Nationals barely visible in All-Star voting

The Nationals may be in first place in the National League East, but they are not well-represented in the 2014 All-Star Game voting.

Actually, they're barely represented at all.

In the most recent All-Star balloting figures, Bryce Harper is the only Nationals player listsed among the top vote-getters. He sits in 15th place among NL outfielders, and has amassed 680,930 votes.

Harper has missed nearly two months recovering from surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb. Before his injury, Harper played in 22 games and was hitting .289/.352/.422 with nine RBIs.

He appeared his first minor league rehab game on Monday with the Potomac Nationals, which was his first competition since surgery. Harper went 1-for-1 with a single and a walk in three innings of play, and told MASNsports.com's Byron Kerr that he would play five innings on Tuesday following his outing on Monday.

Nationals skipper Matt Williams said that he anticipates Harper will play in about a week's worth of rehab games before returning in early July. If Williams' plan pans out, Harper would be able to participate in the July 15 game, but that seems very unlikely at this point.

However, Harper does have a chance to appear in the Home Run Derby, and is one of 10 candidates eligible to be selected by fans. Harper has been able take swings in batting practice, and was reportedly putting plenty of balls in the seats.

Voters will have the opportunity to elect their favorite starting players up to 25 times at MLB.com until Thursday, July 3 at 11:59 p.m. The 2014 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show will be held during the weekend of July 5-6. The game will be played July 15 at Target Field in Minneapolis.