Yuki Yanagita led all players in the fan balloting for this year's Central and Pacific league All-Star Games, Nippon Professional Baseball announced Monday.
Yanagita, the center fielder for the two-time defending Japan Series champion Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, pulled in 521,685 votes to lead all players from both leagues. Tokyo Yakult Swallows second baseman Tetsuto Yamada, who hit his Japan-best 25th home run on Sunday, topped the CL fan ballot with 467,633.
The fan vote is the first part of the selection process. The top choices at each position in the players vote will be added to the roster on Thursday. Unlike the fans, the players don't vote for relief pitchers.