As we get close to the 2015 All-Star game in Cincinnati, Ohio, the discussion in baseball has been about alleged hacking and how that impacts the way each roster is built. This is because the Kansas City Royals have dominated the voting, despite the fact that they don’t have the best players , at ever position, in the American League.
Kendrys Morales is the leading vote earner in the the AL, no…this isn’t a joke. (Courtesy of Fox Sports)
It currently looks like there will be eight Royals starting on July 14th, 2015. It’s generated a lot of anger from the fans of other team’s in the American League, as it’s pretty clear that Kansas City doesn’t have the top player at eight — of the nine — positions on the diamond. That being said, it’s up to the fans of the other team’s in baseball to vote and get their favorite players on the All-Star game roster.
So how would the AL’s All-Star roster look if the fans weren’t allowed to vote, and we used a neutral metric? We will use fWAR — Fangraphs’ WAR — to try and answer this question.
The top two first, second, and third basemen, along with the top two shortstops and designated; six outfielders, starting, and relief pitchers made our roster. Also included is a small sample of the players performance during the 2015 season: for qualified — more than 200 plate apperances — batters it’s their BA/OBP/SLG, for qualified pitchers — more than 25 innings pitched — its their ERA/FIP/xFIP.
Position players
| Player Name |
Team |
AVG/OBP/SLG |
fWAR |
Catchers
| Russell Martin |
Toronto Blue Jays |
.274/.358/.502 |
3.0 |
| Stephen Vogt |
Oakland Athletics |
.304/.399/.545 |
2.8 |
First base
| Miguel Cabrera |
Detroit Tigers |
.354/.457/.596 |
3.5 |
| Albert Pujols |
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim |
.270/.338/.566 |
2.3 |
Second base
| Jason Kipnis |
Cleveland Indians |
.351/.427/.516 |
4.6 |
| Brian Dozier |
Minnesota Twins |
.268/.343/.532 |
2.9 |
Shortstop
| Jose Iglesias |
Detroit Tigers |
.329/.380/.390 |
2.0 |
| Xander Bogaerts |
Boston Red Sox |
.292/.327/.450 |
1.8 |
Outfield
| Mike Trout |
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim |
.303/.387/.580 |
4.3 |
| Lorenzo Cain |
Kansas City Royals |
.290/.347/.437 |
3.0 |
| Keven Kiermaier |
Tampa Bay Rays |
.266/.347/437 |
2.8 |
| Yoenis Cespedes |
Detroit Tigers |
.304/.344/.502 |
2.7 |
| Alex Gordon |
Kansas City Royals |
.275/.392/.454 |
2.6 |
| Jose Bautista |
Toronto Blue Jays |
.249/.394/.520 |
2.6 |
Designated hitter
| Alex Rodriguez |
New York Yankees |
.289/.390/.533 |
2.2 |
| Prince Fielder |
Texas Rangers |
.346/.415/.539 |
1.9 |
Pitchers
| Player Name |
Team |
ERA/FIP/xFIP |
fWAR |
Starting pitchers
| Chris Archer |
Tampa Bay Rays |
2.10/2.23/2.45 |
3.4 |
| Chris Sale |
Chicago White Sox |
3.02/2.11/2.37 |
3.4 |
| Corey Kluber |
Cleveland Indians |
3.66/2.65/2.75 |
3.0 |
| Sonny Gray |
Oakland Athletics |
2.09/2.69/3.32 |
3.0 |
| David Price |
Detroit Tigers |
2.42/2.82/3.45 |
2.8 |
| Dallas Keuchel |
Houston Astros |
2.17/3.05/2.87 |
2.5 |
Relief pitchers
| Dellin Betances |
New York Yankees |
1.21/1.28/2.00 |
1.8 |
| Roberto Osuna |
Toronto Blue Jays |
2.10/2.12/3.36 |
1.0 |
| Zach Britton |
Baltimore Orioles |
1.92/1.88/1.87 |
1.0 |
| Cody Allen |
Cleveland Indians |
3.77/2.04/3.02 |
1.0 |
| Wade Davis |
Kansas City Royals |
2.84/2.32/2.32 |
1.0 |
| Glen Perkins |
Minnesota Twins |
0.29/1.82/2.85 |
1.0 |
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Published by Neil Roberts
Proud alum of Washington State University, crazy sports nut, and drinker of beer.
View all posts by Neil Roberts
[…] the story that’s been dominating the American League’s all-star voting has been the dominance of Kansas City fans, the story in the National League has been the fact that […]