Last Chance to Vote Your Braves into the All-Star Game

We are now into the last weekend of voting for the All-Star Game, and Braves’ players need your help!

Stadium voting is now shut down, but on-line voting continues through the weekend.  Results are to be announced on Tuesday, July 1st.  Here’s how things stand as of earlier this week:

It’s okay, Evan: we still love ya. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

CATCHER

Here is the most egregious Fan-Vote Fail going on right now:  Evan Gattis is not even getting a mention in the MLB press release!

• Yadier Molina (2,600,853 votes)
• Jonathan Lucroy (1,911,745) [obviously Milwaukee fans have stepped it up]
• Buster Posey (1,709,685)
• But Evan Gattis ????  His vote totals must not have been even close enough for them to bother including, yet he’s been outplaying all of the above!

SHORTSTOP

Troy Tulowitzki has been hitting out of his mind this year, and the ballots reflect that:  3,287,460 votes – highest in the National League.  Behind him is Jean Segura (yep, there’s the Milwaukee contingent again) at 1,272,273 votes.  Once again, the prime Braves’ candidate – Andrelton Simmons – fails to get a mention.  I guess defense isn’t enough for most fans.  He needs some help!

FIRST BASE

Are we going to have to force Freddie Freeman into the game via another ‘Last Chance Vote’?  It might seem so, since this is what’s going on right now:

• Paul Goldschmidt (1,962,386)
• Adrian Gonzalez (1,239,509)
• Nobody else is mentioned.

OUTFIELD

This situation is worse for Braves’ fans than even the above positions:

• Carlos Gomez (2,409,860).
• Giancarlo Stanton (2,130,519)
• Yasiel Puig (2,468,376)
• Andrew McCutchen (2,461,722)
• …and that’s pretty much all they mentioned, though in previous announcements, no Braves was even in the top eight.  No Justin Upton, no Jason Heyward.

Yes, the system is highly flawed.  Yes, the ballot-box stuffing is rampant.  But yes – it can also be skewed in your direction, too.  After all, the fans in Milwaukee are obviously working hard to put their guys into the game:  Gomez, Lucroy, Aramis Ramirez (now leading for third base) and Segura are all making very strong runs, fueled by their fans.  Braves’ fans did likewise last year in getting Freeman into the game (and then Brian McCann when a thumb injury sidelined Freddie) over Yasiel Puig.

You can vote up to 35 times… and they’ve made it ridiculously easy to do so after the first ballot.  Just rinse and repeat.  Here’s the link to the ballot.  Go forth and stuff the box for the Braves!