The Astros’ Jose Altuve voted into All-Star game

Jul 4, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Houston Astros second baseman

(27) runs out a single during the ninth inning of the game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Red Sox won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Before the All-Star Announcements

This has been an exciting All-Star voting season, which officially ended on July 2. This has been the first season that hand ballots were not used at baseball stadiums to select the All-Star starters. The vote has solely been done via MLB.com and Kansas City Royals’ fans took full advantage of this system voting “Royal Blue” this season, and at one time had eight Royals leading the votes. Other team’s fans started seeing what the Royals’ fans were doing and started voting and spreading the word. Some of the Royals starters were dethroned but did they regain their crown at the end of the voting process?

While there has been much discussion on most positions on the AL All-Star team.The biggest controversy tended to be at second base where Jose Altuve had the early lead, then fell behind to a below average player in Omar Infante. The AL second base starter has been discussed across the nation as people tried to justify how someone with zero homers and hovering around a .200 batting average could be beating Altuve. Astros social media has made a big push to get Altuve in as the starter, because otherwise he might not make the team with Jason Kipnis having a great year.

That’s the problem with voting “Royal Blue,” because it denies more deserving players a chance to play in the game. I am a die-hard Astros fan, but I only voted for my hometown players who deserve to go. The second half 2014 Chris Carter would have got my vote, but this 2015 version of Carter is one I would not vote for. Luis Valbuena has 19 home runs, but he should not get any of Josh Donaldson‘s votes.  It wouldn’t surprise you too much that I did vote for Carlos Correa to be an All-Star, I wrote about it here, Carlos Correa Should be on the 2015 All-Star Team.

With this being said, let’s look at who was selected to the 2015 AL All-Star team.

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