A year ago, the Braves nearly sent their entire starting lineup to the All-Star Game. Every infielder was named an All-Star, along with Ronald Acuña Jr, who was the leading vote-getter in the National League. In total, eight Braves made the All-Star game, yet another reminder of how special the 2023 campaign was in Atlanta.
This year will be much different. The Braves don’t have many deserving All-Stars, and the fan voting to this point reflects that.
First batch of NL All-Star voting, from Major League Baseball: pic.twitter.com/2hIwQKEQ4n
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) June 17, 2024
As of now, the Braves only have one position player that would reach the next level of voting to determine the All-Star starters. That’s Marcell Ozuna, who is currently over 500,000 votes behind Shohei Ohtani.
A real convincing argument could be made that Ozuna has been the better designated hitter than Ohtani to this point in the season, but that’s not going to matter. Ohtani has been fantastic in his first year with the Dodgers, and his popularity is unmatched. He’ll be the starting DH for the National League this year; however, there’s no question that Ozuna will also be in Texas with him. Both are deserving candidates, regardless of who is starting.
After Ozuna, the Braves don’t have any position players even worth mentioning. They could send a trio of pitchers, however. Max Fried is deserving of consideration along with Chris Sale, but perhaps the most likely of the bunch to receive the nod is Reynaldo Lopez, whose transition from reliever to starter has been one of MLB’s biggest surprises this season. His 1.69 ERA ranks first in all of baseball. Nobody is more deserving of a spot on the NL All-Star team than Lopez, and he may even have a chance to start the game, depending on how he pitches over the next couple of weeks.
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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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