NO PASSING A’S
As first round of All-Star voting nears end, first baseman Olson is fifth
MLB released the latest AllStar Game vote totals on Monday, and despite being one of the best hitters in the league this season, the A’s Matt Olson barely cracked the leaderboard among American League first basemen.
Olson ranks in the top 15 in batting average, home runs, onbase percentage, slugging percentage and RBI, yet is fifth among AL first basemen on the All-Star ballot, trailing Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Houston’s Yuli Gurriel, Chicago’s José Abreu and the Angels’
Jared Walsh.
With the first phase of fan voting set to close at 12:59 p.m. on Thursday, it appears Oakland’s powerful first baseman will have to rely on fellow players and coaches to reach the first All-Star Game of his career.
Oakland players are hardly
making a whisper in this year’s fan voting overall, with none other than Olson ranking higher than seventh at their respective position.
It’s Olson’s 159,441 votes and fifth-place ranking that sticks out more plainly than the rest, though.
Olson was batting .305 with 20 home runs, 53 RBIs and a 178 OPS+ heading into Monday’s game at Texas. Only the Blue Jays’ Guerrero Jr. (23), Angels’ two-way star Shohei Ohtani (23) and Padres’ shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. (22) have more home runs than Olson. All three players outpacing Olson in homers markedly lead their respective positions in votes with well over 1,000,000 ballots in their favor.
Only the top three vote-getters among infielders will advance to the second phase of All-Star voting in which fans will cast ballots to determine
each league’s starting lineup. Olson trails Abreu, the reigning AL MVP, by nearly 150,000 votes, and with a limited window to bridge the gap, it appears unlikely Olson will advance.
“Certainly a guy like Matt Olson should be receiving more votes,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said recently. “I know we’re on a little late and a lot of games on the West Coast aren’t seen. But certainly I would think everybody by now would know who Matt Olson is.”
While elimination would end Olson’s chances of being voted into the starting lineup, it would not completely dash his chances of making it to the July 13 All-Star Game in Denver. Players and coaches vote to determine each roster’s reserves. It’s a process A’s players have become extremely familiar with in recent years.
In the last decade, only one Oakland player has started at the All-Star Game, former A’s third baseman Josh Donaldon in 2014, despite seven
other position players having reached the game.
A’s outfielder Mark Canha, whose 2.1 WAR ranks third among AL outfielders, could also get a serious look from players and coaches around the league.
Despite a .252 batting average, Canha has been one of the league’s most productive leadoff hitters with a .376 on-base percentage and a 137 wRC+, the fourth and fifthbest showings among AL outfielders, respectively.
And even with nine outfielders advancing to phase two of the fan vote on Thursday, Canha chances are extremely slim as he ranks No. 20 in the position group among vote-getters.
Second baseman Jed Lowrie (seventh), third baseman Matt Chapman (eighth), catcher Sean Murphy (ninth), shortstop Elvis Andrus (10th) and outfielder Ramon Laureano (17th) also appear on this year’s ballot.
LUZARDO SENT DOWN TO MINORS >> Before the game, the
A’s optioned struggling lefthanded pitcher Jesús Luzardo to Triple-A Las Vegas. Former Yankees farmhand Domingo Acevedo, a 27-year-old righthanded reliever, was called up to replace Luzardo.
“Certainly with Jesús we just wanted to get him in some non-pressure situations where he can work on some things and get it ironed out,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s a big part of this team and I expect him back here at some point in time, hopefully soon. Unfortunately, we had to make that move.”
Luzardo will return to the minor leagues for the first time since 2019 after a tumultuous start to the 2021 season. Early in May, Luzardo fractured his pinky finger on the table while playing video games. He was dominant in his first three appearances out of the bullpen off the injured list in June, but gave up six home runs over his last five appearances, accruing a 11.00 ERA in nine appearances.