Kris Bryant Is Also a 2019 National League All-Star!

June 30, 2019, by Michael Cerami Chicago Cubs

When the All-Star ballots were announced and the final vote began on August 26th, the Chicago Cubs had seven finalists in the field: Anthony Rizzo, Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber, Albert Almora Jr., Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, and Willson Contreras.

Only two of those players – Willson Contreras and Javy Baez – won starting roles this time around (by winning the final vote at their respective positions), but they are not the only Cubs participating in the event.

Kris Bryant has been given new life as a reserve!

Congratulations to @KrisBryant_23, who has been named to the NL All-Star team! pic.twitter.com/6Tm7m2pSKf

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 30, 2019

Here are the results of the final vote at third base for the National League:

Nolan Arenado: 51.9% — 734,170 votes
Josh Donaldson: 25.1% — 355, 178 votes
Kris Bryant: 23.0% — 326,036 votes

Bryant was not able to pull in as many votes as the starter, Arenado, or the runner-up, Donaldson, but he will be a reserve third baseman at the 2019 All-Star Game in Cleveland. And, hey, he deserves it! This season, Bryant is slashing .287/.398/.537 (144 wRC+) with 16 homers, a triple, 24 doubles, and 41 RBI before July 1st. That’s more or less on-pace with his best seasons in the Majors (2016, 2017), which, as you’ll recall earned him some shiny hardware.

This will be Bryant’s third All-Star game appearance out of four healthy seasons (plus, he would have easily made it last year, given the way his season started).

Of course, he’s not the only back-up at third base, as Anthony Rendon (deservingly) made it, as well. Donaldson did not. You can check out the full list of reserves and pitchers here, but no other Cubs made it (Anthony Rizzo is having a great season, but so is Josh Bell and Pete Alonso – that’s just a tough break).