Aaron Judge advances to Phase 2 of MLB All-Star voting

Phase 1 of voting for the 2023 MLB All-Star Game came to a close this morning at 12pm ET. The league has tallied the results to determine who will advance to Phase 2, and as expected, Yankees captain Aaron Judge is moving on.

The toe injury hasn’t stopped Judge from leading all American League outfielders in voting. This isn’t just a José Canseco/Mike Schmidt popularity push, either. In just 49 games, the 2022 AL MVP has hit .291/.404/.674 with 19 homers (second-most in the Junior Circuit) and remains in a virtual tie with the Rays’ Randy Arozarena atop the FanGraphs WAR leaderboard for AL outfielders. He deserves to be named one of the starters in the All-Star Game, even if it seems rather unlikely that his toe would permit him to actually make the lineup.

Under MLB’s All-Star rules, Judge will joined among AL outfielders in Phase 2 by Arozarena, the Angels’ Mike Trout, the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez, the Blue Jays’ Kevin Kiermaier, and the Rangers’ Adolis García. Voting will begin on Monday, June 26th at 12pm ET and end on Thursday, June 29th at 12pm ET. Judge had a chance to advance to the All-Star Game outright and skip Phase 2 as the AL’s overall leader in Phase 1 (as he did last year), but Angels DH/pitcher Shohei Ohtani beat him out with over 2.6 million votes. Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. earned that honor in the National League for the second year in a row.

In news that is unlikely to take anyone by surprise, Judge will be the only Yankees player in Phase 2 of the voting. The offense has struggled without him in the lineup for a reason, and none of New York’s nominees at the other eight positions really came close. First baseman Anthony Rizzo was technically in the mix on the strength of his red-hot April and May, but a significant June slump put him in a distant third place at the position to Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz.

Judge still might end up being joined at the All-Star Game in Seattle by Rizzo in the reserves and the likes of Gerrit Cole or Michael King among the pitching staff (named by the league and players). But for Phase 2, he’ll stand alone.