Giancarlo Stanton, baseball's leader in home runs and RBI, is back among the top vote-getters and projected starters for next month's All-Star Game.
Stanton, who a week ago fell into fourth place among outfielders behind the Giants' Nori Aoki, moved into second place this week in the National League behind only the Nationals' Bryce Harper, who continues to lead the NL with over 9.2 million votes.
Stanton, who has received 4,824,989 votes, is bidding for his first career starting assignment at the Midsumer Classic. Last year, he started as the designated hitter when the game was held in Minneapolis. If he maintains a spot in the top three, Stanton would become just the third Marlins player, and first outfielder, to earn a fan election, joining Gary Sheffield (3B, 1993) and Hanley Ramirez (SS, 2008-10).
With his 25th home run of the season last week, Stanton became the fastest to the milestone in a single season in Marlins history, and now owns four career seasons with at least 25 home runs, tied with Miguel Cabrera for second-most in Marlins history behind Dan Uggla, who did it five times (2006-10).
Rounding out the NL outfield is Matt Holliday of the Cardinals, who has received 4,716,941 votes. Aoki (4,349,685) and Andrew McCutchen (3,542,262) of the Pittsburgh Pirates are next. Holliday, a six-time All-Star (2006-08, 2010-12), has n]been on the disabled list since June 9 with a strained right quad.
Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon, who was an All-Star for the first time in 2014, continues to lead his respective position with 5,244,914 votes, more than 1.2 million votes more than the Cardinals' Kolten Wong (4,025,055). The 27-year-old Gordon, bidding for his first fan election, leads the Majors with 104 hits to go along with his .356 batting average. In addition, the speedster ranks second in the Majors with 24 stolen bases.
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