Tanaka Masahiro Leads All Star Votes?

Yes, you're reading that correctly. Like Matsuzaka in 1999, Tanaka is riding his Koshien success.

Tanaka's Koshien nemesis, Waseda's Saitoh, is responsible for a pre-game sales sell out at Jingu for the showdown between Waseda and Keio universities for the spring league. (Waseda needs one win in these final two games. A Keio sweep will mean a one game playoff.) And it's been announced that Yu-chan may not even start the first of this coming two game match up.

Koshien heros come along every few years. Last summer we had two battling it out in the final - twice (as the first final ended in a tie).

As mentioned, Matsuzaka took first place in voting as a high school graduate rookie in 1999. There have been none since. Before Matsuzaka (according to Nikkan Sports - paper edition) was Ohta Koji of the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1970.

There's still a long way to go in voting. And it's still very rare for a high school rookie to be the top vote getter in the end. But I wouldn't rule Ma-kun out. While that Koshien hero persona shines brighter than his ERA, to many voting fans, that's more important. (I leave the judgment call on that to each individual.)

Just like in the US, the All-Star Game/Series is, of course, a fan popularity contest. Sure, the actual best players also get voted in, but in recent years you would always see players like Kiyohara and Shinjo - one washed up, the other a mediocre showboat - among the top vote getters. Like someone said, Koshien success is huge, so that explains Tanaka's current number of votes.