The first batch of votes for the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was revealed on Monday.
And to no surprise, Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. was listed first among American League shortstops.
Witt has garnered 890,575 votes. He has a sizable lead over Toronto Blue Jays standout Andres Gimenez (354,651) and Detroit Tigers rookie Kevin McGongle (266,239).
Witt is seeking his first fan-elected All-Star nomination. He is a two-time All-Star, but both appearances came as a reserve.
If Witt is selected, he will be the first Royals shortstop to start the All-Star game since Alcides Escobar in 2015.
Escobar and Royals Hall of Famer Fred Patek are the only shortstops to start the Midsummer Classic in franchise history.
This season, Witt is hitting .287 with nine homers, 28 RBIs and a .813 OPS. He also leads the majors with 26 stolen bases and his 82 hits rank fifth among all players.
There are two phases to All-Star voting. In Phase 1, fans can vote up to five times daily.
There is an opportunity to secure an additional vote by downloading and visiting eBaseball™: MLB PRO SPIRIT and voting through the referral link within the game.
Phase 1 ends on June 25. Meanwhile, the top-2 vote getters will advance to the second phase of the voting system.
In Phase 2, fans can vote from June 29-July 2. However, there’s only one vote per day.
Other notable Royals within the top-10 at their position include: catcher Salvador Perez and third baseman Maikel Garcia.
Perez ranks seventh among AL catchers. He has garnered 139,460 votes and is well behind leading vote-getter and Athletics star Shea Langeliers (715,625). This season, Perez is hitting .202 with nine homers and 26 RBIs.
Garcia is also ranked seventh among third baseman in All-Star voting. This year, he is seeking his second career All-Star appearance. Garcia has tallied 94,196 votes but trails Tampa Bay Rays star Junior Caminero (625,520) — who sits in first.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com ’
