Call to the pen
Fansided

Royals fans, put yourselves in Omar Infante’s cleats

By Jordan Wevers

facebooktwitterreddit

Regarding the current All-Star Game controversy, Kansas City Royals second baseman Omar Infante inexplicably finds himself at the center of it. He did not ask for this and probably is recognizant that his name and the word All-Star should not even be uttered in the same sentence together.

As it stands now, the Royals are set to have eight starters in the American League lineup. There are two separate camps evolving with that trend. One, the ridiculous portion of Royals fans who are delusional enough to think that every single one of their players deserves to start for the AL and have no qualms with squandering a tradition that dates back to before WWII.

The second camp involves Royals fans who are still voting for Royals players but want to expose a flawed system, insistent that the only way to have it fixed moving forward is to fully break it in the first place. Enter Omar Infante, who is not only one of the worst hitting second baseman in the American League this season, but as it turns out, he currently is one of the worst position players starting in Major League Baseball in 2015.

The system that Royals fans who probably are in the minority of truly wanting Infante to start the Midsummer Classic are exposing is that any MLB fan with an email address can vote a minimum of 35 times on the ballot. Given that your average American typically has two email addresses to begin with — a work and personal one — and that signing up for a new account takes no more than five minutes for those intent on the agenda of voting 70-plus times, it’s clear a change now needs to be made.

More from Call to the Pen

But how many Royals fans are thinking of Omar Infante as a person in this situation? As a professional baseball player, Infante likely assumes the same level of pride and integrity in his craft as a carpenter, journalist or doctor would. If a poor job is done, peers or colleagues within their professional fields would be fully aware of incompetencies. That same level of accountability comes with playing professional baseball. Not only will Infante’s inclusion in the All-Star Game hold a certain level of guilt and embarrassment for the player himself, but it will scar the game and the tradition.

The asinine voting results extend well beyond Infante, too. Royals players like third baseman Mike Moustakas will be starting over Josh Donaldson, who is not only the best third baseman in the league right now, but is a viable candidate for an AL MVP at the moment.

Salvador Perez is an excellent catcher, but again, better options exist. The same can be said about Eric Hosmer at first base or Kendrys Morales, the Royals’ full-time designated hitter. More or less, every Royals player in their current situation can fall into this ‘undeserving’ category. The team is doing very well this season, but being elected to the All-Star Game is and has always been a personal accolade to be proud of.

Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon, thanks heavily to their defensive contributions, are considerably worthy of making the roster via the voting process. Cain’s current WAR of 2.98 ranks third among AL outfielder’s and 18th overall in MLB. Gordon’s 2.38 ranks 38th overall. Again though, it’s defense getting them those numbers. Neither has an oWAR mark above 2.0. If we filter those results accordingly, Cain’s overall rank drops to 38th (6th amongst AL OF’s) and Gordon plummets to 62nd overall (11th amongst AL OF’s).

Royals outfielder Alex Rios is another shining example of the flaws in the system. He has played in only 19 games this season and is hitting .214, yet according to the latest poll results as of June 15, Rios has the fourth most votes for any AL outfielder and only 1,991,517 fewer that Mike Trout, who isn’t even first.

Call to the Pen did a piece a while back on the potential lopsided ASG roster’s. That was over two weeks ago, and the results have not changed. They have rather become more incredulous. When someone like supposed NHL guru Don Cherry has to get on the air and advocate a position favoring Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson as a starter in the game, we have a problem.

More from MLB All-Star Game

In a day with constant selfies and social media accounts that reek of egocentric thinking and narcissism, such a thing as humility still exists. While Omar Infante might bashfully accept any bonus check that comes his way with being named to the All-Star roster, he cannot be proud of how that money came to him as a result of being the poster-boy for a catch 22 like scenario. He is a professional baseball player currently having his worst statistical season since entering the league in 2002.

Home field advantage for the World Series still is the reward for winning this game. AL manager Ned Yost needs to treat it as such, especially considering his club currently holds down first place in the AL Central. Yost will probably be the first to tell you that Infante starting in the game over Jose Altuve or Jason Kipnis does not put the AL contingent of players in the best position to win. Infante was an All-Star once before in 2010, but his first half numbers that season included a .332 BA, starkly contrasted by his current average of .210.

So go ahead Royals fans, keep stuffing the ballot box with whatever agenda you have. Don’t forget though, a human element still exists in this diluted age of internet and faceless usernames. Each All-Star club needs to have at least one representative from every team on it, so someone more deserving of a spot ahead of Infante et al. will inevitably be left off the roster. The democratic process has been known to ‘fail’ the masses before, but never could a single body vote 35-plus times for someone like President George W. Bush or Millard Fillmore.

MLB has pushed the hashtag ASGWorthy all season long on social media. Once the Midsummer Classic has actually been played at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati though, many fans won’t remember it as such. Instead, they’ll be pleading for ASGReform.

Next: Cardinals allegedly Patriots of MLB?

Home/MLB All-Star Game