Braves reliever Luis Avilan suggested All-Star voting rely on nominations made by players before the Braves’ game against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
“The players pick a list of baseball players we think deserve to go to the All-Star game and then the fans can vote (from) those specific players,” Avilan said. “It’s not fair for a guy that’s doing a really great job, but he’s not like a high-prized (player) for the fans.”
Avilan isn’t the first to propose a player-nomination voting structure, and he’s definitely not the first to voice concern with the current system that allows fans to pick the starters. MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred said Tuesday that he’s open to changing the voting process if this year’s results aren’t “consistent with the goals of the system that is in place.”
Kansas City Royals fans are fine with the system in place.
If polls had closed Monday when the latest American League voting update was released, seven of the eight AL starting position players and the designated hitter would be Royals. Mike Trout is the exception, currently sitting between Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon as the top three AL outfield vote-getters.
Catcher Salvador Perez has the most votes of both leagues, sitting pretty at about 7.2 million. His numbers, compared with those of other AL catchers, justify a selection — .290, 10 homers and 29 RBIs.
But second baseman Omar Infante (.221, zero homers, 17 RBIs) leads Jose Altuve (.290, five homers, 28 RBIs) for the starting spot by more than 300,000 votes, and designated hitter Kendrys Morales (.278, seven homers, 41 RBIs) leads Nelson Cruz (.331, 18 homers, 41 RBIs) by about 550,000 votes.
The National League is more balanced, with five teams represented among vote leaders in the update released yesterday. No Brave is among the top five vote-getters in the infield or top 15 vote-getters in the outfield.
“Fans like to be a part of it, so they get their say,” A.J. Pierzynski said. “And every other league has the fans (as) part of it.”
Pierzynski is right. All four major sports (baseball, NBA, NFL, NHL) rely at least in part on fan voting for their All-Star game.
But it’s safe to say baseball’s version has the most weight, as it has determined which league gets home-field advantage in the World Series since the extra-inning tie All-Star game in 2002.
Fan voting was actually banned from 1958-69 after an investigation revealed Cincinnati Reds fans stuffed the ballot boxes. Today fans can essentially do the same thing online, as each email account can vote 35 times.
Shelby Miller, Jace Peterson and Dana Eveland all said they’re OK with fans voting, but they’d prefer the players, coaches and managers have a much greater say in who makes the 34-man roster. Under the current system, players and All-Star managers choose reserves and pitchers, and fans choose each league’s final player with the “Final Vote.”
“Obviously the Royals fans are into it. … We all know who’s deserving (to be) All-Stars,” Miller said.
The Royals’ Ned Yost and the Giants’ Bruce Bochy will be the All-Star managers July 14 at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
And Yost’s lineup might not look much different from the one he puts up every day.
