Cardinals News: All-Star voting, Tink Hence activated, & the Cardinals first All-Star

Here's a quick roundup of some news items related to the St. Louis Cardinals from the past few days.

St. Louis Cardinals have zero players in the top-three for All-Star voting.

Historically, All-Star voting has favored players in big cities. This makes it challenging for a player who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals to make it in via fan vote. Typically, players for the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, or Chicago Cubs lead voting regardless of their performance.

However, the St. Louis Cardinals have several viable players who should be recognized for their first-half efforts via an All-Star appearance. First and foremost of those players is Brendan Donovan. Donovan leads all qualified National League second basemen in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, wRC+, and extra base hits. One would think he's also leading in All-Star voting, but that isn't the case.

As of Monday, Donovan was fourth behind Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tommy Edman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs. Donovan has received only 326,787 votes up to this point. No other Cardinal player is in the top five for his position. Not a single Cardinal outfielder is in the top-20 candidates either.

For a team that has sent only one representative to MLB's summer festivities in each of the last two seasons, it's important to have players donning the Birds on the Bat in Atlanta this July.

Fans can vote here for their favorite Cardinals.

Tink Hence returns to Double-A Springfield following an injured list stint to start the year.

Tink Hence, St. Louis's No. 3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, started the 2025 season on the Injured List due to a rib cage strain. He was activated from the 60-day IL on Tuesday, and he will make his 2025 Double-A debut on Friday, June 20th.

Hence will report to Double-A Springfield as he works his way back up in his rehab. In his five starts between the Florida Complex League, Palm Beach, and Peoria, Hence threw 10.2 innings. He struck out 10 batters and allowed only two earned runs in the time for an ERA of 1.69. Hence's fastball averaged 95 MPH towards the end of his rehab, and he pitched 3.2 innings for High-A Peoria in his final start there.

Hence will likely stay in Springfield for quite a while as he ramps up and goes deeper into games. He could find himself making his Triple-A debut by the end of the year with the Memphis Redbirds, though.

Chris Conroy, Assistant Athletic Trainer, is the St. Louis Cardinals' first official 2025 MLB All-Star.

While All-Star voting for Cardinal players hasn't gone well so far, the organization already has one person tabbed to represent them at the 2025 All-Star Game. St. Louis Cardinals' Assistant Athletic Trainer Chris Conroy will be a part of Dave Roberts's staff in Atlanta this year.

Conroy is in his eleventh season with the Cardinals as a trainer.

The last trainer to represent the Cardinals was Director of Medical Operations and Head Athletic Trainer Adam Olsen, as Olsen was also chosen to be the National League's head trainer at the 2021 MLB All-Star Game.