Freeman gets spot over Puig in All-Star vote
First baseman Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves topped Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig in fan voting for the final spot on the National League roster and reliever Steve Delabar of the Tornto Blue Jays received the nod in the American League for Tuesday night's All-Star Game in New York's Citi Field.
A record 79.2 million votes were cast during the past week at MLB.com, teams' official websites and Twitter for the last player on each team, surpassing the previous best of 68.6 million in 2009. The results were announced Thursday.
Freeman secured his first All-Star berth with 19.7 million votes, winning a close battle with Puig, the Dodgers rookie who has taken the NL by storm in a little more than a month in the big leagues. Both Freeman nd Puig received record support, surpassing the 15.6 million votes that Shane Victorino totaled in 2009.
Freeman is having the best season of his four-year career, batting .307 with nine home runs and ranking ninth in the NL in RBIs with 56 in 78 games. Puig, meanwhile, is batting .394 with eight home runs and 19 RBIs in 35 games but will be shut of the All-Star Game unless he is named as an injury replacement.
"It's unbelievable," Freeman said before the Braves-Reds game on Thursday night. "I'm kind of speechless. I wouldn't be here without the fans and I just saw that it's 19.7 million votes. It's incredible and it's just a dream come true."
Delabar became the first Toronto player to be voted in for the last spot. He received 9.6 million votes to top fellow relievers David Robertson of the New York Yankees, Joaquin Benoit of the Detroit Tigers, Koji Uehara of the Boston Red Sox and Tanner Scheppers of the Texas Rangers.
