The Royals have a Stewart-era record 10 players selected to the All Star Game, four pitchers and six position players.
On the pitching side, both Dusty Glick (2nd selection) and Cason Willard (1st) earn selections, while Juan Anaya (4th) and Luis Danys Rhodes (9th) are almost gimmes at this stage.
On the position players, infield wise, it’s a second All-Star appearance for C Nelson Saiz, 1B Luis Aceves earns his 4th call although has suffered a season-ending injury so will miss out on playing, and a first call for SS Luis Montelongo, who is repaying Stewart’s faith with 3.0 WAR over the first half of the season. In the outfield, it’s a full set as Mike Gronkiewicz earns a first call in LF, CF Jorge Corujo a second, and Bobby Nickelberry received the most fan votes, with over 4.2m, to earn his 6th All-Star selection.
SP Dusty Glick (KC) - 9-1, 3.22 ERA, 95.0 IP, 1.02 WHIP, 9.0 K/9, 2.1 WAR
SP Cason Willard (KC) - 7-2, 2.86 ERA, 107.0 IP, 1.09 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 2.7 WAR
RP Juan Anaya (KC) - 3-5, 2.61 ERA, 51.2 IP, 1.12 WHIP, 9.4 K/9, 1.4 WAR
RP Luis Danys Rhodes (KC)* - 7-3, 10 SV, 3.18 ERA, 56.2 IP, 1.20 WHIP, 9.7 K/9, 2.0 WAR
C Nelson Saiz (KC)* - .299/.411/.598, 251 AB, 19 HR, 167 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
1B Luis Aceves (KC)* - .276/.355/.509, 348 AB, 17 HR, 16 SB, 131 wRC+, 2.0 WAR
SS Juan Montelongo (KC) - .301/.366/.517, 236 AB, 11 HR, 6 SB, 136 wRC+, 3.0 WAR
LF Mike Gronkiewicz (KC) - .294/.365/.496, 357 AB, 16 HR, 40 SB, 131 wRC+, 3.3 WAR
CF Jorge Corujo (KC) - .315/.360/.439, 362 AB, 3 HR, 63 SB, 115 wRC+, 3.3 WAR
RF Bobby Nickelberry (KC)* - .314/.351/.618, 369 AB, 27 HR, 102 RBI, 2.8 WAR
Two ex-Royals received All-Star selections, both perennial selections for this game:
SP Greg Moehring (NYY)* - 6-5, 2.36 ERA, 118.1 IP, 1.06 WHIP, 10.5 K/9, 4.2 WAR
1B Juan Minnelli (SF)* - .323/.378/.535, 368 AB, 15 HR, 6 SB, 144 wRC+, 2.6 WAR
The American League fall 6-1 to the National League but not through lack of effort from tne Royals pitchers – Cason Willard and Juan Anaya the two selected to pitch an inning each, both giving up a walk but nothing more. Hitting wise, Saiz, Montelongo, Corujo and Nickelberry were all hitless, although Nickelberry did draw a walk. Gronkiewicz had more success, going 1-3 with a double.
It’s been a highly impressive first half of the season for the Royals with only Dave Forester, Arturo Oramas, and A.J. Terry failing to create runs above league average. Bobby Nickelberry and Jorge Corujo are back in the position of having a shot at Royal single season records for HRs and SBs respectively, while Nickelberry might have his eye on the RBI record as well.
The Royals pitching has been elite, with the six-man rotation working very well so far. All the Royals starters have a FIP- more than 10% better than the league average, with five of the six having pitched over 100 innings so far. In the bullpen, Bob Capozziello and Mike Krebs are the only two not to have a FIP- below league average, while Chris Cirry has a scarely believable FIP of 0.75 across his 22.0 IP.