Toronto Blue Jay Steve Delabar’s campaign to be voted in to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game is in great shape as of Monday morning.
The six-foot-four, 230-pound right-handed reliever leads the American League in votes for the final all-star slot, narrowly edging the Boston Red Sox’s Koji Uehara. According to an MLB press release, fewer than 600,000 votes separate the entire AL field (all of them relief pitchers), with New York Yankee David Robertson, Detroit Tiger Joaquin Benoit and Texas Ranger Tanner Scheppers also in the running.
Delabar’s specific initiative includes fans voting by tweeting out the hashtag #RaiseTheBar, and the response has been overwhelming.
Over 16 million votes have been tallied thus far with the results to be announced Thursday.
The campaign has had the full support of Delabar’s teammates as well, with many of the Jays sporting t-shirts in an attempt to get him into the mid-season classic at Citi Field, the home of the National League’s New York Mets.
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Delabar, a 29-year-old from Fort Knox, Ky., was acquired by the Jays on July 30, 2012 from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for outfielder Eric Thames, and has been strong this season holding opposing hitters to a .193 average while striking out 57 batters in 40 often high-leverage innings out of the bullpen.
He has mostly acted as the eighth-inning setup man for closer Casey Janssen.
