How do you fix All-Star voting process that's become a Royal pain?

Second baseman Omar Infante of the Kansas City Royals is hitting .204 and leading American League second basemen in the All-Star voting.

If the voting holds and Infante makes the starting lineup for the game in Cincinnati next month, it won't be the first time a player has been the subject of national ridicule for making the All-Star team without impressive statistics.

Check out 1988 and Athletics catcher Terry Steinbach, who the fans voted into the starting lineup even though he was hitting .217 with five home runs.

Steinbach was hammered across the country as experts debated how the All-Star teams should be selected. Some things never change.

Ironically, the game was in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium.

"I'm not going to turn it down,'' Steinbach said at the time.

So what happened?

Steinbech drove in both AL runs in a 2-1 victory and was named the game's MVP. He hit a home run off Dwight Gooden and a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

It sparked him. Steinbach hit .317 in the second half and Oakland wound up in the World Series.

Check out this week's schedule for the Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox: Each is playing the Royals, better known these days as the American League All-Star team.

The Royals, defending American League champions, haven't had a starter voted onto the team since 2000, but they are making up for it this year, having turned Major League Baseball's new Internet-only voting process into a new wrinkle to the never-ending debate about how to select All-Star teams.

The Royals lead in eight of the nine voting positions and if the game were held today, there would be only one non-Royal in the lineup, outfielder Mike Trout of the Angels. Otherwise, Royals manager Ned Yost would have Salvador Perez, Eric Hosmer, Omar Infante, Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas, Kendrys Morales, Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain. Yost is legit, given managers from the previous year's league champion have always managed.

But even Alex Rios, who has played in only 18 games and hit .197, is fourth in the balloting. He's 700,000 votes ahead of the Orioles' Adam Jones, who is having an MVP-type season.

It is safe to say the system is messed up. It's also safe to say that no one has the answer.

MLB allows one fan - or make that one email address - to vote 35 times via the Internet. The Royals are following the rules, but in a chaotic way.

It's the sign of the times and the new-age Internet. MLB says that 80 percent of last year's votes came online and that 16 million paper ballots went to waste. That's not good for the environment.

So welcome to the high-tech age. And to think, this is how baseball will determine who gets home-field advantage in the World Series.

At this point, there isn't much that can be done. Infante, the Royals' second baseman, is the biggest mistake on the team. The Twins' Brian Dozier or the Astros' Jose Altuve would be better choices.

Some other options:

Perez is an up-and-coming catcher, but Toronto's Russell Martin or Oakland's Stephen Vogt are each having better years.

The most deserving at third base is the Blue Jays' Josh Donaldson with Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias and first baseman Miguel Cabrera also getting the vote at their positions.

Nelson Cruz of Seattle should be the DH, although would there be anything wrong with electing the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez? The outfield should be Jones, Trout and Michael Brantley of Cleveland.

There's no sure-fire way to pick an All-Star roster, even when they get expanded to 34 per team, which is too many players. But, that's another story.

The methods throughout the years have been in a constant state of flux.

In 1933 and 1934, the first two All-Star Games, managers and the fans selected the teams. From 1935 through 1946, it was left up to the managers. From 1947 to 1957, fans chose the starters and the managers picked the reserves and pitchers.

The 1969 season was the last time managers, coaches and players voted for the teams. In 1970, the vote was returned to the fans for the selection of the starters. Fans used to punch out cards at the stadium and then stuff them in a ballot box.

Now, they are doing it via the computer.

Don't like the system? Let us know what you would do to make it better.