Behind a strong push on social media by his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates and fiancée, Kourtney, Justin Turner holds the lead in the Final Vote to make the National League roster for the 2017 All-Star Game.
Turner’s 6.7 million votes have him ahead of Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant (second place), Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon (second), Colorado Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds and Miami Marlins first baseman Justin Bour.
The Dodgers partnered with the Kansas City Royals to aid Mike Moustakas in the Final Vote for final spot on the American League roster, and he too holds a lead with 4.4 million votes.
As of present time, voting for Turner can be completed at VoteJustinTurner.com (unlimited voting) and by texting N5 to 89269 (USA) or 101010 (Canada). Voting by text message is limited to 35 per phone number.
From 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT on Thursday, July 6, tweets with #VoteJT will also count. Voting concludes Thursday at 1 p.m.
Turner not being included on the NL roster when All-Star Game reserves were announced came as a surprise to many. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was critical of the team’s fan base for not voting Corey Seager and Turner as starters in the Midsummer Classic.
Turner enters play Tuesday batting .382/.472/.557 and ranks second in the NL in with a 3.7 WAR (FanGraphs). He’s 10 plate appearances shy of qualifying for the batting title and to lead the league in on-base percentage.
Should Turner win the Final Vote, he’ll join Cody Bellinger, Jansen, Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager at the All-Star Game. Considering Kershaw is on schedule to pitch Sunday, he may be replaced by Alex Wood, who inexplicably was also not included on the NL roster.
