Winning a World Series championship hasn't diminished Royals fans' enthusiasm for a midseason exhibition.
A year after their online voting proficiency briefly saw Kansas City players hold the lead at eight of nine positions on the American League ballot, Royals fans are off to a strong start in the 2016 campaign.
MORE: These guys could be first time All-Stars
The first All-Star Game voting update, released Tuesday by Major League Baseball, features Royals catcher Salvador Perez as the league's leading vote-getter and Kansas City players among the top two at their positions across the board.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez leads the AL in fan balloting for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game presented by MasterCard. pic.twitter.com/lpjHfWsvfH
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) May 31, 2016
Perez's 1,094,942 votes are nearly three times the total of second-place Brian McCann of the Yankees and nearly 50,000 ahead of retiring Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz for the overall lead. First baseman Eric Hosmer and outfielder Lorenzo Cain also hold down starting positions at the moment, and deservedly so given their numbers to date.
But the rest of the starting position players are also within striking distance despite ugly or incomplete resumes so far in 2016.
Second baseman Omar Infante (.618 OPS), third baseman Mike Moustakas (.240 average, .801 OPS in 27 games), shortstop Alcides Escobar (.612 OPS), DH Kendrys Morales (.568 OPS) and outfielder Alex Gordon (.650 OPS) currently are running with the second string at their positions. Paulo Orlando isn't far behind at eighth among outfielders; he has been impressive so far with a .382 average and .903 OPS but has played in only 28 games.
Chances are, fans around the league will rally by the time voting ends in early July and make sure the likes of Jose Altuve, Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Mike Trout end up starting for the AL on July 12 in San Diego. But Royals fans have shown they won't back down easily.
