This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CLEVELAND -- José Ramírez and Steven Kwan are one step closer to representing the Guardians as All-Star Game starters for a second straight season. They were each named finalists to start in the Midsummer Classic on Thursday, following the conclusion of Phase 1 of voting.
Phase 2 will commence Monday at noon ET and run until noon ET on Wednesday. As a reminder, ballot totals will reset, and fans may vote once per day at MLB.com/vote, all 30 MLB club websites, the MLB app and MLB ballpark app. Winners will be announced at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, on ESPN.
Ramírez led AL third basemen in the first phase of balloting and finished third among AL players (2,777,085 votes), behind Aaron Judge (4,012,983) and Cal Raleigh (3,040,594). He and Boston’s Alex Bregman will face off in a head-to-head matchup in the second phase to determine who earns the starting spot.
Kwan finished fifth among AL outfielders in Phase 1, behind Judge, Riley Greene, Javier Báez and Mike Trout. Judge earned an automatic starting spot as the AL’s leading vote-getter, so Greene, Báez, Trout and Kwan will face off to determine the other two outfield starters.
“It's awesome that two of our guys are in the running to start, and they both earned it,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who will be part of Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s AL coaching staff. “They've had great years. They're a huge part of our team. They're great people. I love rooting for those two guys and all of our guys.
“I'm hoping that the fans do the right thing and they both get to start the game again.”
Ramírez (a six-time All-Star) and Kwan (who earned his first nod last year) each have a great case.
Entering Saturday, Ramírez led all Major League third basemen in average (.317) on-base percentage (.378) and stolen bases (21), and he was tied with Kansas City’s Maikel Garcia for first in hits (92). He ranked first among AL third basemen in slugging percentage (.514), and has logged 16 doubles, 13 homers and 38 RBIs. Ramírez also led Cleveland in each of those categories entering Saturday.
Kwan entered Saturday slashing .302/.366/.423 in 77 games this season. He ranked 12th in the Majors in hits (90), and the three-time Gold Glove Award winner was tied for the Major League lead in outfield assists (eight), with Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick and San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski.
Ramírez and Kwan earning starting nods would also come with multiple bits of history.
- Ramírez (a starter in 2017, '18 and '24) is vying to become the first player in Cleveland franchise history to earn four fan-elected starting nods. That would break a tie with Sandy Alomar Jr. and Kenny Lofton. He would also join some great company in baseball history among AL third basemen with at least four fan elections. That group includes George Brett (11), Wade Boggs (10) Alex Rodriguez (six), Cal Ripken Jr. (five) and Brooks Robinson (four).
- Ramírez is vying to join Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, Larry Doby, Ken Keltner and Bob Lemon in earning seven All-Star nods with Cleveland. Feller (eight) is the franchise’s all-time leader.
- Kwan is vying to become the first Cleveland outfielder to earn consecutive starting nods since Manny Ramirez (1999, 2000).
“It's super humbling,” Kwan said of being a finalist. “It's really humbling to have all the people voting for me. I had my mom and my dad, and I'm sure they were voting every day, getting those five in. So I appreciate everybody that made the time for that. It's a huge honor, and hopefully see what the next round has.”