Just like how Blue Jays fans fell in love with Ernie Clement during last year’s playoffs, it appears the rest of baseball fandom has done so as well.
Clement, who became a hero for the Jays during their magical run to the World Series and set a record for most hits in an MLB post-season, is leading the way in all-star voting at second base for the American League.
MLB announced the latest tallies for the midsummer classic on Monday afternoon, with the Ern Dog racking up 904,702 votes so far – more than triple the second-best second baseman, Ezequiel Duran of the Rangers.
In fact, Clement has the fourth-most votes of any AL player, trailing only Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge and Mike Trout.
Overall, the leading vote-getter is Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani with 1,165,133 while Alvarez is second at 1,015,768.
Clement has carried over his spectacular playoff surge into this season, posting a batting average of .304 through 71 games and leading the AL in doubles with 20 heading into Tuesday’s games.
What about Vladdy?
But perhaps the bigger surprise in fan voting is that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is on top of the race at first base, leading Ben Rice of the Yankees by nearly 94,000 votes.
This comes after Vladdy has been criticized for his lack of power and production this season, posting just three home runs and ranking very low in analytical categories relating to swing and contact.
While he still gets on base at a good rate, his lack of pop has been the source of frustration for many fans after the five-time all-star signed a half-billion-dollar contract before the 2025 season.
How are other Jays doing in voting?
But while Vladdy and Clement hold the leads in their respective races, a couple more of their teammates are sitting in second place in their positions.
Andres Gimenez, George Springer and Alejandro Kirk currently sit second in voting at shortstop, DH and catcher, respectively, with Kirk a big surprise considering that he has played in just seven games this season due to a broken thumb. The three players have little chance at catching the leaders at their positions as they trail by at least 400,000 votes each.
However, the race to keep an eye on is at third base, where the Jays’ Japanese rookie Kazuma Okamoto trails Rays’ Junior Caminero by just over 69,000 votes after the latest tally, making it one of the tightest races for a spot on the AL all-star team.
How can you vote?
Fans interested in casting their own ballots can do so on MLB’s official website.
Voting ends at noon on June 25 and fans can cast up to five ballots per day.
While voting only handles position players for the all-star game, the Jays also have several good candidates among their pitching staff.
Top reliever Louis Varland has been among the Majors’ best bullpen arms all season, having allowed just four earned runs in 345 appearances.
Starting pitcher Dylan Cease also has pitched well this season, his first with the Jays, and leads the AL in strikeouts with 103.