Rouse: KC Royals, All-Star game
Charles Rouse III, Sports Editor
BUTLER, DEJESUS BOTH DESERVING OF ALL-STAR HONOR, by Charles Rouse
KANSAS CITY – With the 81st major-league All-Star Game a fortnight away, fans in big league cities across this vast country are generously casting votes for spots in the starting lineup for their favorite American and National League stars. Because fan balloting is based more on popularity than real-time performance, the usual suspects are among the leading vote getters as the voting enters its final week. Not surprising, five members of the New York Yankees are either first or second in the balloting as of Monday in every infield position.
Also not surprising, nowhere among the top position-player candidates is a member of the Kansas City Royals. I say not surprising because the Royals, in recent years, anyway, always seem to be one of the bottom-feeder teams come midseason that don’t offer a whole lot to choose from in selecting an All-Star game representative. The situation is different this year, but Kansas City still will only have one token representative named to this year’s American League All-Star Game. and that’s only because the rules of All-Star game selection dictate that there be at least one representative from each team.
For most of the past decade, the Royals have been among the worst teams in both hitting and pitching in the American League, as reflected in their overall record of 672-948 (excluding the current season) since the 2000 season. This season, however, the Royals pitching is still in a sorry state, but offensively Kansas City is not only leading the American League but all of major league baseball, in games through Monday, with a team batting average of .281. Heading the Royals’ list of offensive standouts through the first-half of the season are first-baseman Billy Butler and rightfielder David DeJesus.
Both DeJesus and Butler are hitting above .300 – DeJesus at .331 and Butler at .314, through Monday’s games – and rank among the top 10 hitters in the American League. And closely behind them are Mike Aviles at .314, Scott Podsednik, .292, and Jose Guillen, hitting .282. In addition to hitting for a high average, Butler and DeJesus are at the top of the American League in two-base hits. Butler leads the league with 24, and DeJesus is only two back at 22. They both have scored 38 runs and driven home almost the same number: Butler (38), DeJesus (35).
So it’s pretty clear that if Kansas City is to have only one player named to this year’s AL All-Star roster, the decision for AL manager Joe Girardi (New York Yankees) will be between Butler and DeJesus, neither of whom has ever been selected for the All-Star Game. It’s going to be a difficult decision, for sure. Butler and DeJesus are both well deserving based on their play so far this season, but only one is going to the game. Who will it be? Who should it be? The answers to those questions could be very different.
This will be the 21st consecutive year that the Royals have sent only one player to the All-Star game. Not since 1989 has more than one member of the Royals roster been named as an All-Star selection. Pitcher Mark Gubicza and outfielder Bo Jackson were selected for the 1989 All-Star Game. Twice, in 1976 and 1978, four Kansas City Royals players were selected to play in the All-Star game, the most to be named in any one season in the team’s 42-year history.
Representing the Royals in the 1976 game were George Brett, Fred Patek, Amos Otis and Hal McRae.
In 1978, Brett, Patek, Darrell Porter and Frank White were named to the team. In addition, Whitey Herzog was selected as one of the AL coaches for the ’78 All-Star game. Between 1976 and 1988, Kansas City was guaranteed at least one All-Star every year. Brett, the only Kansas City Royal to be voted in to the Baseball Hall of Fame, was selected to the All-Star game 13 consecutive times over that span of years. Fast-forwarding ahead to this year’s midsummer classic, if it were your decision, who would you choose from the Royals? Billy Butler, David DeJesus, or perhaps another player, say Joakim Soria, who was selected for the 2008 All-Star Game?
Billy Butler (pictured left) is hoping to become Royals’ All Star
As stated earlier, the player most deserving and the one actually selected to the team will not necessarily be the same. Given his year-to-date performance numbers and the multiple ways he can be used in the course of a game, I believe DeJesus will get the nod from the Royals when Girardi makes his selections to fill out the AL All-Star roster for this year’s game. DeJesus offers greater versatility in that he can play all three outfield positions, he can be used as a designated hitter or as a pinch hitter, and he provides speed on the bases.
Although Butler could be used as a DH, his position in the field, first base, is probably the most hotly contested of all of the positions, with well-established names such as Justin Morneau (Minnesota Twins), Mark Texeira (Yankees), Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers) and Kevin Youkilis (Boston Red Sox) candidates for the same position. Butler could be used as a DH or pinch hitter, but he clearly doesn’t offer the versatility that DeJesus does. This year’s All-Star game will be played in an American League park, Angels Stadium in Anaheim, under AL rules (i.e., designated hitters) two weeks from today (June 13).
By the end of this weekend, we will know who is going to the 2010 MLB All-Star Game from the Kansas City Royals. Either way, it will be another one and done for the Royals, as well as a memorable first for the player to be selected.
Charles (Chip) F. Rouse III, the Kansas City Sports Examiner, has spent over 40 years working in and with the news media. Rouse, a journalist by training and a graduate of the University of Kansas, has served in the role of newspaper reporter; in addition to radio and television. To view Chip’s sports articles, including this one, on Examiner.com, please click here. He welcomes your comments at crouse@massappealnews.com.