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.

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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