DURHAM, NC 鈥� Former St. Paul Saints RHP Tanner Scheppers (pictured)聽has a chance to represent the American League in the MLB All-Star Game next Tuesday. Now with the Texas Rangers, Scheppers has pitched exceptionally well out of the bullpen in 2013, but his spot on the A.L. roster hinges on a vote by the fans.
Scheppers made four appearances for St. Paul in 2009 before the Rangers purchased his contract and sent him to Double-A Frisco. He shot up to Triple-A that year before making his major league debut in 2012. Scheppers鈥� 2012 numbers were respectable, earning a 1-1 record with a 4.45 ERA, but he has really impressed this season.聽The right-hander holds a 5-1 record with a 1.88 ERA and opponents are hitting a lowly .205 off of him.
Those numbers have landed Scheppers in MLB’s annual Final Vote contest. For the 12th straight year, fans have the power to decide the final player selected to each league’s All-Star team.聽This year鈥檚 A.L. ballot consists of five right-handed relief pitchers: Scheppers, Toronto鈥檚 Steve Delabar, Detroit鈥檚 Joaquin Benoit, the Yankees鈥� David Robertson and Boston鈥檚 Koji Uehara.
Fans can vote online at MLB.com, via text message or on Twitter. To vote online, , select the player for whom you want to cast your vote, fill out the information at the bottom of the page marked by red asterisks and click 鈥渟ubmit your vote.鈥� 聽Online balloting ends at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 11.
To receive a text message ballot, text 鈥淰OTE鈥� to 89269. Once you have received your ballot, text your selection to 89269 using the proper message assigned to each player by Major League Baseball. You can find out how to text your vote for specific players 聽. In Canada, fans should text their votes to 101010. Text message voting also ends at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 11. Standard text message and data rates apply.
Finally, fans can vote using Twitter from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 11. Major League Baseball鈥檚 voting rules stipulate that 鈥渁ny tweet that includes a designated player hashtag will be tabulated as part of the overall vote total used to determine the American League and National League winners.鈥� Each player鈥檚 corresponding hashtag information can be found聽.
