Breaking down All-Star teams selection process

Just to be clear, it is true that Major League Baseball's selection process for the All-Star teams is confusing. So, let's make it easy in four steps:

First, the fans vote for nine starters in the American League and eight in the National League, the AL getting one more because of the designated hitter. Then, the players determine nine AL backups and eight NL backups along with eight pitchers for both teams, which includes five starters and three relievers.

The third step belongs to the the managers, and they have to work around the rule that says every team must have a representative next week in Cincinnati. The AL manager, Ned Yost, picks seven players, including five pitchers and two position players. NL manager Bruce Bochy selects nine players. Each has to have a 13-man pitching staff. (The NL manager has two more picks because the AL has two DHs.)

The final step is currently going on now. Each manager nominates five players for the final vote. That player becomes the 34th player on each roster when the results are announced Friday.

- The AL roster is stacked with relief pitchers that work in the seventh and eighth innings, including Darren O'Day of the Orioles. For years, the middle-relief role on teams was saved for a starter with a tired arm or an underachieving reliever. Now, those pitchers are an invaluable part of a winning team. The first setup guy to make the All-Star team was Texas' Jeff Zimmerman in 1999. In 2001, AL manager Joe Torre selected Paul Quantrill of Toronto and Mike Stanton of the Yankees.

"The roster should never be all starters and closers,'' Torre says.

- The biggest pitching snub on the NL roster for pitcher was former Oriole Jake Arrieta, who has nine wins and a 2.80 ERA for the Cubs. The biggest position player snub for the NL is Maikel Franco, the Phillies' third baseman who is hitting .297 with a .351 on-base percentage and 10 home runs. The Phillies' representative is closer Jonathan Papelbon, and that in turn, left the Nationals' Drew Storen off the roster.

- The biggest snub - assuming you can have a snub with 34 players on a team - in the AL is Oakland pitcher Scott Kazmir, who has a 2.56 ERA and likely would have made the team if Yost hadn't selected his own reliever, Kelvin Herrera. The biggest position player snub is Alex Rodriguez, who turns 40 next month and is enjoying a resurging career as the Yankees' DH. He's got a .900 OPS and ranks among the top DHs in average, home runs, hits, on-base percentage and runs. Perhaps A-Rod's year-long suspension for PED use last year was too much for MLB to handle?

- The biggest surprise is Boston's super-utility player, Brock Holt. He's 27 and made his first All-Star team because of his versatility. He's played every position during the first half except pitcher and catcher, and is hitting .295 with a .383 on-base percentage.

- The biggest surprise on the NL roster is Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett, who is making his first All-Star appearance in what could be his last season. Burnett, at 38, has a 1.99 ERA and has seven starts where he's allowed one run or fewer. Only the Nationals' Max Scherzer (nine) and the Dodgers' Zack Greinke (eight) have more.