OC Register: Angels’ Tommy La Stella moves on to next round of All-Star voting, along with Mike Trout

[AngelsWin.com]

ST. LOUIS — Mike Trout and Tommy La Stella made the cut, but Shohei Ohtani did not.

In the first year of a new multi-stage All-Star election process, Trout and La Stella advanced to next week’s final election, but Ohtani came up one spot away.

La Stella, a utility player throughout his career until his breakout with the Angels this season, finished with 1.7 million votes, the most among American League second basemen.

If he is to win the starting job in next month’s All-Star Game, however, he’ll have to beat out former MVP José Altuve and DJ LeMahieu in the next round of voting, with players starting again from zero.

The final voting period will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Trout will almost certainly win a starting spot for the seventh time, which would be his eighth overall All-Star selection.

Not surprisingly, Trout was the leading vote-getter among all American League players, with nearly 3.4 million votes. Trout just needs to finish in the top three of the final voting this week to earn a starting spot.

Ohtani, however, is going to have to be picked either by the players, who vote for the reserves, or be a selection of the commissioner’s office if he’s going to make his first All-Star game.

Ohtani finished fourth among the designated hitters, about 200,000 votes behind Nelson Cruz. J.D. Martinez and Hunter Pence are the other two finalists.

SUAREZ DOWN

José Suarez and Taylor Cole were both optioned to Triple-A on Friday so the Angels could call up fresh relievers, Jake Jewell and Luke Bard.

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Although Suarez was sent down a day after giving up five runs in the worst of his four big league starts, Manager Brad Ausmus said the move was simply because the Angels needed bullpen coverage.

Ausmus also said Suarez has some work to refine his repertoire.

“He just needs to continue to develop his pitches,” Ausmus said. “I think the changeup is a solid pitch for him. Obviously, the fastball is a solid pitch. But the breaking ball is going to be key in terms of going from a good pitcher into a really good pitcher.”

Suarez can’t return to the big leagues within 10 days of being optioned unless he’s replacing an injured player. The Angels could replace him in the rotation with Trevor Cahill, who was scheduled to make a rehab outing at Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday night.

UP NEXT

Angels (opener TBA preceding RHP Félix Peña, 5-1, 4.70) at Cardinals (RHP Dakota Hudson, 5-3, 3.55), Saturday, 11:15 a.m., Fox Sports West, 830 AM

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