Ohtani, Trout are among the leaders in All-star voting

ARLINGTON, TEXAS >> Shohei Ohtani is leading all American League votegetters while Mike Trout is in second among outfielders, according to the first All-star voting results, released on Monday.

Ohtani leads at DH with 924,182 votes, well ahead of runner-up Brandon Belt of the Toronto Blue Jays (205,659). The next closest in the league in total votes is outfielder Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees (844,965).

The top two finishers in each race, and the top six among outfielders, will go to a separate run-off election which begins on June

26. Phase 1 ends on June

22.

The reserves and pitchers will be selected by a vote of MLB players and by the Commissioner’s office. Ohtani would need to be selected in that process to also make the team as a pitcher. No one had ever made the All-star team as a pitcher and position player until Ohtani did it in 2021, and then he did it again in 2022.

Ohtani is hitting .287 with 18 home runs and a .930 OPS, with a 3.32 ERA on the mound. A 10-time All-star and three-time AL MVP, Trout has been below his normal standard because of a slump that has lasted more than a month. He’s hitting .254 with 14 homers and an .826 OPS.

The All-star Game will be played July 11 in Seattle. The starters will be announced on June 29 and the full rosters on July 2.

Hope for Walsh

First baseman Jared Walsh was hitting .122 with a .467 OPS in his first 60 plate appearances after missing the start of the season on the injured list, but manager Phil Nevin said he saw enough encouraging signs in the way he hit the ball on Sunday to feel like he’s turning the corner.

“He had a couple of good swings yesterday,” Nevin said. “Looked a lot better. His numbers against the starter today were what stood out for me to hopefully get him going a little bit.”

Going into Monday’s game, Walsh was 6 for 11 with two homers in his career against Rangers right-hander Dane Dunning.

Besides those factors in favor of playing Walsh, Nevin said he wanted to give Gio Urshela one more day to rest his back. Urshela said his back has been bothering him since the Angels’ final game in Houston on June 4, but he added that “it feels pretty good today.”

Nevin said Urshela was available for anything if the Angels needed him on Monday, but he hoped to give him an entire game off.

Although Urshela could be back in the lineup on Tuesday, Nevin said he’s still hoping to get Walsh back to the level they expect from him.

“For us to go forward, we need him to be swinging the bat,” Nevin said. “It’s going to be harder to find those at-bats. I’m going to put the best team out there.”

Also

Left-handed reliever Matt Moore (oblique) played catch for the third straight day, getting out to a distance of 75 feet. Nevin said it’s possible that Moore will be ready to throw off the mound by the end of this trip. “It would be very hopeful, but he’s trending the right way,” Nevin said. Moore said he’s optimistic because he hasn’t been sore after throwing, but he added that he still hasn’t thrown at maximum effort yet . ... Righthanded reliever Ben Joyce (nerve irritation) is with the team in Texas, getting treatment. He is not able to throw yet . ... The Angels signed veteran big league infielder Daniel Murphy to a minor league deal. He will play at Triple-a. Murphy, 38, has not played in the majors since 2020. The three-time Allstar spent most of his career with the New York Mets and Washington Nationals. He was hitting .331 with an .861 OPS for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. “I didn’t know until a week or so ago that he was playing again,” Nevin said. “Sounds like he looks good. He’s been swinging the bat well. We’ll see what we got when he goes out and plays somewhere for us.”