How Ernie Clement earned incredible All-Star honor for Blue Jays originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Ernie Clement is going to start at second base in the 2026 MLB All-Star Game for the American League.
That’s an incredible honor for the fan favorite of the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s also a bit early to usually know this, but there’s a new MLB procedure that made this possible for Clement.
It’s also an incredible honor for a guy who couldn’t break through with Cleveland or Oakland before finding a home in Toronto.
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How does Ernie Clement already know he’s starting the All-Star Game?
MLB put in a new layer to fan voting from what used to exist.
The player who is the top vote getter in the entire league after a certain length of time locks in the starting spot.
For this round of voting, that honor got solidified on Thursday.
No one has had more votes so far in the entire American League than Clement:
Ernie Clement will be the American League’s starting 2B at the All-Star Game!
Clement earns an automatic bid after leading all AL players in Phase 1 voting. pic.twitter.com/bSovZJicBj
— MLB (@MLB) June 25, 2026
Clement made Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, so he’s been respected around the league for a while.
He doesn’t necessarily have an All-Star kind of game, a contact hitter who does the little things right. But he’s now an All-Star player, which is awesome.
