How current, former Red Sox fare in the 1st All-Star voting results
Two former Sox players are currently shining for the Dodgers while Xander Bogaerts is continuing his success with the Padres.
On Monday, MLB.com released it’s first update on the All-Star game voting, and the ballots are filled with past and present Red Sox.
The update provides the top-10 vote getters at each position besides outfield in both the American and National leagues. The outfield lists have the top-20 vote getters since it’s not divided into right, left, and center.
In total, nine either current or former Red Sox made the lists, spread across five teams.
Here are those players and where they landed on their respective lists.
Former Red Sox
J.D. Martinez sits as the top National League designated hitter after the first ballot update. The current Dodger earned 412,373 votes, 32,000 more than second-place Bryce Harper, and almost 200,000 more than third-place Travis d’Arnaud.
On the season, Martinez is leading the NL in slugging at .619 and has 16 homers and 47 RBI. The 35-year-old signed a one-year, $10 million deal with Los Angeles after five seasons with Boston.
Martinez’s Dodgers teammate, Mookie Betts, is also killing it when it comes to All-Star voting. The former MVP is in a comfortable second-place on the list of NL outfielders behind Ronald Acuña Jr., who is the top vote getter in the entire league.
In his fourth season with the Dodgers, Betts has 17 home runs and a .901 OPS.
Behind Betts on the NL outfielders list is Kyle Schwarber at No. 17. Schwarber only played half a season with Boston in 2021 but he made his presence felt.
The outfielder posted a .957 OPS in 41 regular season games before boosting it to 1.194 over his first four games of the postseason.
This year is the 30-year-old’s second season with the Phillies. So far this season Schwarber is still mashing home runs (17), but he’s been able to do little else. His strikeout rate is still well above league average and he’s hitting just .172 on the season.
The other former Red Sox player who may earn a spot on the NL All-Star team is Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts is currently third on the list of NL shortstops behind Orlando Arcia and Francisco Lindor.
The 30-year-old shortstop signed an 11-year, $280 million deal with the Padres in December and so far it’s paid off for San Diego.
Bogearts has an OPS plus of 109 while playing Gold Glove caliber defense at short. He’s also flexed his speed more this season, swiping six bags in his first 60 games.
The last former Red Sox player to crack the All-Star list is in the American League. Hunter Renfroe’s first season with the Angels has him at No. 17 on the list of AL outfielders.
This season, Renfroe’s home run rate is down, but he’s still shown some decent pop with 24 total extra-base hits.
His one year with the Red Sox came in 2021 when he hit 31 homers and had 91 RBI. Following the season, Boston traded Renfroe for Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospects.
Currently with Boston
The Red Sox had four players named in the first MLB All-Star ballot update. Right now, the Boston player with the most votes is Masataka Yoshida at 268,969.
Yoshida’s vote count puts him eighth among AL outfielders. As of Tuesday, Yoshida ranks third in the AL in batting average (.303), 10th in OPS (.846), and has the second-lowest strikeout rate (10.1 percent).
Third baseman Rafael Devers was the second-highest vote getter on the Red Sox.
His 221,310 votes put him third for the AL’s top hot corner spot behind Matt Chapman and Josh Jung.
This season has been a relative disappointment for the 26-year-old after posting an OPS plus of at least 130 three out of the last four years. His mark this year is just 107 as he’s seen his average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage, all fall from last year.
What is still keeping Devers in the All-Star conversation are his 15 homers and his much improved defense at third base.
After Devers is Justin Turner, whose 72,273 votes has him at No. 8 among AL designated hitters.
In his first season with the Red Sox, the right-handed hitter is posting a .776 OPS.
The only other Boston player to crack top-10 for their position was Kiké Hernández, who squeaked in at No. 10 among AL shortstops.
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