Surprisingly, the Baltimore Orioles, who have struggled mightily this season, have one of their players among the top vote-getters in the first round of MLB All-Star voting results, which were announced Monday, June 16.
Orioles star Ryan O’Hearn, who leads American League designated hitter vote-getters, is ahead of New York Yankees designated hitter Ben Rice by over 120,000 votes in early voting. This, though, probably doesn’t happen without the Rafael Devers trade to the San Francisco Giants this past weekend.
Ryan O’Hearn Tops AL All-Star DH List After Rafael Devers Exit
Devers, who has garnered the most votes as the AL designated hitter, now plays in the National League for the Giants. In a recent “Foul Territory” podcast, O’Hearn gave a shoutout to the chief baseball officer of the Red Sox.
“I just wanna shoutout Craig Breslow real quick,” O’Hearn said. “Appreciate you, man.”
“I just wanna shoutout Craig Breslow real quick. Appreciate you, man.” 😂
Ryan O’Hearn leads among AL DHs in All-Star voting after the Red Sox traded Rafael Devers. pic.twitter.com/izBJQ43rhK
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) June 17, 2025
The All-Star Game field will be reduced to two players at each position (six for the outfield) between now and June 26. That’s due to a multi-phase voting method that MLB implemented a few years ago. Each starter among those who make the first-round cut will then be decided in a second round of voting.
It appears that O’Hearn will advance to the second round, where he will need to defeat Rice or the first-round runner-up. Fans may still select players as reserves if they are not selected as starters.
O’Hearn is batting .306 with 10 home runs, nine doubles, 27 RBIs, an .881 OPS and a 1.6 WAR through 59 games this season, putting him on pace for a career year across the board. Devers, meanwhile, is batting .272 with 15 home runs, 18 doubles, 58 RBIs, a .905 OPS and a 2.3 WAR.
According to initial vote results, Jackson Holliday is the only other Oriole who has a chance of advancing past the first phase. With 449,093 votes so far, New York Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres is ahead of the O’s second baseman.
Second baseman Jose Altuve of Houston, who has received 446,787 votes so far, is only slightly ahead of that. Altuve has been an All-Star nine times.
Devers was the overwhelming choice to start as the designated hitter for the AL in the All-Star Game before he was traded. According to the MLB update released a week after the voting opened, Devers received 796,382 votes from Red Sox supporters throughout his tenure with the team. That was double the number of votes received by O’Hearn.
The Red Sox believed that a contented clubhouse would be preferable to a disgruntled Devers. Boston team president Sam Kennedy told reporters Monday night that it was impossible for Devers to stay with the organization because he refused to switch positions.