OC Register: Tommy La Stella, Mike Trout lead All-Star voting as first results are released

[AngelsWin.com]

Tommy La Stella, who has surprisingly been one of the Angels best offensive performers this year, has joined perennial All-Star Mike Trout among the leaders in the All-Star voting.

The first results were released on Monday morning.

La Stella leads the voting among American League second basemen, with 487,598 votes, ahead of the Houston Astros’ José Altuve (448,131).

Trout, an All-Star in each of his seven full seasons, leads all vote-getters with 951,002 votes.

This is the first year of a new election process. “Primary” voting continues through June 21, then the top three candidates at each spot will compete again in a final election over 28 hours starting June 28.

La Stella has never been an All-Star. Acquired from the Chicago Cubs for a minor leaguer in November, La Stella is hitting .315 with 15 homers. He is one homer by behind Trout, who leads the Angels.

Shohei Ohtani is fourth among the candidates at AL designated hitter.

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[John Taylor]

Angels players (aside from Trout) historically do pretty poor in AS ballot voting. I wonder if La Stella is getting a Wrigleyville bump. Either way he deserves it.

[Troll Daddy]

https://www.mlb.com/news/all-star-ballot-voting-guide

[failos]

That's actually really impressive. He was always a popular guy in Chicago, so I'm sure that helped.

[Claude]

Now if Shohei participates in the Home Run Derby that would be special.  

[rageous]

It would be robbery if Altuve beat out La Stella.

 

[Jay]

Hope Stella makes it.

 

[Claude]

17 minutes ago, rageous said:

It would be robbery if Altuve beat out La Stella.

 

It would mean a very poor voter turnout if that happens. All Star voting is an equal opportunity for every fanbase and no team has any distinct advantage over another. 

[Taylor]

21 minutes ago, Calzone 2 said:

It would mean a very poor voter turnout if that happens. All Star voting is an equal opportunity for every fanbase and no team has any distinct advantage over another. 

 

Uh, what? Are you saying every team has an equal amount of fans?

[Claude]

2 minutes ago, Taylor said:

 

Uh, what? Are you saying every team has an equal amount of fans?

Yes. I see 10,000 Angels fans at every home game and another 10,000 fans representing the road team. 

We are represented by all of the true loyal fans in the City of Anaheim and also all of Japan. 

 

[Taylor]

I voted! Here are my selections:

[Chuck]

 

 

[Claude]

2 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I voted! Here are my selections:

No Lucroy? What an A-hole!

[Glen]

1 hour ago, Calzone 2 said:

Now if Shohei participates in the Home Run Derby that would be special.  

 

[ScottT]

1 hour ago, rageous said:

It would be robbery if Altuve beat out La Stella.

 

I don't necessarily agree in cases like this.. La Stella has had a great two months.  There's a ways to go and I think more than the first half of one season should be taken into consideration.  I'm in the minority on that, but it's one of the reasons Tim Salmon never made an all star team. The second half doesn't matter?  Never made sense to me.

In Altuve's case, though, he hasn't been good at all.... this year... and last year wasn't great.  

[ScottT]

Besides, there are four AL 2B... not counting Altuve... that have an argument equal to or better than La Stella.

[Dick Enberg]

50 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I voted! Here are my selections:

Not counting Trout, where are all the dudes that make 20 million a year or more?

[Jeff Fletcher]

Do you think the All-Star Game should be the best players or the players having the best years?

There’s a difference. And I don’t think either answer is wrong. 

[ScottT]

I think it should be a combination.

It's better now than it used to be. Partly because the rosters are so large

[AngelsLakersFan]

22 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Do you think the All-Star Game should be the best players or the players having the best years?

There’s a difference. And I don’t think either answer is wrong. 

It should be whoever you think is most likely to have the best game.

[T.G.]

I think players should be rewarded for having the best year; however, the all star game happens a little after the mid-way point so you're not necessarily getting that.  So because of that - I think the game should include the players the fans want to see the most - so, I don't have a problem with fans voting for the starters.  I know that inevitably some deserving players get left off, but I'm okay with that. It's an exhibition.  It should be fun.  It's for us fans. 

[Second Base]

I don't want you guys to get your hopes up.  I think La Stella will be a reserve, but this comes down to fan voting and you know an undeserving yet popular veteran will get a lot more votes.  The Angels are just one of those teams that doesn't mobilize fans and flat out, is NOT liked by other fans.  If you're a Dodgers fan, you hate the Angels for obvious reasons.  Yankees, it's a NY vs. LA thing.  Plus they hate that they don't have Trout and Ohtani, and that fan base holds grudges.  Boston, they heavily favor their own, and again, that's an East Coast vs West Coast thing.  Other teams in the AL West, are rivals and won't be rooting for any Angel.

In order to be voted to an all-star team as an Angel on a yearly basis, you literally need to be so transcendent that liking you goes well beyond the game of baseball.  That's what Trout is.  That's what Ohtani may become. 

But Tommy La Stella?  I'm sorry, but other fans aren't going to keep voting for him, no matter how good he does. 

[stormngt]

1 hour ago, ScottT said:

I don't necessarily agree in cases like this.. La Stella has had a great two months.  There's a ways to go and I think more than the first half of one season should be taken into consideration.  I'm in the minority on that, but it's one of the reasons Tim Salmon never made an all star team. The second half doesn't matter?  Never made sense to me.

In Altuve's case, though, he hasn't been good at all.... this year... and last year wasn't great.  

Is it the 2019 all stars or the 2018 all stats or the decade 2010 all stars?

[Jay]

1 hour ago, ScottT said:

I think it should be a combination.

The "best players" from previous years have name recognition, and receive votes accordingly.

The players having the best year get more publicity during the year.

Therefore it is a combination.

IMO players like La Stella who are having a monster first half deserve more consideration than other players who did well in the second half of the previous year.

But I think all of that is built in.

[ScottT]

56 minutes ago, stormngt said:

Is it the 2019 all stars or the 2018 all stats or the decade 2010 all stars?

Combination. I'm saying it shouldn't strictly be about the current season.

Nothing is built in. It's a free for all

There are few snubs anymore. The rosters are so large