All-Star Voting Update: Nelson Cruz No Longer On Pace For Starting Job

In the latest roundup of All-Star voting, Rangers’ right fielder Nelson Cruz is no longer on pace to be a starter and it might be partly due to a plea made by Shaq--yes, that Shaq.

Back on June 15, former NBA superstar and current TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal took to Twitter to ask fans to vote Baltimore Orioles’ center fielder Adam Jones to next month’s Midsummer Classic in Kansas City. And while we’re unsure of the connection between the two, it seems to have worked.

Cruz is now just the fifth in AL vote-getters for the outfield, behind Toronto’s Jose Bautista and, yes, Baltimore’s Jones.

Josh Hamilton is still the leading vote-getter at any position with just under 5.5 million votes at last count. Mike Napoli is off to a commanding lead at catcher as well, with more than 2 million votes more than Minnesota’s Joe Mauer, his closest competition for the starting gig.

Ian Kinsler has a tight lead over New York’s Robinson Cano, while Michael Young (DH) and Elvis Andrus (SS) remain in second at their respective positions.

Fans can vote for the All-Star Game here.