The amount of All-Star votes A-Rod has is disappointing

Never mind the amount of Royals' leading in All-Star game voting. Never mind the fact that Miguel Cabrera isn't leading the vote at first base. Never mind the fact that A-Rod is "unpopular to fans outside the New York market." The fact that Alex Rodriguez is fifth among designated hitters is disgraceful.

Everyone has their personal opinions when it comes to A-Rod. Some have #FORG1V3N him, while others still call him a dirty, lying, cheating monster (lol). This past Monday, MLB released their newest update on the MLB All-Star Game votes. It shows that A-Rod, who did the thing yesterday, is fifth in designated hitter voting. He trails, notably, Victor Martinez, who has about half the number of plate appearances as Rodriguez, as Martinez has spent a large amount of time this season on the DL with a knee injury. I'll ignore the fact that Kendrys Morales is in first among designated hitters, because the whole "Kansas City All-Star voting" thing is just beating a dead horse, at this point. I'm contempt with the fact that Nelson Cruz has more votes than A-Rod, but Rodriguez should be ahead of Martinez and Edwin Encarnacion, for sure.

Looking at the stats, A-Rod is hitting .278/.384/.505 with a wRC+ of 147 (18th in the league among batters with at least 200 plate appearances) in 258 plate appearances. Meanwhile, Morales' slash line is .283/.344/.452 (122 wRC+ in 253 plate appearances), Cruz slashed .309/.370/.562 (162 wRC+) in 273 plate appearances, and Encarnacion hit .235/.319/.451 (113 wRC+) in 260 plate appearances. Martinez has only had 130 plate appearances, where he slashed .216/.308/.270 with a wRC+ of only 51.

Looking at the leading vote getters: Do you see who has almost as many votes as A-Rod? CARLOS-FLIPPIN'-BELTRAN. To compare to A-Rod's stats, Beltran slashed .250/.289/.402 in his first 218 plate appearances with a wRC+ of 87. Meanwhile, it seems that Beltran is taken out in the latter stages of every game for Chris Young, because Beltran has shown that he now struggles with every day outfield. Among other Yankees, Rodriguez has more votes than Beltran, Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Brian McCann, but they are all close behind him.

Not only does A-Rod have a great triple slash (and wRC+), but he is also one of the best hitters in terms of hitting the ball hard. Per FanGraphs, out of all hitters with at least 200 plate appearances, Rodriguez has hit the ball with soft contact only 9.2% of the time, trailing only Paul Goldschmidt (8.8%) and Chris Davis (6.9%). A-Rod hits the ball with medium contact 51.2% of the time (102nd in league), and he makes hard contact 39.6% of the time (16th in league).

Regardless of whether A-Rod's milestones are fine or "tainted" (stop), there is no excuse for the fact that A-Rod is fifth among designated hitters. If the Royals can do what they've done, and Yankees fans can sign the Yogi Berra petition from weeks past, then fans can give more votes to the guy who deserves it. If you agree, and want to help A-Rod get into the 2015 All-Star Game, click here to go to the voting ballot. Alex Rodriguez is coming towards the end of his career. Let's give the veteran a proper All-Star-sendoff.