There are a number of factors in play here:

1) Billy Butler is having a career year while leading the team with 16 homers. He’s displaying the power that fans have expected to see from him for years now (even if they sometimes confuse homers as the only means of having power from time to time).

2) Kansas City fans have taken to Billy Butler. His unofficial nickname (recognized by ESPN, Baseball-Reference and even video games) is “Country Breakfast” and originated on Twitter on a fateful July night last year.

3) Robinson Cano said on two occasions that he’d take a player from Kansas City, the host. Twice. Then he didn’t.

4) Royals fans have always been less than accommodating to Yankees and their fans. Not in an antagonizing way, so much, but in the kind of way that has roots in the rivalry from the late-70s and has also been influenced by the widening gap in payrolls in baseball. New York is the biggest market of big markets. Kansas City is the complete opposite.

Had Cano said nothing about taking a Royal, there wouldn’t be nearly as much vitriol in his direction. Some may have been upset, some may have booed anyway. But there wouldn’t be nearly as many without Cano’s earlier declarations.

In the end, it’s not a very big deal. It’s an exhibition spun off of another exhibition. Nobody has incentives in their contract for the Home Run Derby. It’s fun to watch and impressive to see the massive shots and it would have been nice to see Billy Butler taking some hacks, but ultimately, it’s not the end of the world.

It still stings though. The Royals had multiple players who could have been All-Stars – maybe they weren’t all slam dunk options, but they had the chance. Instead, Butler was the lone representative and worthy of being in the Derby as well.

It’s not even about Mark Trumbo or Prince Fielder or Jose Bautista being selected over Butler. ESPN tried to make that the narrative, but nobody’s saying that that trio shouldn’t be involved. KC fans weren’t upset that any of that group was selected, just that they were selected after Cano said he was going to choose a Royal.

We’re a passionate bunch in Kansas City and in those small moments when we have some kind of spotlight on us (the 2003 mirage, Zack Greinke‘s Cy Young season in 2009, All-Star Weekend), we put all of our chips in the middle of the table. We’re all in. There aren’t as many of us as the mid-80s, but the folks who are still around care. And when we’re spurned, we’re not going to be thrilled about it. I told Ricky Keeler of FanSided’s Yankees site Yanks Go Yard that it’s like “being everyone’s doormat for two decades, then getting snubbed in [our] house.”

Does it really matter? Is Cano going to lose sleep over being booed? Is Butler going to be scarred for being looked over? Doubtful in all cases, but the level of confusion about why fans were booing shouldn’t be confusing at all.

But even in Kauffman Stadium, he’ll just be a spectator in the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

Captain Robinson Cano selected Mark Trumbo of the Angels, Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays and Fielder of the Tigers to join him on the field. It’s hard to argue too hard against any of those choices. Bautista has been a home run machine over the last few years, Trumbo was runner up in the Rookie of the Year vote last season and tied with Mike Moustakas in 2010 for the minor league lead in homers. Fielder has been an MVP candidate multiple times and in a full season, his low mark for homers is 28. Butler’s career high is 21.

That doesn’t stop Butler from being qualified and it doesn’t stop fans from being upset with Cano’s selections. Butler’s numbers justify a spot in the competition. Cano said last month that he would pick a Royal to be in the competition and after Butler was named as a reserve on the AL team it was expected that he’d take part in the derby in front of the hometown crowd.

I wouldn’t blame anyone for booing Cano during such an exhibition.

In the end it may not matter at all. Cano could have been pushed by Major League Baseball to go with someone else as a means of marketing the HR Derby. Maybe it was just lip service to answer a question in the diplomatic way. Would Cano say “no, I’m not taking a Royal”? Doubtful.

Some (like Sam Mellinger) had expressed concern that the different approach to a home run derby would mess with Butler’s swing for the rest of the year. Bobby Abreu entered the 2005 Home Run Derby with 18 homers and won. He only hit 6 the rest of the way and some suggested that he wasn’t making the good contact he was earlier in the year and blamed the derby. I’m not sure if that’s a big concern, because it didn’t give Cano problems last year or most other past winners. Abreu turned 31 years old in 2005 – his slow second half could just as easily be attributed to age. The Derby ended up as a nice excuse, though.

At any rate, Butler will be sitting in the grass at Kauffman Stadium a week from tonight, watching four other American League sluggers deposit baseballs in the fountains and the outfield concourse and threaten the Royals Hall of Fame in left field. He’ll start out on the bench on Tuesday and wait for a shot to get into the game.

Ron Washington should do everything he can to get Butler into the game. All-Star managers aren’t obligated to get every player in to the game, though they typically try. In the case of the hometown selection, it’s a good idea to try to get him in for an at bat and probably two. Royals fans are used to seeing their team overlooked. It’s flyover country, the team hasn’t been a winner very often and in some years, the good players just haven’t been that good. The last time the Royals had two all-stars was 2003. Nearly a decade of expecting just one player to represent Kansas City.

This year, it’s different. Butler is hitting well. He’s recognized as one of the best young hitters in baseball. He’ll get his chance to soak in the applause of the locals.

It just won’t be during the derby.

#CountryBreakfast cleans up at the plate. Photo Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

That noise has diminished a bit in 2012, though. Butler is hitting homers now, and he’s surely headed for a career year in that department. He’s doing this while not changing his approach too much, though he’s striking out more (15.2% vs. 13.7% over his career) and walking less (7.9% vs. 8.8% for his career), but it’s not a drastic change. His overall line sits at .297/.365/.516.

He has 16 homers after one today, his third highest career total but only five off of his career high of 21. Last year, he hit 19 homers. There have been mentions online that Robinson Cano, captain of the American League’s Home Run Derby team might want to choose a Royal and that could easily be Butler. He’s tied for 11th in the AL in homers along with Miguel Cabrera, Trevor Plouffe and Josh Willingham. He’s hit more than Prince Fielder, Mark Teixeira, Paul Konerko and Albert Pujols.

He’s on the way to a great power year.

That got me thinking about past Royals hitters and homers. The franchise is often an easy target since Steve Balboni‘s team record of 36 homers in 1985 is the lowest of all current franchises. The park has a lot to do with that, but there have also been years where Mike Macfarlane, Mark Teahen or John Buck led the team in homers. Butler’s 16 would have been enough to lead the 1969 and 1971 Royals and would have tied him for the 2010 team lead. It’s only July 1.

I dug up a list of Royals players with more homers than Butler at their all-star break. While it’s a nice walk down memory lane, it also demonstrates Butler’s performance this year as one of the best in team history. Notably, Jermaine Dye‘s 2000 was the last time a hitter was voted onto the All-Star team when he launched 22 homers in the first half. Bo Jackson also started in 1989 (famously) after hitting more than 20 homers before the Midsummer Classic.

Interesting note: Balboni at the all-star break in 1985 had just 14 homers. He finished the year with his notorious 36. Gary Gaetti, the closest to catching Balboni, had 17 at the break but had only played in 62 games. He finished with 35.

Butler has a week before the all-star break and has a chance to put himself in the top five of this list.

How close will he get to Balboni? He’s been a good hitter later into the year in the past, so we might be seeing signs of the start of something great. He may just be getting started.

*Through Saturday June 30.