How the likely Dodgers All-Stars are doing in fan voting

Mookie Betts and Trea Turner continue to lead National League All-Star voting at their positions, with three days remaining in the first phase of the drawn-out fan ballot process.

Among the Dodgers position players, four have a reasonable case to make the All-Star team — Betts, Turner, catcher Will Smith, and first baseman Freddie Freeman.

With all due respect to Gavin Lux, Justin Turner, and Max Muncy — who are fourth in fan voting at second base, third base, and designated hitter, respectively, with the top two at each position advancing to the second phase — plus Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor, ninth and 11th, respectively, among NL outfielders, with the top six going forward to Phase 2, none of them are making the All-Star team.

But the other four have a decent chance, so let’s take a look at the fan voting at their positions.

Betts is hitting .273/.349/.535, a 148 wRC+ with 17 home runs. He’s top six in the NL in homers, fWAR (3.3) and runs scored (53), despite missing the Dodgers’ last five games. With Betts’ return timetable from a broken rib still very much up in the air, and only three more weeks before the All-Star break, it’s very possible that Betts wouldn’t even play in the midsummer classic.

But as of now, he leads all NL players in votes. If that holds through Thursday, Betts will get an automatic spot in the starting lineup. At other positions, the top two vote getters in Phase 1 advance to Phase 2, with vote counts resetting for the latter. In the outfield, the top six advance to the next phase.

Turner is hitting .317/.365/.496 with a 142 wRC+, and ranks second in the NL in stolen bases (15), fifth in batting average, and seventh in fWAR (3.1) this season. If we go back to last year’s All-Star break, since the “second half” tends to get ignored in All-Star considerations, Turner is hitting .328/.376/.525 with 21 home runs and 28 steals in 134 games. During that time, Turner is in the top six in the NL in runs scored (91), hits (175), steals, wRC+ (147), and fWAR (6.3).

Turner made his first All-Star team last year while with the Nationals.

Smith has yet to make an All-Star team, though he’s making a case thanks to a strong June. Monday marks Smith’s 19th consecutive start for the Dodgers, and over his last 18 games he’s hitting .321/.349/.615.

On the season, Contreras has pretty clearly established himself as the best catcher, and would be a deserving starter. Smith ranks second among NL catchers in home runs (11), on-base percentage (.347) and wRC+ (129). Smith’s 35 RBI lead all NL catchers.

It will be a long shot for Smith to overtake both Travis d’Arnaud and Yadier Molina in fan voting to advance to the second phase of voting, so Smith’s best bet to make the All-Star team might be the players vote, or if the commissioner’s office (which selects the remaining reserves) decides to add a third catcher.

Freeman’s streak of starting three straight All-Star teams will likely come to an end, but he could still very much make his sixth midsummer classic, especially if he’s hitting like he has recently.

Freeman brings a 10-game hit streak into Colorado, was just named NL player of the week, and over his last 15 games is hitting .383/.471/.683 with nine extra-base hits.

Phase 1 of fan voting ends at 11 a.m. PT Thursday, with the pared-down Phase 2 voting happening in a short window next week, from Tuesday, July 5 at 9 a.m. PT through July 8 at 11 a.m. PT.

All-Star starting position players will be revealed on ESPN on Friday, July 8 at 4 p.m. PT, with the full rosters announced Sunday at 2:30 p.m. PT on ESPN.

The 2022 MLB All-Star Game is at Dodger Stadium this year, on Tuesday, July 19.