Ernie Clement is collecting All-Star votes as if they were hits in October. Clement, the Toronto Blue Jays second baseman, was the surprise leader among American Leaguers in the balloting update released by Major League Baseball on Monday.Clement, who set a record for hits in a postseason with 30 last fall, is the only AL player with more than 2 million votes so far. The only National Leaguer with more votes, naturally, is Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with 2.3 million for the designated hitter spot.Ohtani is a four-time Most Valuable Player, a six-time All-Star and a global sensation. Clement was waived and released before joining the Blue Jays three years ago, and wasn’t even on the All-Star ballot last summer.Clement had 2,054,130 votes, about 80,000 more than the next-closest AL player, Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez. Through Sunday, Clement was hitting .292 with a .751 OPS and an AL-best 20 doubles. His closest AL challenger among second basemen, Ezequiel Duran of the Texas Rangers, has just 531,182 votes.
AL All-Star voting leaders PositionPlayerTeamVotesCShea LangeliersAthletics1,414,6971BVladimir Guerrero Jr.Blue Jays1,458,4612BErnie ClementBlue Jays2,054,1303BJunior CamineroRays1,310,879SSBobby Witt Jr.Royals1,701,407OFAaron JudgeYankees1,788,499OFMike TroutAngels1,735,051OFByron BuxtonTwins1,106,264DHYordan AlvarezAstros1,974,459
