NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani became the first player elected to start at designated hitter in four straight All-Star Games, joined by New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge as the only holdovers in the lineups announced Wednesday for the July 16 game at Arlington, Texas.
Philadelphia could have three of the four National League infielders after fans voted shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Alec Bohm to start alongside first baseman Bryce Harper, whose status is uncertain because of a leg injury.
Major League Baseball said this is the first time each league has had no more than one player repeat as an elected starter since fan balloting resumed in 1970.
Six teams have two starters each: Yankees outfielder Juan Soto was voted in alongside Judge, who gained his berth last week with Harper as the top vote-getters in the first round of balloting. The second round was from Sunday until Wednesday.
Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman and shortstop Gunnar Henderson were elected along with Houston second baseman Jose Altuve and DH Yordan Alvarez; Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez and outfielder Steven Kwan; San Diego outfielder Jurickson Profar and Fernando Tatis Jr.; and Milwaukee catcher William Contreras and outfielder Christian Yelich.
Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte also were voted in.
Philadelphia last had three elected infielders in 1982 with Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt and Manny Trillo. Harper went on the injured list on June 28 because of a strained left hamstring but could return ahead of the All-Star Game.
Tatis hasn’t played since June 21 because of a stress reaction in his right thigh bone and may be sidelined past the All-Star break.
Pitchers and reserves will be announced Sunday.
Ohtani is an All-Star for the fourth straight season but first since leaving the Los Angeles Angels for a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. He was an unprecedented two-way All-Star from 2021-23 but isn't pitching this season while he recovers from reconstructive elbow surgery.
David Ortiz started at DH in three straight All-Star Games from 2011-13.
Altuve earned his ninth All-Star trip and sixth as a starter, Ramírez his sixth selection and third as a starter and Guerrero his fourth overall and third as a starter.
Alvarez, Bohm, Contreras, Henderson, Kwan, Profar, Rutschman and Soto are among eight first-time starters. Soto is making his fourth All-Star trip, his first for the AL.
No players were elected to start from the host Rangers, who had four starters at last year's game at Seattle: second baseman Marcus Semien, shortstop Corey Seager, third baseman Josh Jung, and catcher Jonah Heim.
Profar became an All-Star for the first time in his 11th big league season. He remained on the free-agent market until a week into spring training before agreeing to a $1 million, one-year deal with the Padres.
In the closest NL vote, Tatis (15.36%) edged the Dodgers' Teoscar Hernández (15.26%) and the Phillies' Brandon Marsh (14.73%) for the third outfield spot. Turner beat out injured Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts 51-49%.
In the AL, Alvarez edged Baltimore's Ryan O’Hearn 52-48% at DH and Kwan beat out the Orioles' Anthony Santander 28-26% for the final outfield spot.
During the first round of voting from June 5-27, Guerrero trailed Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle, Hernández topped Tatis and Betts was ahead of Turner.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Baltimore Orioles' Gunnar Henderson (2) celebrates a single against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Detroit Tigers during the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, June 24, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
New York Yankees Aaron Judge is congratulated in the dugout after scoring against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, June 28, 2024, in Toronto. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani celebrates his go-ahead two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Jenn Tran can't stop thinking about being the first Asian American lead in the history of “The Bachelor” franchise — not that she wants to.
“I think about it every day, all the time. I think if I pushed it aside, that would be such a dishonor to me in who I am because being Asian American, that’s me,” the 26-year-old aspiring physician assistant tells The Associated Press.
A Vietnamese American woman reigning over Bachelor Nation marks a significant moment for the reality TV dating behemoth. Historically, fewer roses on “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” have gone to contestants of color. The roses that were handed out often came with plenty of thorns, including racist social media commentary.
Tran's season doesn't debut on ABC until Monday, but it's already received some criticism for having few suitors of Asian descent. Still, Tran — who made it to the final six in the last “Bachelor” season starring Joey Graziadei — is embracing her unconventional search for love as an opportunity to share her bicultural upbringing.
“My mom and I speak a lot of Vietnamese together. And I can’t wait for people to see that. That’s not something that people have seen before,” Tran says.
“The Bachelor” has been a mixed bag when it comes to showcasing Asian cultures. In 2019, “Bachelor” lead Colton Underwood went on a group date over Singaporean street food. The mostly white contestants made gagging noises and Colton, who is also white, made a toast “to weird food.” The outing drew some backlash and even a Washington Post column.
Tran, whose season has already completed filming, assures that the show has handled her Vietnamese identity respectfully.
“There is a small scene in the beginning in my intro package where I talk to my family about leaving as a bachelorette and there they cooked a big, big Vietnamese meal,” Tran says. “I hope ... I’m exposing people to something that’s different than them. And so that can incite change and that can incite acceptance into people.”
Non-white contestants and leads, including Black trailblazers Rachel Lindsay and Matt James, have historically been met with hostility from the majority-white Bachelor Nation audience. Longtime host Chris Harrison left the franchise in 2021, under fire over his handling of a racism controversy in an interview with Lindsay. Rachel Nance, who is Filipino and Black and outlasted Tran on Graziadei's season, tearfully recounted in March getting “hundreds” of DMs and comments using racial slurs for both Black and Asian people. (Some viewers were disappointed that host Jesse Palmer did not call it racism but instead asked viewers to temper their “strong opinions.”)
Tran hasn't been immune to the same treatment. She gets racist comments “every day" on Instagram and TikTok, she says. Her approach is to simply ignore it, though it isn't easy.
“Social media is like this platform for all these people just come at me all at once and it’s a new feeling. It’s overwhelming. And unfortunately, that’s the world that we live in right now,” Tran says. “I hope that people are more open-minded and that they open their hearts up to this truly.”
Tran's star turn has definitely piqued the interest of Asian Americans who don’t typically watch “Bachelor” programming, however. One is Vi Luong, 27, a Vietnamese American social media influencer/content creator who has only watched “The Golden Bachelor.” She's never been interested in the younger incarnations.
“I’d say 90% of my friends are Asian and yeah, they’re kind of like in my boat where they’ve never really cared until now,” says Luong, who is based in Irvine, California. “The bad rhetoric I was seeing was like, ‘Oh, she’s a diversity hire.’ Maybe but, like, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. ... Tapping into a whole different demographic — I think it's a smart choice."
Luong has already received invites to watch parties happening within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Luong, whose boyfriend is white, wants to see how Tran and the show handle interracial dating and any culture clashes. She's also looking forward to how Tran's mother handles the boyfriend meet-and-greets.
“This is where I’m like, ‘Oh, this might get really interesting,’” Luong says. “If there’s something you have to know about Vietnamese people, is we are very, very blunt people, very direct people, especially our parents' generation.”
The star herself says her mother has only watched Vietnamese reality TV shows. Tran isn't sure how her parent will react to whatever makes it to air — but her mother wasn't shy during filming, which Tran thinks will make for good TV.
“There are some concerns and things that she brought up because of our Vietnamese culture. So that’s something that I’m excited for people to learn about,” Tran says. “She really was just trying to wrap her head around it all.”
Only a few of the 25 men vying for her affections appear to be of Asian descent, and only one is Vietnamese American. The franchise's dearth of Asian men has been an ongoing gripe: The “Bachelor” universe, which debuted in 2002, didn't have an Asian contestant until the 2016 season of “The Bachelorette.” Jonathan, a half-Scottish and half-Chinese technical sales rep, entered in a kilt and was primarily remembered for a crude punchline implying that his Asian side wasn't as manly.
In response to the lack of Asian men, Asian American production company Wong Fu Productions made two parody “Bachelorette” skits in 2017 and 2018. Collectively, the YouTube videos, one of which features a pre-“Shang Chi” Simu Liu, have amassed more than 9 million views.
Philip Wang, co-founder and video director, plans to check out Tran's journey. He called her casting “a net positive move” but hopes the series avoids any stereotypical tropes.
“Ultimately the bachelor/ette shows are very white leaning/adjacent so it’s an uphill battle to shift that branding/audience...if it’s even worth it," Wang wrote in an email.
In a wide-ranging interview last month with the Los Angeles Times, the showrunners who took over from creator Mike Fleiss last year addressed the franchise's troubling history with race. They acknowledged falling short in responding to concerns of the few non-white leads and online bullying, and acknowledged Tran should have had more Asian suitors.
As for if any of those suitors put a ring on it, Tran will not confirm.
“I can tell you that I'm happy with the way things ended,” she says with a smile.
Besides romance, Tran also feels that she found her voice on “The Bachelor” franchise. She has been candid about wanting to break a streak of toxic relationships. She hopes viewers will see an Asian American woman unafraid to advocate for what she knows she deserves.
"Throughout this journey I really learned to stand up for myself because if you don’t, nobody else will,” Tran says. “I hope that women will see that and will resonate with that and will understand that it’s okay to have a voice and in fact, that makes you stronger in who you are.”
This image released by Disney shows Jenn Tran during the taping of "The Bachelorette," premiering Monday, July 8 on ABC. (John Fleenor/Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows Jenn Tran, a contestant on "The Bachelor." (John Fleenor/Disney via AP)
