With a shade over two weeks left in the voting for this years All-Stars team, Jacoby Ellsbury is rapidly gaining on Josh Hamilton for the third and final starting outfield position. Jacoby is only behind by 351,624 votes. Considering you can vote up to 25 times on MLB.com, that is not an insurmountable lead for last years MVP Hamilton. Ellsbury fresh off last weeks AL player of the week, has been moving up in the voting week after week. Expect a substantial surge this week after his first ever MLB award. We fans tend to vote for our favorites every year and not always the most deserving. Jacoby is quickly becoming a fan favorite and this year he deserves his first All-Star birth.
It appears that Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson have locked up two of the three outfield positions. Both of them deserve it, Bautista has proven everyone wrong, (including me) that last years power numbers were not a fluke. Granderson tied Bautista for Major League leader in Home Runs with 21. They both contribute a new and improved swing for their new found power. This leaves Ellsbury and Hamilton to battle it out for the final slot. Hamilton the reigning American League MVP is undoubtedly a fan favorite. His 28 homersin round one of the 2008 All-Star home run derby endeared him to a new fan base. That was then, this is now. Hamilton is still a great player but, a shoulder injury caused him to miss substantial time.Â
As of today this is how Ellsbury and Hamilton compare head to head.
Games: Ellsbury 66, Hamilton 31
At Bats: Ellsbury 267, Hamiton 125
Runs: Ellsbury 49, Hamilton 15
Hits: Ellsbury 85, Hamilton 35
Doubles: Ellsbury 21, Hamilton 11
Triples: Ellsbury 0, Hamilton 1
Home Runs: Ellsbury 7, Hamilton 4
RBI’s: Ellsbury 33, Hamilton 23
Batting Avg: Ellsbury .318, Hamilton .280
Ellsbury is amongst the league leaders in Avg, Runs, hits, and doubles. He is the American League leader in stolen bases.
Voting ends June 30th at midnight. If you haven’t voted yet, you need to. Again, go to MLB.com and vote up to 25 times. Let’s make Jacoby Ellsbury an All-Star,  he obvioualy deserves it.
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