Manfred on 8 Royals leading All-Star vote: 'We are responsive and open to change'

Commissioner Rob Manfred says he's willing to explore potential changes to the All-Star selection process should the fans vote eight Kansas City Royals into the American League's starting lineup.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is the only non-Royals player currently projected to start the July 14 game in Cincinnati, though Manfred says it's too early to draw conclusions.

''We have 16 days left,'' he told reporters Tuesday. ''Lots of years we've worried about lots of things about fan voting, but in general fans have done a good job."

Omar Infante became the eighth Royals player to lead voting at his position after passing Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve in Monday's ballot update released by the league.

Infante, who gained more than 450,000 votes over the last seven days, joins seven of his teammates in the AL lineup, which will be managed by Royals skipper Ned Yost. The 33-year-old Infante is currently in the midst of the worst season of his career, batting .204/.213/.283 with the lowest OPS (.496) in the majors among 166 qualified players.

''We'll see how it all turns out," Manfred continued. "We are responsive and open to change if we get a result that is not consistent with the goals of the system that is in place.''

Fans elected seven Reds to start the 1957 game in St. Louis, but after concluding half the fan ballots came from Cincinnati, baseball commissioner Ford Frick added Willie Mays and Hank Aaron to the NL lineup in place of Reds outfielders Gus Bell and Wally Post.

- With files from The Associated Press