Follow @RoyalsBlue_com The Royals are in the midst of one of their best stretches of the season, sadly at just 5-4 in their last nine. However, at 27-52, they have the second-worst record in baseball, including the worst road record (11-27), are off to one of their worst 79-game starts in franchise history (third worst), and have won just four series in 2019. Such a season would lead one to think that the team may not have a legit All-Star candidate, like in year’s past. Not this year. The Royals have some position players deserving for the All-Star Game – as they have MLB leaders in hits, triples and stolen bases – but due to their poor overall season, they’ll likely get just one in. Let’s dive in. Major League Baseball tweaked the selection process this year. The ballot includes two phases of fan voting to determine the All-Star Game starters: the Primary and the Starters Election. The previous voting process had the top vote-getter at each position during a single voting period advance to the All-Star starting lineup. Now, the top three vote-getters at each position in the American and National League (and top nine in the outfield) advance from the Primary round to the Starters Election. On that list is Hunter Dozier, who maintained his third place spot on the ballot during his recent stay on the 10-Day Injured List. He will now go against the Astros Alex Bregman and the Yankees Gio Urshella in the 28-hour voting “The Starters Election” period, beginning 11 AM Wednesday and ending 3 PM on Thursday. The winner at each position (including three outfielders per League) will be named a starting position player for the 2019 Midsummer Classic. The winners of the Starters Election will be revealed Thursday at 6 PM on ESPN. The full All-Star rosters will be announced Sunday, June 30 at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN. *** While Dozier is higher in the voting, Whit Merrifield, who surprisingly did not make the final cut, while Dozier did, as he is a more established name, is the Royals most-likely candidate to represent the Royals. He has “done it” for a few years, now, and was deserving to make it last year, where he ended up as only the second player since World War II to lead the league in hits and steals (his second straight year as steals leader). This year, he’s the MLB hits leader (100), and ranks fourth in the AL in runs (56), 10th in batting average (.303) and eighth in SB (11), and he ranks 24th overall in the MLB Player Power Rankings. Merrifield’s versatility could provide a little extra value for AL Manager Alex Cora (Boston), as he has played four positions this year. wHIT has played right field one more time (36) than he has played second base (35) this season, but he is on the ballot as a second basemen, so we will compare him there. While he ranks fifth among the 11 qualified (which does not include finalist Jose Altuve, who was recently on the IL so does not have the required minimum in plate appearances) in HR (11), he ranks: 1st: Runs (56)2nd: AVG (.303), OBP (.350), SLUG (.506), SB (11)3rd: OPS (.856)4th: RBI (40), WAR (2.0) Altuve just returned from injury and is easily having the worst year of his career (.251/.330/.479, 10 HR, 22 RBI, 1 SB) and is competing with the Angels Tommy LaStella (.297/.350/.498, 15 HR, 43 SB) and Yankees DJ LeMahieu (.331/.380/.495, 10 HR, 51 RBI) for the starting nod. If Altuve doesn’t win the vote, he shouldn’t make it, leaving the other loser, the Rays Brandon Lowe...