Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper Lead in Returns of 2024 MLB All-Star Game Voting

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees connects for a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on May 30, 2024. (Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)

The 94th edition of the Major League Baseball Midsummer Classic is just three weeks away, and after nearly 7 million votes have been cast, two MVP winners reign over their leagues. Voting returns for the 2024 MLB All-Star Game were released on Monday, showing the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge as the leading vote-getter in the American League, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper topping the National League.

Judge, the 2022 AL MVP, leads all players in fan votes, having accumulated 2,375,199 of them. Harper, who won an NL MVP with the Washington Nationals in 2015 and with Philadelphia in 2021, has 2,037,523 votes, which is actually the third-most overall but the most in the Senior Circuit. Judge’s Yankees teammate, Juan Soto, ranks second in votes with 2,136,383. Judge, Soto and Harper are the only three players with more than 2 million fan votes.

Entering play on Monday, Judge was leading the AL in categories including home runs (28), RBI (70), total bases (192) and OPS (1.108). He has just one fewer home run than he had at this point of the season in 2022, when he set the AL record for home runs in a single season (62). Judge also ended up leading the AL in fan votes for the 2022 MLB All-Star Game.

Harper is manning first base full-time for the first time this season, and the transition from the outfield has been seamless. He ranks third in the NL in home runs (18), fourth in total bases (150), fifth in on-base percentage (.397) and sixth in wins above replacement (3.2). He’s led the Phillies to the best record in Major League Baseball as the team is on pace for its most wins in the 142-year history of the franchise.

We’re still in Phase 1 of 2024 MLB All-Star Game voting, which concludes on Thursday at noon ET. If Judge and Harper remain atop of voting by then, they will automatically receive starting nods for the Midsummer Classic. Judge’s lead over Soto is 238,816, while second place in the NL is also, coincidentally, a teammate of the player in first place. Alec Bohm of the Phillies ranks second in the NL, with 1,960,231 votes, trailing Harper by just 77,292 votes.

The rest of the top 10 across all of baseball has Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers fifth and his teammate Mookie Betts sixth. Seventh in votes is Jurickson Profar of the San Diego Padres, with Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles ranking eighth. Fellow Oriole Gunnar Henderson clocks in at ninth, while Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers rounds out the top 10. The top 10 features a diverse group with five MVP winners (Judge, Harper, Ohtani, Betts, Yelich) and three players who’ve never made an All-Star Game roster before (Bohm, Profar, Henderson).

Last year, Ohtani was the leading vote-getter in the American League, with Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves topping the National League. Each of those players would go on to win their league’s Most Valuable Player awards. Acuna, who also led the NL in fan votes for the 2022 MLB All-Star Game, isn’t even on the ballot this year because he was out for the rest of the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament on May 26.

After the top vote-getters in each league, no player is guaranteed an invite to the Midsummer Classic. However, once Phase 1 ends, the top two vote-getters at every position, and the top six outfielders, will advance to Phase 2, which starts Sunday, June 30. The voting resets then, and the top vote-getter at each position in Phase 2 will be named an All-Star Game starter. Phase 2 voting will close on July 3 at noon ET, with the remaining starters announced later that day.

Pitchers are not on the ballot and they, along with reserve position players, will be chosen through a combination of votes from fellow players as well as the Commissioner’s Office. The manager for each team will then select the starting pitcher.

The MLB All-Star Game 2024 is on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers. It will be the ballpark’s first time hosting the Midsummer Classic and the second time the Rangers will host, as the 1995 All-Star Game took place at their previous home, The Ballpark at Arlington. With the Rangers winning the World Series last year, this will be the first All-Star Game since 1934 in which the reigning champions are hosting the game. The New York Giants hosted back then after winning the 1933 World Series.

With the tradition of the reigning pennant-winning managers getting the nod in the following year’s All-Star Game, Texas manager Bruce Bochy will get to sit in his own dugout for the game as he leads the AL. Torey Lovullo of the Arizona Diamondbacks will manage the National League.