After a whole lot of hoopla about the Kansas City Royals’ early dominance in 2015 All-Star Game balloting, the league announced the All-Star starters on Sunday evening and the groups look generally reasonable.

Obviously there are choices we can contend with, as there are every year. Only four Royals made their way into the AL’s starting squad, and none of them is so egregiously undeserving to merit getting riled up about. The Royals are a first-place team and the defending American League champion, after all.

And the top four players overall in total votes suggest baseball fans are just fine when it comes to appreciating great baseball players — no matter how frequently we lament the game’s general lack of transcendent national superstars. Check out this leaderboard:

1) Josh Donaldson (14,090,188 votes)
2) Mike Trout (14,013,021 votes)
3) Bryce Harper (13,864,950 votes)
4) Miguel Cabrera (13,834,271 votes)

Of that group, the presence of Donaldson — especially as the No. 1 overall vote-getter — stands out as most surprising. It’s not for a lack of performance: Donaldson has been just about the second-best position player in the game since the start of the 2013 season. But he doesn’t rack up any gaudy offensive stats and he hasn’t won any major postseason awards, and he doesn’t seem famous enough to get that type of recognition.

That he did speaks well of the voting public, because Donaldson is one of the most exciting players on the field every night. He has a ferocious right-handed swing that ropes line drives all of over the park, and he plays a thrilling style of aggressive, exceptionally good defense at third base.

Mike Trout (USA TODAY Sports Images)

Trout, meanwhile, has been the very best player in the game since the day he came up for good in 2012, and stands as perhaps the best young player in baseball history. By baseball-reference.com’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR), Trout ranks third all time among all players age 23 and younger — behind only Ty Cobb and Ted Williams. Ty Cobb and Ted Williams. And Trout’s still got half of his age-23 season to go, and will surpass both those scrubs by September if he maintains his current pace.

Baseball fans may not spend enough time talking about how great Mike Trout has been, but baseball fans do spend a lot of time talking about how great Mike Trout has been. Trout’s third straight year as a starter and massive 2015 vote total suggest people have started to catch on: The guy is incredible.

(Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

It’s no surprise Harper lands in the top 3, as he is now both an incredibly well-known player and an incredibly good one. Though he played well for his age in his first three big-league seasons, Harper was deemed overrated by some in the past even though he did not face a pitcher younger than him until earlier this season. But Harper now leads the Majors in both on-base percentage and slugging and already owns career highs in home runs, walks and RBIs.

Bryce Harper is fully happening now, and for that he earns his third All-Star appearance and second start in the outfield. He’ll need to keep doing this for way more than a half season to wrest the title of “best player in baseball” away from Trout, but he’s clearly making a bid.

(PHOTO: Carlos Osorio/AP Photo)

Cabrera won’t actually make the start next Tuesday, as he’s on the disabled list with a calf strain. But of the very small group of active Major Leaguers who could retire tomorrow and make the Hall of Fame, Cabrera is the only one still performing at his prime level. After an injury-hampered down year in 2014, the Tigers’ slugger has bounced back with an AL-leading 1.034 OPS in 2015. That figure would rank as the third best in Cabrera’s career, and Cabrera — again — has had a Hall of Fame career.

So give a hearty pat on the back to your local All-Star voter for preventing the ridiculous Royals brigade — and all the ban-the-ballot hot takes that would have followed — and for supporting a bunch of extremely good baseball players who deserve national showcases.