Torres, Greene, Baez finalists to start for American League in All-Star Game

TIGERS

Detroit Tigers’ Javier Baez celebrates with second baseman Gleyber Torres (25) after a win over the Chicago Cubs in a June 8 game in Detroit. DUANE BURLESON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Three Detroit Tigers are finalists to start for the American League All-Star team for the game on July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Gleyber Torres is a finalist at second base, and Riley Greene and Javy Baez are finalists as outfielders.

The first phase of online fan voting began June 4 and ended Thursday, when the finalists were announced. The second phase of fan voting runs from noon Monday to noon Wednesday. Votes from the first phase do not carry over.

The Baltimore Orioles’ Jackson Holliday is the other finalist at second base, and the other finalists in the outfield are the Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan and the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge were the first players picked for the game.

Judge led the major leagues with 4,012,983 votes in the first round of fan balloting and the outfielder was picked for his seventh AL start in eight All-Star Games, though he missed the 2023 game because of a sprained right big toe. He also was the leading vote-getter during the first phase in 2022 and last year.

Ohtani topped the NL and was second in the big leagues with 3,967,668 votes, becoming the first designated hitter to start in five straight All-Star Games.

The pair were selected under rules that began in 2022 and give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting.

A fan can vote once per 24-hour period.

Remaining starters will be announced Wednesday. Pitchers and reserves will be revealed on Sunday, July 6.

AL finalists

• Catcher: Alejandro Kirk, Cal Raleigh

• First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

• Second base: Gleyber Torres, Jackson Holliday

• Third base: Alex Bregman, José Ramírez

• Shortstop: Jacob Wilson, Bobby Witt Jr.

• Designated hitter: Ryan O’Hearn, Ben Rice

• Outfield: Javy Baez, Riley Greene, Steven Kwan, Mike Trout

NL finalists

• Catcher: Carson Kelly, Will Smith

• First base: Pete Alonso, Freddie Freeman

• Second base: Tommy Edman, Ketel Marte

• Third base: Manny Machado, Max Muncy

• Shortstop: Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor

• Outfield: Ronald Acuna Jr., Pete Crow-Armstrong, Teoscar Hernandez, Andy Pages, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker