American League Roster For 85th All-Star Game Announced

The final roster for the American League All-Stars was announced on Sunday night and AL fans made a few statements about the current state of baseball. The National League roster was also announced.

As expected, the sentimental favorite, Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, will indeed make his 14th and final All-Star Game appearance as the AL's starting shortstop. Jeter is retiring at the end of the season and he will be reunited with his former double-play partner of nine seasons, second baseman Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners.

AL fans have decided to look the other way when it come to performance-enhancing drugs or at least when it comes to Nelson Cruz of the Baltimore Orioles. Cruz was elected to serve as the AL's designated hitter despite his 50 game suspension last year. It will be interesting to see if this is truly a change in attitude towards the steroid issue by fans or an anomaly.

Cruz is one of three Orioles elected to start for the AL, the most of any team in both leagues. Catcher Matt Wieters, who is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery, and center fielder Adam Jones will represent the AL East leading Orioles. Jones received a late surge in votes to pass Melky Cabrera of the Toronto Blue Jays and Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics to capture the final outfield spot.

"It says something about our fans," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter. "They're doing their part. They did a good job supporting our guys, but you don't get this without national support. It's tough to keep guys like this under the radar, because they're too good. We like the fact that other people around the country are getting something that we already knew."

Other AL starters are Catcher Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals who surpassed Derek Norris of the Athletics and Brian McCann of the Yankees to replace Wieters behind the plate, first baseman Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers who is making his 9th appearance and third baseman Josh Donaldson of the Athletics who is making his first All-Star appearance. Top All-Star vote-getter Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels will join Jones in the outfield.

AL Manager John Farrell will name the lineup and his starting pitcher on July 14. Masahiro Tanaka of the New York Yankees and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners are two of the potential starters that Farrell will have to choose from.

There is voting left to be done as fans still have the 34th man to elect for each team's roster. The candidates for the last man in the AL are Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros, Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians, Garrett Richards of the Angels, Rick Porcello of the Tigers, and Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox.

The 85th Major League All-Star Game will be held at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN on July 15, 2014 at 8PM EDT.

AL All-Star Roster By The Numbers:

Six total Athletics are on the roster for the first time since 1975 and are the most by any team.

25 first-time players are on the roster.

24 foreign born players are on the roster.

14 All-Star appearances for Derek Jeter are the most by a player on the AL roster

*Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles out for season with Tommy John Surgery.

**Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals selected to replace Wieters.