Royals down to seven players in All-Star voting lead as Miguel Cabrera passes Eric Hosmer

Eric Hosmer looked up from the task at hand — wrapping a length of neon yellow tape around one of his bats — and let a look of resignation cross his face.

“What can do you do, dude?” he said.

Then he let the look depart and managed a smile.

“Who knows, man,” he said. “I’ve still got a chance to make it. So, we’ll see.”

Major League Baseball released the latest round of All-Star voting for the American League on Monday, and for the first time this season the Royals experienced a defeat at the polls. Seven Royals still occupy positions in the starting lineup, but Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera has surpassed Hosmer at first base.

Meanwhile, third baseman Mike Moustakas has a slim lead over Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson, who closed the gap between the two to a mere 33,000 votes.

Cabrera experienced a massive surge in the past week, with four million new votes. He now owns a 1.3 million vote lead over Hosmer.

With more than 10.1 million votes, catcher Salvador Perez remains the top vote-getter in the junior circuit. The Royals also still have leaders in shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon, designated hitter Kendrys Morales and second baseman Omar Infante. Despite his paltry offensive statistics, Infante actually extended his lead on Houston second baseman Jose Altuve to more than 400,000 votes.

There will be one more AL vote total release next Monday. The balloting will end at 10:59 p.m. Central time July 2. This is the first year All-Star balloting is being conducted entirely online at MLB.com. Up to 35 votes can be cast from one email address, and according to a Major League Baseball official, a person who receives an email reply after casting their first ballot that invites them to continue voting has cast a valid ballot.

The Royals are bidding to have a player voted into the All-Star Game lineup for the first time since 2000. The club’s takeover of the voting process has sparked outrage and debate across the country. At last this week, fans of other clubs appeared to transfer their opinions into votes.

On the merits, Hosmer does not possess much of a case to start over Cabrera. Hosmer is a sleeker fielder and a better base runner. But Cabrera is one of the game’s most devastating hitters. He carried a 1.043 on-base-plus-slugging percentage into Monday’s games, with 15 home runs and 51 RBIs. Cabrera led the American League in batting average (.346), on-base percentage (.450) and slugging percentage (.593).

Hosmer is having the best offensive season of his career. But he cannot match Cabrera in any of those categories. He took an .835 OPS into Monday’s game against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. Hosmer has little argument against Cabrera winning the vote.

“He’s a stud, dude,” Hosmer said. “You obviously know that. He’s one of the best to play the game, let alone the position.”

The Royals now enter an awkward period of waiting to see how the rest of the voting shapes up. It is, of course, a good problem to have.

“I think a lot of us just want to find out if we made the team or not,” Hosmer said. “It’s something fun to talk about. You’re talking about being an All-Star and potentially making the game. There’s a lot worse things we could be talking about.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 2:56 PM with the headline "Royals down to seven players in All-Star voting lead as Miguel Cabrera passes Eric Hosmer."