When you’re a professional athlete, being named to the All-Star team doesn’t really amount to much.
Sure, they might get a nice bonus cheque because of something in their contract and it gives them an ego boost (not that they need it), but other than that, being an All-Star means you have to play another game when other athletes in your sport have a few days off to enjoy themselves.
In other sports the All-Star game is for fun. Players don’t give 100 per cent because the game is meaningless. It’s more for the fans’ enjoyment. But in baseball, the winner of the All-Star game gets to host the World Series. While that may not be a factor to most of the players on their respective All-Star teams, you can bet it means something to the guys who have a chance to make it there.
While I personally believe the winning All-Star team hosting the World Series is incredibly stupid, that’s not the point of this column.
When Major League Baseball released the latest list of American League vote leaders for this year’s All-Star game, it showed Kansas City Royals players held seven of nine spots in the American League.
Detroit Tigers first baseman (and one of the best players in the game) Miguel Cabrera just took over from Eric Hosmer. The fact Hosmer is even in the discussion as a possible All-Star starter over Cabrera is insanity. Cabrera is a threat to hit the ball out of the ballpark every single time he comes to the plate. He had a down year last season due to injury, but seems to be back to his old self so far in 2015, leading the AL in batting average and on-base percentage (hits plus walks).
At second base, Omar Infante currently holds the top spot over the Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve by nearly 500,000 votes. In 229 at-bats Infante is batting .236 with no home runs and 22 RBI. He’s also sporting a .988 fielding percentage. Altuve, meanwhile, is batting .285 with five home runs, 29 RBI, leads the American League in stolen bases with 18 and has a .997 fielding percentage. “I’m surprised,” Infante said. “I don’t know if I have the numbers to be in the All-Star game, but if the fans vote for me, I have to respect that.” Even he doesn’t think he should be there.
While Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas has better numbers than the Toronto Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson in batting average (.328 to .298) and fielding percentage (.970 to .955), Donaldson has over twice as many home runs (17 to seven) and leads the American League in runs scored. Who is more deserving of being an All-Star? Voters have closed the gap significantly from last week, and it won’t be surprising to see Donaldson overtake Moustakas by next week.
Behind the plate, there’s almost no chance Salvador Perez isn’t named the American League’s starting catcher. He was nearly 5.5 million votes ahead of Toronto’s Russell Martin after the latest numbers were released. Hard to argue with him though, he was an All-Star last year and is one of the best young catchers in the game. He deserves to be there.
At shortstop, another Royals player appears poised to start for the AL as Alcides Escobar currently has a 2.5 million vote lead on Detroit Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias. I looked up the categories which Escobar appears in the top-10 in so far this year. Tied for fifth in hit by pitch, tied for second in sacrifice hits and seventh in at-bats per strikeout. Iglesias on the other hand appears in five, tied for seventh in defensive wins above replacement, ninth in singles, tied for second in caught stealing (not one you want to be near the top in), second in at-bats per strikeout and perhaps the one that’s easiest for casual baseball fans to look at, fifth in batting average. Both don’t hit for power, which isn’t surprising for shortstops, but there aren’t a lot of high-profile shortstops in the American League, so Escobar being the guy doesn’t bother me too much. At least it won’t be Derek Jeter.
The outfield obviously contains three spots for All-Stars and while LA Angels centre fielder Mike Trout might be at the top, the gap is much smaller than it should be. Trout does it all. He is one of, if not the best player in baseball right now. He hits for average, power, can steal bases, runs fast and routinely makes spectacular plays in the outfield. He finished runner-up in MVP voting twice before winning it last year and yet he is just 70,000 votes ahead of Lorenzo Cain who is the centre fielder for, you guessed it, the Kansas City Royals.
Alex Gordon, the left fielder for Kansas, sits in third nearly two million ahead of Detroit’s Yoenis Cespedes.
Lastly in the designated hitter spot, Kendrys Morales has a slim 300,000-vote lead of Nelson Cruz of the Seattle Mariners. Who’s more likely to hit a huge home run? My money is on Cruz, who has more home runs this year than Morales has the past two seasons combined.
In short, the Kansas City roster is full of All-Stars. Well, if you go by the votes, at least. In reality there are only a few of them who actually deserve to be named All-Stars. The rest are there because Royals fans clearly take this whole fan-voting thing more seriously than every other fan base.
Everyone loved the Royals last year when they were in the World Series against the San Francisco Giants, but I think patience is wearing thin with this whole voting debacle.
It’s not as big of an issue in the National League. Sure, the St. Louis Cardinals have a player in the top-five in every position, but they won’t catch guys like Bryce Harper in the outfield, Buster Posey behind the plate or Paul Goldschmidt at first base.
That’s why Major League Baseball needs to axe the fan-vote system for naming All-Stars. Yes, it shows fans really do take things to heart when it comes to their favourite teams, but it also makes the league look bad. If I wanted to watch the Kansas City Royals play I would pay $15 to watch a game at Kauffman Stadium, not $383 for All-Star Game tickets.
Have team broadcasters and baseball writers do the voting instead, and perhaps implement some sort of rule where they can only vote for so many players from the respective teams they cover, so as to avoid a situation like the one we’re seeing now.
