Aaron Judge is the American League’s first named All-Star.
The Yankees slugger earned an automatic All-Star bid after being the American League’s leading vote-getter, MLB announced Thursday. Judge led all players, including the National League, with 4,012,983 votes.
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Shohei Ohtani earned his automatic big by leading the National League in votes.
The selection doesn’t come as a surprise as Judge is having another MVP-caliber season. Entering play Thursday, Judge is slashing .361/.461/.719 with an OPS of 1.180. He leads the major leagues with his .361 batting average, is second in the majors with 28 homers and is tied for fifth in the league with 63 RBI.
This is Judge’s seventh time being named an All-Star and the fifth consecutive year he’ll be playing in the Midsummer Classic.
In addition, Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and DH Ben Rice have advanced as finalists.
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Goldschmidt is having a resurgent year in his first season in the Bronx. The right-hander is slashing .288/.346/.432 with a .778 OPS.
The Yankees’ first baseman will be going up against Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to be named a starter for the American League. If Goldschmidt wins, it’ll be his eighth selection and his first since 2022.
As for Rice, the left-handed slugger has had a solid second year with the Yankees. He’s slashing .238/.324/.489 with an OPS of .814 to go with his 14 home runs and 29 RBI. Opposing Rice is Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn. With the trade of Rafael Devers, the field is open for Rice to earn his first career All-Star selection.
