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Todd Frazier voted All-Star starter at third base

John Fay
jfay@enquirer.com

Reds third baseman Todd Frazier tips his hat to the crowd prior to the start of the second inning of a game against the Twins on June 29.

It's one of the great comeback wins in Reds history.

Todd Frazier, down by 2 1/2 million votes two weeks ago, was voted onto the National League All-Star team as a starting third baseman.

"I was nervous," Frazier said. "I was excited. It was a huge comeback. Definitely have a bunch of people to thank. Lisa Braun and Jamie Ramsey. All the fans out there took the time and effort.

"Right now, I'm Cloud 9."

The All-Star Game is in Cincinnati on July 14. That made it a bit sweeter for Frazier.

"When you're little playing in the backyard with your brothers — I have two older brothers I thought they'd by the ones — they taught me the ropes and helped me along the way," Frazier said. "Now, I'm the one. This is my second All-Star Game. It's going to be a great time.

"I have 14, 15 coming. They're excited."

Frazier made no secret that he thought he deserved to be elected. He's hitting .289 with 25 home runs and 54 RBI.

"I always have confidence in my abilities — even when I'm doing bad," he said. "I feel like that next swing is going to be the one to drive in a run or get a guy over. I've always had confidence.

"I give props to my dad. He always said act like you've been there before, do what you've done in the past."

Reds manager Bryan Price has made it clear he thought Frazier deserved to be the starting third baseman.

"It's a lot of good things coming together," Price said. "The fans, the community made a strong push for Todd. There's no doubt he would have been selected it if he wasn't a starter.

"That being said, I'm a big believer anyone who deserves to start should be on the team. I think he's the best third baseman in the National League. I think he deserving to start the game.

"I feel really good about the push."

In last week's final voting update, Frazier had closed to within just 62,980 votes of the Cardinals' Matt Carpenter for the starting spot at third base in the 2015 All-Star Game. He ended up defeating Carpenter by nearly 2.1 million votes.

The rest of the National League starting lineup is as follows:

C San Francisco's Buster Posey

1B Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt

2B Miami's Dee Gordon

SS St. Louis' Jhonny Peralta

OF St. Louis' Matt Holliday

OF Washington's Bryce Harper

OF Miami's Giancarlo Stanton

The American League starting lineup looks like this:

C Kansas City's Salvador Perez

1B Detroit's Miguel Cabrera

2B Houston's Jose Altuve

3B Toronto's Josh Donaldson

SS Kansas City's Alcides Escobar

DH Seattle's Nelson Cruz

OF Anaheim's Mike Trout

OF Kansas City's Lorenzo Cain

OF Kansas City's Alex Gordon