MLB All-Star Voting 2019: Standings, Predictions for Midsummer Classic Roster

The Primary portion of the 2019 MLB All-Star voting has concluded, and now it will come down to the fans voting during a 28-hour period to determine who will start July 9 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

This year is the first that MLB is utilizing a Google MLB All-Star Starters Election. Voting will be open from noon ET Wednesday to 4 p.m. ET Thursday, and starters will be announced Thursday night on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

Below is a look at the finalists at every position followed by predictions for who will start for both the American and National Leagues.

All-Star Starters Finalists

American League

Catcher:

1. Robinson Chirinos (Houston Astros)

2. James McCann (Chicago White Sox)

3. Gary Sanchez (New York Yankees)

First Base:

1. C.J. Cron (Minnesota Twins)

2. Carlos Santana (Cleveland Indians)

3. Luke Voit (Yankees)

Second Base:

1. Jose Altuve (Astros)

2. Tommy La Stella (Los Angeles Angels)

3. DJ LeMahieu (Yankees)

Shortstop:

1. Carlos Correa (Astros)

2. Jorge Polanco (Twins)

3. Gleyber Torres (Yankees)

Third Base:

1. Alex Bregman (Astros)

2. Hunter Dozier (Kansas City Royals)

3. Gio Urshela (Yankees)

Outfield:

1. Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox)

2. Michael Brantley (Astros)

3. Joey Gallo (Texas Rangers)

4. Aaron Judge (Yankees)

5. Austin Meadows (Tampa Bay Rays)

6. Josh Reddick (Astros)

7. Eddie Rosario (Twins)

8. George Springer (Astros)

9. Mike Trout (Angels)

Designated Hitter:

1. Nelson Cruz (Twins)

2. J.D. Martinez (Red Sox)

3. Hunter Pence (Rangers)

National League

Catcher:

1. Willson Contreras (Chicago Cubs)

2. Yasmani Grandal (Milwaukee Brewers)

3. Brian McCann (Atlanta Braves)

First Base:

1. Josh Bell (Pittsburgh Pirates)

2. Freddie Freeman (Braves)

3. Anthony Rizzo (Cubs)

Second Base:

1. Ozzie Albies (Braves)

2. Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks)

3. Mike Moustakas (Brewers)

Shortstop:

1. Javier Baez (Cubs)

2. Trevor Story (Colorado Rockies)

3. Dansby Swanson (Braves)

Third Base:

1. Nolan Arenado (Rockies)

2. Kris Bryant (Cubs)

3. Josh Donaldson (Braves)

Outfield

1. Ronald Acuna Jr. (Braves)

2. Albert Almora Jr. (Cubs)

3. Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles Dodgers)

4. Charlie Blackmon (Rockies)

5. Jason Heyward (Cubs)

6. Nick Markakis (Braves)

7. Joc Pederson (Dodgers)

8. Kyle Schwarber (Cubs)

9. Christian Yelich (Brewers)

Results are courtesy of MLB.com.

Predictions

American League

The headliner in the American League has been the same for the last six years, as Mike Trout's six consecutive seasons being voted in by fans is the longest active streak in the league, according to MLB.com's Manny Randhawa. That said, bank on the two-time MVP making it seven straight and starting in center field.

Trout leads all AL center fielders in batting average, home runs, RBI, walks and OPS. On top of that, the 27-year-old routinely makes plays in the field like this robbery of a Christian Yelich home run:

The storyline of the season's first half, though, has been the Minnesota Twins. The Twins have gone from missing the playoffs last season to holding the best record in all of MLB earlier this month. That surge has been fueled by breakout seasons like the one 25-year-old Jorge Polanco is having.

The Minnesota shortstop is leading MLB in hits (96) and the American League in batting average (.324). Polanco is also behind only Trout in wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference.

Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario has made an exceptional case as well behind 19 home runs.

Elsewhere in the AL Central, Indians first baseman Carlos Santana should benefit from the hometown vote and get the start, even if Luke Voit, who at one point led all first basemen in votes, might be the obvious front-runner.

The full AL lineup prediction is as follows: Gary Sanchez (C), Carlos Santana (1B), Jose Altuve (2B), Jorge Polanco (SS), Alex Bregman (3B), Mookie Betts (OF), Mike Trout (OF), Eddie Rosario (OF), J.D. Martinez (DH).

National League

The National League's choice of outfielders is an embarrassment of riches.

Dodgers right fielder Cody Bellinger led all NL vote-getters with Brewers right fielder Christian Yelich right behind him.

Yelich, the reigning league MVP, leads MLB with 29 home runs. Bellinger has been equally exciting with an MLB-leading .353 batting average, but perhaps what's most impressive is the fact that he played first base last season and already has eight outfield assists this season. Per ESPN.com's Anthony Olivieri, Bellinger had three career outfield assists coming into 2019.

Bellinger and Yelich also sit first and second, respectively, in wins above replacement among all MLB players.

Outside of those two, reigning NL Rookie of the Year Ronald Acuna Jr. should make his first All-Star appearance. The 21-year-old leads all NL batters with 349 plate appearances; he has a .288 batting average with 17 home runs and 49 RBI.

FiveThirtyEight's Neil Paine added more context to Acuna's All-Star-worthy development:

"The other area in which Acuña has improved is defense. We combined the Ultimate Zone Rating figures found at FanGraphs and the Defensive Runs Saved numbers at Baseball-Reference.com and found that Acuña was no better than an average outfielder last season. (And he might have been worse than that — another prominent metric, Michael Humphreys' Defensive Regression Analysis, considered him to be three runs below average.) This season, Acuña's numbers are up no matter which source you consult; he's on pace to have improved by about 10 runs — or one entire win — if he ends up playing the same number of innings as in 2018."

From a team perspective, the Brewers and Cubs will likely combine to make up five of the NL's eight starting fielders.

The full NL lineup prediction is as follows: Willson Contreras (C), Anthony Rizzo (1B), Mike Moustakas (2B), Javier Baez (SS), Nolan Arenado (3B), Cody Bellinger (OF), Christian Yelich (OF), Ronald Acuna Jr. (OF).