Blue Jays’ Smoak vaults to fourth spot on AL first base all-star ballot

Tim and Sid discuss how the Blue Jays are not taking advantage of Justin Smoak's play thus far and why John Gibbons hasn’t shaken up the lineup.

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak is enjoying a career season thus far and is now reaping rewards on the American League all-star ballot.

Smoak vaulted into the No. 4 spot among AL first basemen in the latest results, released Tuesday afternoon by the league. His 787,787 votes are behind Miguel Cabrera (831,289), Yonder Alonso (887,645) and the leader, Eric Hosmer (936,734).

The 30-year-old Smoak was not in the top 5 in the previous week’s results. He entered Tuesday leading all AL first basemen in WAR (2.2) and was second to Tampa Bay’s Logan Morrison in both home runs (20) and RBIs (46).

Other Blue Jays on the ballot include Josh Donaldson, who’s No. 3 among third basemen in the league and Troy Tulowitzki, fifth among shortstops. Jose Bautista is No. 9 on the outfielders ballot, while Kevin Pillar is 13th.

New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge leads AL players with 2.6 million votes.

Voting ends June 29 at 11:59 p.m. ET and the all-star game will be played July 11 at Marlins Park in Miami.

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