MLB ‘open to change’ All-Star game fan voting says Rob Manfred

As of Monday’s latest ballot update eight Kansas City Royals are slated to start for the American League in next month’s All-Star game, which has led to a debate about whether fans should have the power to pick who plays in the Midsummer Classic.

Count commissioner Rob Manfred among those willing to have that discussion. Manfred stated Tuesday that MLB could look at alternate methods to building the All-Star rosters in the future, but he won’t make any drastic changes just yet.

From the AP:

We have 16 days left,” he said. ”Lots of years we’ve worried about lots of things about fan voting, but in general fans have done a good job.

”We’ll see how it all turns out. … We are responsive and open to change if we get a result that is not consistent with the goals of the system that is in place.”

Manfred is right. The voting in the National League has been mostly reasonable and outside of a few outliers, the players that are voted in as starters are deserving. The biggest cause for controversy in the NL this year is Giants outfielder Nori Aoki edging ahead of Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton for a starting spot earlier this week.

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Kansas City is so struck by Royals fever right now though that they’re willing to overlook that Omar Infante has been statistically the worst hitter in the league and vote for him anyway.

It’s in the league’s best interest to have its biggest stars on the field at the All-Star game and having journeymen middle infielders like Infante in their place taking up valuable spots isn’t helping.

Could MLB alter its current voting system to keep this kind of situation from happening again? Maybe. But any changes won’t take place before next season at the earliest, meaning we’re still in line to have the Royals and Mike Trout (that’s a pretty good team, actually) take on the NL in Cincinnati on July 14.

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