DENVER — Third baseman Nolan Arenado and second baseman DJ LeMahieu are languishing in the fan voting for the All-Star Game, which will be played July 14 at Cincinnati.
Voting ends July 2. In the latest results for the National League All-Stars announced last week, LeMahieu was not among the top five second basemen, a group that in descending order included Dee Gordon, Kolten Wong, Joe Panik, Howie Kendrick and Yunel Escobar.
Arenado was fourth in the latest voting for third baseman. Matt Carpenter led with 4.46 million votes, followed by Kris Bryant (2.2 million), Todd Frazier (1.94 million) and Arenado (1.70 million).
Both LeMahieu and Arenado are reigning Gold Glove winners, Arenado for the second time in as many seasons last year.
And both are having good offensive seasons. LeMahieu is hitting .316 with three homers, 32 RBIs, a .364 on-base percentage and a .408 slugging percentage.
Arenado is hitting .284 and in the Rockies’ 10-4 win over the Brewers, he hit his 17th home run, one shy of his career high set last year. Arenado leads the Rockies in homers and RBIs (54) and has a .315 on-base percentage and a .568 slugging percentage.
Asked whether it was unusual that neither player has received much fan recognition, manager Walt Weiss said, “It’s not all that strange because we’re a club in our own time zone. It makes it a little tougher to get national recognition.
“But it is strange from the talent standpoint. Two of the best in the game, I believe, at their position. Nolan certainly needs to be in his first All-Star Game this summer. I think that’s a no-brainer. I know there’s some good players at that position.
“The same with DJ. I don’t think there’s any doubt that DJ’s an All-Star. Again there’s some really good players at his position, also. So it makes it tough; I get that. Not everyone can go. But both of those guys deserve to be in that game as much as anybody.”
Arenado was headed to his first All-Star Game last year when he suffered a mallet fracture on the side of his left middle finger May 23, an injury that sidelined him 37 games through June 28.
“Nolan’s entering that status of being an elite player in this league,” Weiss said. “And he hasn’t played in an All-Star Game yet, so he definitely needs to do that.”