LOS ANGELES — Few players come to bat as often as Charlie Blackmon, the irrepressible leadoff man of the Colorado Rockies. Nobody in baseball has more hits or total bases — or, perhaps, a deeper appreciation for every swing.

On Sunday, Blackmon was named a starting outfielder for the National League All-Star team, collecting more than three million fan votes as a reward for a scintillating first half: a .313 average, 17 homers, 58 runs batted in and five steals to go with all those hits and bases. It was not the future he expected in 2007, the year the Rockies reached their only World Series, and the year he reached a crossroad.

Blackmon, now 31, began that year as a sore-armed afterthought of a pitcher with two low-round draft selections in his past. He ended it as a promising outfielder with speed and power who would soon become a second-round draft pick.

And he was still cleanshaven.

“He looks menacing now, but he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet,” said Rusty Greer, a former major league outfielder. “Back then, he was just a baby-faced kid who could run and swing the bat a little bit.”