ROYAL CANDIDATES

It is sign that the process is finally starting to show results.  Dayton Moore has verbally pounded us for six years, telling us to be patient.  If Royals stick to the process, eventually the process will net real results on the field.  Finally, we are seeing those results.  For the first time in many, many years, the Kansas City Royals have some actual, real, legitimate candidates for the Major League Baseball All Star game in Kaufman Stadium on July 10^th. 

The most deserving Royal, taking positions into account, in my opinion, is Mike Moustakas.  The 22-year old has been a consistent producer at the plate all season and his defense has been much better than anticipated.  Moose has 13 home runs, over 60 runs produced, and a .842 OPS.  Moustakas is in the top 5 among AL third basemen in numerous offensive categories.  The biggest problem for Moose is that there are two of the best offensive players in the American League playing third base.  Either Adrian Beltre or Miguel Cabrera will certainly be voted in as a starter and the other is certainly deserving of an all star roster spot.  Will Ron Washington choose to go with 3 players from the hot corner?  Royals fans have to hope so because that may be Moustakas’ only chance to make the team.

The second most deserving Royal is DH Billy Butler.  Unfortunately for Country Breakfast, David Ortiz is going to be the AL’s starting DH for the Midsummer Classic (on a side note, the Red Sox don’t deserve to send more players than Ortiz to the game).  On top of Ortiz being a lock, Chicago’s Adam Dunn has bounced back with 24 home runs in 2012 and could gain a manager’s selection and Toronto’s Edwin Encarnacion has had a terrific year for the Blue Jays.  Either of the players could snag the back up DH spot on the All Star roster.  Butler has 15 dingers, nearly 60 runs produced, and he sports a .868 OPS.  Butler is deserving but may lose out to either Dunn or Encarnacion.

This leaves shortstop Alcides Escobar.  Escobar is a spectacular fielder and this year he has added a valuable bat to his repertoire.  He is hitting a surprising .315 with 12 steals.  He only has 2 home runs but add in 2 triples and 19 doubles to complete his All Star resume.  Outside Derek Jeter, no shortstop has had a better all around season than Escobar.  It is because of this lack of league wide position depth that leads me to believe Escobar may be able to sneak onto the roster. 

A case could also be made for Tim Collins but for the first time in a long, long time, Kansas City has legitimate choices at several positions.  Usually, teams who have to be represented by someone and have few candidates end up sending their best bullpen performer.  This is the position the Royals have been in for years.  Maybe this year, we will get to see more than one Royal in the All Star game.  It would be a great reward for all of us fans who have suffered through all the losing.  Hopefully on July 10^th, there will be couple of boys in blue representing the Royals in Kaufman Stadium.

Before closing out, it is an interesting note that Billy Butler has publicly mentioned his desire to participate in the Home Run Derby.  Because of the Yankees and Rangers filling out a majority of starting spots, there may be a trickle down effect for players like Moustakas, Butler, and Escobar.  This situation could curtail any chances they had at being selected.  A solution may be to reward Billy Butler with a spot in the Derby instead.  As a Royal fan, this would be a great reward to have our home town guy on the spotlight.  

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