Mariners’ Cal Raleigh advances in All-Star voting – here’s what’s next

Cal Raleigh is one step closer to his first All-Star Game appearance.

The Seattle Mariners slugger is advancing to Phase 2 of voting for the Midsummer Classic, where he will face off against the Toronto Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk to determine the American League starter at catcher on July 15 at Atlanta’s Truist Park.

Cal Raleigh’s historic season has Mariners in rare national spotlight

Phase 1 of the All-Star Game fan vote ended Thursday. The overall vote leaders for both the AL and National League – New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (4,012,983 votes) and Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (3,967,668) – have been named automatic starters at their positions.

The rest of the remaining starting positions will now be determined in a separate vote where the top two at each position go head-to-head. The exception is the outfield, where it will be six players to determine the three NL spots, and four players to determine the two remaining spots in the AL with Judge already occupying the other.

Phase 2 of voting begins at 9 a.m. Monday and will commence at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The winning All-Star starters for both the AL and NL will be announced at 4 p.m. next Wednesday on ESPN.

The full rosters including reserve position players and the full pitching staffs will be announced on another ESPN show at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 6.

Raleigh had the second-most votes among AL players in Phase 1 with 3,040,594, and he had a commanding lead over Kirk (1,210,173) at catcher. So it stands to reason he’ll have no problem securing not just his first All-Star selection by Wednesday, but earning the first starting nod by any Mariners player since designated hitter Nelson Cruz in 2015.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Raleigh owns the MLB lead in home runs (32) and RBIs (69). Through 79 games, the switch-hitting backstop has a .277/.384/.658 slash line for a 1.042 OPS, which is ahead of Ohtani (1.025) but trails Judge (1.180) for second in baseball. He’s also the reigning AL Player of the Week, an honors he’s won twice this month.

Even with weeks remaining in the first half of the season, Raleigh has already set a number of records for home runs before the All-Star break. That includes the most by a catcher and most by a switch-hitter, eclipsing records previously held by all-time greats Johnny Bench and Mickey Mantle, respectively.

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