The first update of All-Star fan voting has been released, and suffice to say, Boston Red Sox fans are not happy with the product they've seen on the field.
Willson Contreras is the only position player on the roster inside the top 10 in voting at his respective position, ranking sixth among American League first basemen with 177,884 votes. The only other Red Sox hitters to be found in the voting update were Wilyer Abreu (No. 14) and Jarren Duran (No. 20), both of whom barely ranked inside the top 20 in outfield voting.
As a reminder, to make the All-Star Game via fan voting, you have to be in the top two at your position (top six in the outfield) to make the head-to-head phase. I'd explain what the process looks like from that point on, but it doesn't seem like something the Sox will have to worry about this year.
The first AL All-Star ballot update is in and the Red Sox have no players in the top 5 at any position.
— Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) June 15, 2026
Willson Contreras is the only Red Sox player in the top 10 in voting at their position. pic.twitter.com/IG7AT9YiuW
Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela deserve better in All-Star voting, but Red Sox's best hopes are with pitchers
While the fan voting system has always been deeply flawed — the Toronto Blue Jays have absurd representation in the latest update despite a 34-38 record — it's also true that the Red Sox probably don't deserve much better than what their fans have given them.
Yes, Contreras (who ranks third among AL first basemen with a 161 wRC+) and Ceddanne Rafaela (elite defender in the midst of a career-best offensive season) should be higher on the ballots. There's a halfway-decent chance they'll make it on the reserve squad via player voting. But you'd be hard-pressed to suggest that anyone else on the roster should be getting votes right now.
Even Duran and Abreu, the latter of whom has fallen off since a torrid start, probably don't belong in the top 20 of outfield voting. Their combined batting average in June is hovering dangerously close to the Mendoza line.
The silver lining to all of this is that only the nine hitters in the starting lineup are chosen by fan vote. The 23 other players (11 hitters and 12 pitchers) are all picked by players and the Commissioner's Office, and if the Red Sox are going to have more than one representative at the Midsummer Classic, it'll have to come from their contingent on the mound.
Aroldis Chapman is a virtual lock to make his second straight All-Star Game as the Junior Circuit's closer, assuming he isn't traded before the break. Meanwhile, Sonny Gray (3.03 ERA in 12 starts), Ranger Suarez (2.1 fWAR in 70 innings), and perhaps even the electrifying Payton Tolle (25.1% strikeout rate) all have a case to join him in Philadelphia.
Even then, though, the last-place team in the AL East won't get a ton of representation. Things can obviously change between now and July, but it's looking more and more likely that the Red Sox's All-Star hopes lie exclusively with the pitching staff.
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