I have to admit I was a little surprised Billy Butler was the Royals representative for the 2012 All-Star Game (unless Jonathan Broxton is voted in as the Final Vote) instead of Mike Moustakas or Alcides Escobar. After all, Moose was getting a lot of deserving All-Star voting attention and Escobar is having an All-Star kind of year. But I shouldn’t be surprised Butler got the All-Star nod over Moustakas and Escobar.

One, Butler is having another good year, which is Billy being Billy. It’s easy to take Butler for granted because he’s consistently good. His batting average is at .290 and his on base percentage is at .366. He leads the team in slugging percentage at .500, home runs with 16 and RBI with 48. Yes, his defense is bad and Eric Hosmer is a much better defensive first baseman. But the designated hitter is an offensive position, and Butler is an excellent hitter.

Another reason why Butler was picked over Moustakas and Escobar was the makeup of the American League All-Star roster and fan and player voting. For third base, Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre is a starter, voted in by the fans. Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera was voted in by the players, managers and coaches as a reserve. And compared to Moustakas, Cabrera is having a better year offensively, even if Moose’s defense is better than Cabrera’s.

As for shortstop, the Yankees Derek Jeter will be a starting A.L. All-Star shortstop until he retires. Cleveland Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was voted in by players, managers and coaches as a reserve shortstop. And Texas has a good shortstop in Elvis Andrus, who is one of the reserves picked by Rangers manager Ron Washington. In Escoabar’s case, he didn’t have the player votes Cabrera had, and it was natural for Washington to pick Andrus.

Three designated hitters are on the A.L. All-Star roster. Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz, another fan favorite like Jeter, is having a good year and will start. Next is Butler, who was selected by Washington. Finally, the Comeback Kid, Chicago White Sox DH Adam Dunn, who was voted in by the players, managers and coaches.

Butler is a first time All-Star and a deserving one. Moustakas is having a great year, but Miguel Cabrera is having a better year and is better known among his peers. One could argue Escobar was snubbed, but the players were more familiar with Asdrubal Cabrera and voted for him. If the Royals had a better record and more national attention, Escobar would have had a better chance to make the All-Star roster.

There is one more chance for the Royals to add another player to the All-Star roster. Closer Jonathan Broxton is on the A. L. Final Vote ballot. As of this writing, starting pitcher Yu Darvish is leading the A. L. Final Vote tally. To be honest, I doubt a lot of Royals fans will vote for Broxton. Yes, he has 20 saves. But those saves didn’t come easy and when he’s on the mound, fans wish for the halcyon days of Joakim Soria.

It’s a little disappointing the Royals have only one player on the roster, since the game is being played in Kansas City. But the Royals brought this on themselves. If they were playing better, there would be more Royals on the All-Star roster. The best way to get more players on an All-Star roster is the win the American League Pennant. For the Royals, let’s hope that’s sooner than later.

If, before the 2010 season began, someone told you Yuniesky Betancourt would start 151 games at shortstop for the Kansas City Royals during the season, you would probably assume something was about to go terribly wrong.

Well, the Royals did lose 95 games in 2010, finishing last in what many consider the weakest division in all of baseball.

But… over there at shortstop, Yuniesky Betancourt played pretty darn good.

In fact, he was one of the few bright spots for the Royals in 2010, and his performance virtually guaranteed his placement in the starting lineup in 2011.

Fans cried foul when the Royals traded away a promising pitching prospect for Yuni during the 2009 season. Many people considered baseball experts called Betancourt one of the worst, if not the worst, everyday players in the majors. And in ’09, he sort of looked like it.

But in 2010, Yuni actually came to play ball.

Offensively, Yuni was not the worst player in the majors. In fact, he was by many indicators the second-best hitter on the team in 2010. His final numbers include 16 homers which, sadly, led the team, a .259 batting average, 78 RBIs and a .405 slugging average. Yuni drew 23 walks in 2010, which was a career high for the free-swinger.

Defensively, Yuni actually wasn’t that bad. I don’t get into advanced sabermetrics much, but one that’s becoming more mainstream is “Total Zone – Total Fielding Runs Above Average.” Baseball Reference describes it as “The number of runs above or below average the player was worth based on the number of plays made.” Basically, that means the league average shortstop will have a Total Zone number of 0.

Betancourt’s number is -2, which means was slightly below average. That makes him the 17^th best defensive shortstop in the league.

Not too shabby for a guy considered the worst in the league just a year before.

(FYI – The player who won the American League Gold Glove Award for shortstop, Derek Jeter, ranks second-to-last in the majors, according to Total Zone numbers, with a score of -10. The best defensive shortstop in the majors? St. Louis’ Brendan Ryan, with a Total Zone number of +15.)

Betancourt also provided much-needed stability for the Royals at a crucial position. Only Oakland’s Cliff Pennington and the White Sox’s Alexei Ramirez started more games at shortstop than Betancourt.

For the 11 games Betancourt didn’t start, Mike Aviles was the guy (Willie Bloomquist played one inning at shortstop as a defensive replacement). We spoke about his numbers in the second base edition of this series.

As previously mentioned, there’s no reason to believe Betancourt won’t be the starter in 2011. His competition would probably include only Joaquin Arias, a recent waiver wire acquisition, although Arias projects as a backup at best.

Long-term, fans are hopeful first-round draft pick Christian Colon can skyrocket through the ranks and eventually join Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer as infield prospects.

Until then, we’re stuck with Yuni, for better or worse. He’s under contract through 2011 with an option for 2012.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey@i70baseball.com.