A’s Shea Langeliers nears All-Star voting’s next round. Who else has a chance?
The three Athletics position players in the mix for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game remained in similar positions, with Shea Langeliers expanding his commanding lead among American League catchers, according to the second round of voting released by MLB.com on Monday.
With voting set to close at 9 a.m. Pacific time Thursday, Langeliers held a lead of nearly 600,000 votes over the second-place AL catcher with 1,414,697 votes. Toronto Blue Jays backstop Alejandro Kirk was second with 837,289 votes, while Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler was third with 484,290.
The top two vote-getters at non-outfield positions advance to the next round, meaning Langeliers is all but guaranteed to move on with nearly a 600,000-vote advantage and just four days of voting remaining.
The other two A’s position players in contention — first baseman Nick Kurtz and outfielder Carlos Cortes — stayed in similar positions since the first voting update was released last week and are still on the outside looking in to receiving fan-elected spots.
Kurtz ranked fourth among AL first basemen with 595,412 votes — about 300,000 behind second place and nearly 1 million behind the leader.
Cortes ranked 11th among AL outfielders with 348,317 votes. He trailed 10th place by nearly 300,000 votes and was about 400,000 votes shy of advancing to the next round, which includes the top six outfielders.
It would be the first All-Star appearance for Langeliers, Kurtz and Cortes.
While Phase 1 voting ends Thursday, fans will still have time to make their voices heard in Phase 2, when the top two players at each position and the top six outfielders will face off in head-to-head fan voting to determine the starters. The top vote-getter in each league during Phase 1 automatically earns a starting spot, though that is unlikely to affect any of the A’s hopefuls.
Backups and reserves will be decided by a combination of players’ votes and Commissioner’s Office selections.
Fans can vote up to five times every 24 hours on MLB.com’s website.
How well is Langeliers doing?
With Langeliers appearing to have locked up one of the two Phase 2 spots, attention has turned to who he will face in the head-to-head vote.
Langeliers leads all AL catchers with 19 home runs, 16 doubles and 79 hits while posting the second-best OPS among qualified catchers at .854, behind Dingler. He is also batting .271/.333/.521.
While Dingler has the stronger statistical case against Langeliers, he is unlikely to pass Kirk with only days left in Phase 1 voting. Kirk has played in only 11 games this season, though his popularity and Toronto’s large fan base have kept him in contention.
Langeliers’ recent slump, during which he has posted a .650 OPS despite maintaining good power numbers, could affect his chances against Dingler. However, his overall numbers still compare favorably with Kirk’s because of the disparity in games played.
Should Langeliers and Kirk advance to Phase 2, the statistical advantage would appear to favor Langeliers, making him the favorite to earn the starting spot. If Langeliers wins the job, he would become the first A’s catcher to start an All-Star Game since Terry Steinbach in 1989.
After the A’s went without a fan-elected All-Star from 2014 through 2024, Langeliers earning a starting spot would mark the second straight year the club has had one, following shortstop Jacob Wilson’s selection during his rookie campaign last season.
“Since I got here in ‘22, we’ve been building each year. As a core group, really coming together,” Langeliers told the Bee last week. “The culture in the clubhouse and the camaraderie as a team, it’s just building off the year before, getting stronger every year, and it’s starting to show.”
Could any other A’s make it?
Kurtz has the third-best OPS in the American League at .995, along with 35 extra-base hits and an MLB-best .439 on-base percentage. Even so, as of Monday he appeared unlikely to advance to Phase 2.
With Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — a five-time All-Star — leading the field with 1,458,461 votes, only one Phase 2 spot remains between New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice and Kurtz, who rank among the AL’s top hitters by OPS.
Rice has a 1.000 OPS with 22 home runs, the most for an AL first baseman. He is in second place in voting with 882,772 votes.
To earn the second Phase 2 spot, Kurtz would need to make up roughly 300,000 votes on Rice and 200,000 on Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami by Thursday. Murakami is currently out with an injury, while Guerrero has the lowest OPS among the top four candidates by a wide margin.
While his path to a starting spot appears unlikely, the 2025 AL Rookie of the Year and 2026 AL MVP contender is a strong candidate to be added when reserves and backups are selected by players and the Commissioner’s Office.
While Cortes is putting together a strong sophomore season, batting .276/.359/.436 with 16 extra-base hits and 22 RBIs, he is effectively out of contention for Phase 2 in a crowded AL outfield race. He also appears unlikely to earn a reserve spot because he does not yet qualify for the league leaderboard based on plate appearances.
No other A’s position players have received enough votes to be shown on MLB.com’s expanded standings.
Pitchers are not selected by fans, so A’s pitchers such as J.T. Ginn, who has a 3.16 ERA in 17 appearances, and Gage Jump, who has impressed with a 2.37 ERA and a 3-1 record in five starts since being called up, will rely on players and the Commissioner’s Office for All-Star selection.
This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 4:22 PM.
