Should the way players are selected for the All-Star game and Home Run Derby be changed?

Dan Wanser (Writer): @DanWanser

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Should the way All-Stars or Home-run derby
participants are selected be changed?

Should the way players are selected for All-Star festivities be changed? Right now everyone in America has the chance to vote their favorite players or the players they think are the best in their individual position into the All-Star game.
These players represent the MLB and are said to be the most elite players at their positions in the game today. For the Home-run Derby, one player from each league is chosen to be the captain of their leagues Home-run Derby team. This player gets to hand pick the team that he thinks could hit the most home-runs in the opportunities they get. Now the question is, is this the fairest way to make sure that the best players in the MLB get to represent their leagues in these All-Star festivities.

Every year two questions come up, "Did all the players that deserved to play in the All-Star game get to play?" and "Did the players that played in the All-Star game deserve to?" After the All-Star team is selected, there are a few players who are named "snubs" by the media. These are the players that the Media and other everyday people thought should have been playing in the All-Star game but were not voted in. If we switched the way that All-Stars were selected, you could make sure that the best players at their position, were the players that got to represent the MLB in the All-Star game.

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Now how would these players be selected? I personally think that it should be done the same way pitchers are selected. The managers of each team should get to pick the best players in the league at their positions, and these picks should be shown to the MLB to make sure that these players are the best. I think that the stats of the year they are currently having should also be taken into consideration. This would prevent fans from just voting in players they liked, and it would prevent injured players to be voted in when there are better choices. For example, Dominic Brown, outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, is second in the NL in homeruns. As of the last time the MLB had votes counted, Brown was not in the Top 10 in voting.

Now onto the Home-run Derby. Every year the "captains" of each league get to pick their team to compete in the Derby with them. Most times this works out very well, and the best Home Run hitters get to compete. However, I think that there is a better way. I think that the players who lead the league in Homeruns at the All-Star break (top 5) should get the first spots if they want to compete. If they don't then the captains should get to pick their team. This would get the games best Home Run hitters at the time of the competition to compete, and would make the team better.

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