andrés Giménez of the Cleveland Guardians, who found himself on the outside looking in despite tremendous results. Santiago Espinal has certainly been solid, but he’s undoubtedly benefitted in the polls from a large push among Toronto Blue Jays fans.

And so, the question here isn’t, “Who deserves the spot?” but “Will Yankees fans pinch their noses and vote for the hated-but-deserving player over the undeserving one?”

Third Base

Just how close is the race for the top third baseman in the league? At time of writing, Rafael Devers leads AL hitters with 4.1 fWAR, while José Ramírez ranks third with 3.9 fWAR; only Aaron Judge’s 4.0 fWAR prevents them from being 1-2 in the polls. They will likely end up ranking among the superstar’s top contenders for AL MVP once all is said and done.

Will Devers make his second-straight start at the hot corner? Or will Ramírez start the All-Star Game for the first time since back-to-back starts in 2017-18? Whichever side of the fence you fall on, it’s hard to complain if the other guy gets the nod.

Shortstop

I absolutely love that the fans vote on the starting lineup for the All-Star Game, but sometimes, the fans get it wrong. And boy, did they get it wrong at shortstop this year, with the obvious choice, Xander Bogaerts (.318/.391/.456, 6 HR, 140 wRC+, 3.3 fWAR), finishing 2,597 votes behind Tim Anderson for second place and failing to survive the first round. It’s a testament to Anderson’s popularity among MLB fans writ large because if Bogaerts had even remotely approached the vote total of his teammate, Devers, he would’ve made it. Because of this obvious omission, shortstop will continue to be a revolving door for the AL, with no back-to-back since Derek Jeter started five straight from 2006-10.

Anderson has been one of the few bright spots in a White Sox lineup that has underperformed expectations so far this year, while Bo Bichette has been slowly but surely dragging himself out a hole he dug for himself early in the season. He had almost all of Canada behind him in Phase 1 of voting though, as he was one of six AL players to garner over two million votes.

Outfield

Editor’s note: For the purposes of this poll and to keep the format consistent, we are taking it for granted that on a site geared toward Yankees fans, the vast majority of respondents would pick Giancarlo Stanton with one of their two votes. So pick among the remaining three options for the last spot!

With Aaron Judge receiving an automatic starting nod because he had the most votes among all players in the American League, the AL currently has four outfielders fighting for two spots in the starting lineup. As it seems to be every year, this is a difficult choice, as the AL has a ton of outfield depth — so much depth, in fact, that there is a good chance that the players who lose this vote won’t even make the team, as players like Julio Rodríguez of Seattle, Byron Buxton of Minnesota, and Andrew Benintendi of Kansas City have strong candidacies, among others.

In the midst of his 12th season, Mike Trout has already nine All-Star appearances, and has in fact only missed the All-Star Game during his cup of coffee season (2011) and during the COVID-shortened season — in which the game wasn’t even played. The odds feel high that as long as healthy, he will start. But who else will be there? Will it be the Yankees OF/DH Giancarlo Stanton, who made four All-Star appearances with the Marlins but has yet to do so with the Yankees? Will Toronto rally behind George Springer and/or Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and send one of them to LA? Only time will tell.

Catcher

What do the fans value when it comes to catchers? If it’s offense, then Alejandro Kirk will get the nod easily, as his performance with the bat has been so good that he’s actually been Toronto’s most common designated hitter this season as he continues to cede playing time to top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno. But if it’s defense, however, Jose Trevino wins by a long shot, because he’s been the best defensive catcher in baseball this season. His 14 Defensive Runs Saved are twice that of the second-place Kirk, and his 7 Framing Runs and 54.3 strike percentage lead all of baseball.

Designated Hitter

Yordan Alvarez has put together an incredible year at the plate and remains one of the best pure hitters in the game, a surefire All-Star. But whether or not he’s in the starting lineup depends entirely on how the fans view defending MVP Shohei Ohtani. We’ve only included his hitting numbers in the poll, but it’s not like people can just forget that he’s a maestro on the mound as well. Is the two-way superstar a designated hitter who pitches, or a pitcher who is the DH when he’s not dazzling opposing batters? Ohtani’s performance at the plate is nowhere close to Álvarez’s, but once again, he’s doing things that nobody has ever done.