MLB 2025 All-Star Predictions: Who Will Shine in Atlanta?

Early Selections for the 2025 All-Star Game: A Look at Possible Stars

Welcome to the most comprehensive coverage of Alofoke Deportes! We delve into the exciting world of baseball to analyze the possible selections for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game. Although there is still time until the official announcement, we can already envision which players could shine in the mid-season classic in Atlanta on July 15th.

As always, the usual rules will apply: 32 players per team, divided into 20 position players and 12 pitchers (at least three relievers), with a representative from each MLB club. Players will be considered for the position they appear on the official All-Star Game ballot.

Get ready to dive into the most powerful baseball league!

National League

Which National League veteran first baseman will get the starting vote for the All-Star Game: Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers or Pete Alonso of the Mets?

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Key Debates for Starting Pitchers

First base: Freddie Freeman vs. Pete Alonso

It seems that Freeman, whom I’ve called the new David Ortiz, will keep hitting until he retires or his legs eventually fail. Although his numbers dropped a bit last season due to injuries and his son’s health issues, he’s performing again and leads the National League in batting average (.354), is tied for first in doubles (20, with Alonso and Brendan Donovan), ranks second in OPS (1.024), and third in OPS+ (189). At 35, he’s as good as ever, perhaps better.

Alonso had a couple of soft All-Star Game selections in the last two years, managing to get in last season despite an OPS below .800 in the first half and in 2023, despite batting only .211 (though with 26 home runs). This season is shaping up to be his best overall campaign at the plate, even if he doesn’t reach the 53 home runs he hit as a rookie in 2019. He has reduced his strikeout rate, is batting around .300, and leads the National League with 61 RBIs thanks to a .356 average with runners in scoring position.

This is a toss-up, especially since Freeman was on the injured list at the beginning of this season. Both have also been incredible in high-pressure situations, with Freeman batting .303/.457/.606 and Alonso even better at .419/.525/.907. That’s it for me. Alonso gets the nomination.

Third outfielder: James Wood vs. Kyle Tucker vs. Fernando Tatis Jr.

The first selection for the outfield is easy: Pete Crow-Armstrong, who is making a strong case for the National League MVP thanks to his spectacular defense, his speed on the bases, and his surprising power at the plate (he leads the National League in WAR according to Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs) and could have an incredible 10 WAR season. The last National League player to achieve that: Barry Bonds in 2004. I don’t know if Crow-Armstrong can keep hitting so well, considering his chase rate (the third-worst in the majors), but pitchers haven’t yet exploited that aggressiveness.

Corbin Carroll gets the second nomination. There are no arguments against it. The following three are right there with Carroll, all deserving of being starters. Tucker is having another excellent season overall, hitting for power, getting on base, and stealing bases to get a fourth consecutive All-Star Game selection. Tatis has declined in performance after a hot April (1.011 OPS), but adds Gold Glove defense in right field.

However, my vote goes to Wood. The second-year sensation is batting .270/.366/.533 with 16 home runs, elevating the ball more often than last season (though with much more growth potential in that area) and showing elite numbers across his Baseball Savant page. Physically, the 22-year-old looks like Aaron Judge, and perhaps it’s a bit premature to point this out, but Judge batted .308/.419/.486 at 22… in High-A.

Second base: Ketel Marte vs. Brendan Donovan vs. Brice Turang vs. Nico Hoerner

Can we move a couple of these players to the American League? These four are very close in WAR, although they got there in different ways. Marte, last year’s starter, is having another monstrous offensive season, but missed a month due to a hamstring strain. Donovan is batting over .300 with a lot of doubles and adds flexibility by covering left field and shortstop. Turang and Hoerner are defensive wizards without much power, but they add enough offensive value by getting on base and stealing bases.

My vote goes to Marte. He is the best player in the group, and only injury stops him in the debate. He is batting .294/.418/.603 with 12 home runs in 39 games and has more walks than strikeouts, ranking in the 90th percentile or higher in walk rate and the lowest strikeout rate. What a fantastic player, often overlooked. Donovan comes in as a substitute, while Turang and Hoerner get the short end of the stick and are left off my hypothetical team.

National League Starting Lineup

Here is my starting lineup for the National League:

• C: Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
• 1B: Pete Alonso, New York Mets
• 2B: Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks
• 3B: Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
• SS: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
• OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
• OF: Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks
• OF: James Wood, Washington Nationals
• DH: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
• SP: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates

Smith is an easy choice at catcher. He is one of the 13 Dodgers catchers to be selected for an All-Star team in franchise history. Can any team match that number of All-Stars at one position? Machado and Lindor are the clear leaders in their positions, and Ohtani is matching his 2024 offensive prowess, minus some stolen bases. Skenes only has a 4-6 record and his strikeout rate has decreased by more than 6 percentage points compared to last season, but he has an ERA of 1.88 and is on track to start for the second time in his two seasons in the majors.

National League Reservations

• C: Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies
• 1B: Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
• 2B: Brendan Donovan, St. Louis Cardinals
• 3B: Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants
• SS: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
• SS: Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds
• OF: Kyle Tucker, Chicago Cubs
• OF: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
• OF: Juan Soto, New York Mets
• OF: Kyle Stowers, Miami Marlins
• DH: Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

Believe it or not, the humble Rockies have two reasonable All-Star candidates in Goodman and reliever Jake Bird. Bird has been good through 35 innings, but let’s go with Goodman as the backup catcher, given the lack of a strong candidate because players like William Contreras and J.T. Realmuto are having down seasons and others like Carson Kelly and Drake Baldwin are excelling, but in part-time roles.

Betts and De La Cruz get the nomination at shortstop over Trea Turner, Geraldo Perdomo, Masyn Winn, and CJ Abrams in a deep group of candidates. Betts is not having his best season, but he is one of the most outstanding players in the game and the others have not surpassed him enough to remove him from this list. The substitute designated hitter position comes down to Schwarber, Marcell Ozuna, and Seiya Suzuki, and the three are putting up good numbers, but Schwarber’s are a bit better.

And, yes, we managed to include Soto on the team, especially as he heats up with another three-hit game on Sunday (and three walks), raising his OPS to .820. Stowers represents the Marlins, pushing a third second baseman or Jackson Merrill, who could have made it if he hadn’t missed a month on the injured list.

National League Pitchers

• SP: Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies
• SP: MacKenzie Gore, Washington Nationals
• SP: Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants
• SP: Robbie Ray, San Francisco Giants
• SP: Kodai Senga, New York Mets
• SP: Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves
• SP: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers
• SP: Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers
• RP: Robert Suarez, San Diego Padres
• RP: Edwin Diaz, New York Mets
• RP: Randy Rodriguez, San Francisco Giants

Peralta enters as our Brewers representative, but it’s a worthy selection with an ERA of 2.69. He enters over Reds teammates Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott.

The game is at Truist Park in Atlanta, so it would be good to have more Braves on the team, but Sale is the only one I put on the list. Ozuna, Austin Riley, and Spencer Schwellenbach still have time to make the team, but the last time the Braves had only one representative in the All-Star Game was in 2017, when Ender Inciarte was the only selection. It would be a far cry from two seasons ago, when the Braves had eight All-Stars.

American League

Will Bobby Witt Jr. of Kansas City or Jeremy Peña of Houston be the starting shortstops in the American League?

Tim Warner/Getty Images

Key Debates for Headlines

Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr. vs. Jeremy Peña vs. Jacob Wilson

Here are your current statistics:

• Witt: .291/.349/.492, 8 HR, 135 OPS+, 3.4 bWAR, 3.5 fWAR
• Peña: .316/.373/.480, 9 HR, 139 OPS+, 3.9 bWAR, 3.2 fWAR
• Wilson: .372/.408/.528, 8 HR, 163 OPS+, 2.8 bWAR, 3.3 fWAR

Peña has been fantastic in helping to keep Houston’s offense afloat, which lost Tucker and Alex Bregman in the offseason and has been without a productive Yordan Alvarez. Peña has lowered his strikeout rate for the third consecutive season, and Baseball-Reference, which gives him the highest WAR of the three, loves his defense.

Wilson debuted last season with the A’s, but still has rookie status, which puts him on a potential path towards some historic numbers for a rookie. The last rookie to bat .350? Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. The only rookie since 1900 to bat .370? George Watkins in the 1930 trick ball season, when he batted .373 (and even then, he had only 424 plate appearances, so he wouldn’t qualify by today’s standards). The highest average for a rookie shortstop? Johnny Pesky with .331 in 1942. With eight home runs, Wilson is even hitting for more power than expected. However, his defense is not on par with Witt’s or Peña’s.

Witt’s home run numbers have decreased from last season, but he leads the majors with 22 doubles. With the weather warming up, some of those doubles should turn into home runs. His defense remains spectacular and he leads the American League in stolen bases. He’s a true star, and although there’s time for Peña or Wilson to surpass him, Witt should start his first All-Star Game in 2025, the first of many.

Opening Pitcher: Tarik Skubal vs. Kris Bubic

Skubal is making a strong effort to defend his 2024 American League Cy Young award, while Bubic has had a surprisingly dominant first half for the Royals. The numbers:

• Skubal: 6-2, 2.16 ERA, 83.1 IP, 61 H, 7 BB, 105 SO, 3.1 bWAR, 3.4 fWAR
• Bubic: 5.3, 1.43 ERA, 75.1 IP, 53 H, 22 BB, 79 SO, 3.5 bWAR, 2.5 fWAR

Bubic, who pitched in 27 games for the Royals last season, all in relief, is a 27-year-old lefty, a 2018 first-round pick from Stanford who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023. His fastball isn’t overpowering at 92-93 mph, but he has added more spin than before his surgery to improve his strikeout rate and his changeup is one of the best in the game (hitters are batting .100 against it). Although maintaining a 1.43 ERA isn’t likely, he’s been really good and not just lucky.

However, sticking with my analysis of “He’s Done It Before”, Skubal is the pick, and it’s hard to argue he’s not the best starter in the majors. That strikeout-to-walk ratio is incredible, plus he seems to be heating up, allowing only one run in his last three starts.

First base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. vs. Paul Goldschmidt vs. Jonathan Aranda vs. Spencer Torkelson

Meh. Guerrero has made four consecutive All-Star Game appearances, including three starts, but has benefited from below-average competition. First base in the American League has consistently lacked stars for a long time.

Anyway, the numbers… and, no, I didn’t have Goldschmidt on my bingo card either:

• Guerrero: .273/.380/.417, 8 HR, 29 RBIs, 1.7 bWAR, 1.4 fWAR
• Goldschmidt: .312/.369/.464, 7 HR, 29 RBIs, 1.7 bWAR, 1.6 fWAR
• Aranda: .320/.406/.490, 7 HR, 34 RBIs, 2.3 bWAR, 1.7 fWAR
• Torkelson: .237/.342/.500 15 HR, 45 RBIs, 1.4 bWAR, 1.5 fWAR

Aranda has the best batting lineup, although he only started 50 of the Rays’ first 64 games because he wasn’t playing against left-handers at the beginning of the season. He doesn’t have a batting record like this, but his Statcast metrics are impressive, including a 94th percentile hard contact rate. Goldschmidt was batting above .340 just a week ago, so he’s been in a slump, but after the worst season of his career, he’s been a pleasant surprise for the Yankees. Torkelson has the best power numbers of the group, but he’s the worst defender and has declined in performance after a good start.

I’ll stick with Guerrero as the starter. Nobody else has done enough, although any of the four could separate themselves from the pack with a hot June. I’ll make Aranda the substitute, a nod to his good start.

American League Starting Lineup

My American League starting lineup:

• C: Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
• 1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays
• 2B: Gleyber Torres, Detroit Tigers
• 3B: Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians
• SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
• OF: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
• OF: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians
• OF: Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
• DH: Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox
• SP: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Raleigh is the unanimous choice at catcher, and hopefully the fans will vote him as the starter. He leads in home runs and is on track to have one of the best offensive seasons for a catcher. Torres gets the nomination in a very weak group at second base, probably the weakest position in any league. Bregman was competing with Ramírez for the starting honors at third base until Bregman’s injury.

The American League outfield is also quite weak, with Judge as the only easy choice and Kwan as a distant second option. The third starter is up for grabs. Julio Rodríguez is the selection according to WAR, but his offensive numbers are still well below his first two seasons in the majors. Devers gets the nomination as designated hitter because, despite the bad start and the controversy over playing at first base, he is posting the best OPS of his career.

American League Reservations

• C: Logan O’Hoppe, Los Angeles Angels
• 1B: Jonathan Aranda, Tampa Bay Rays
• 2B: Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays
• 3B: Isaac Paredes, Houston Astros
• 3B: Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals
• SS: Jeremy Peña, Houston Astros
• SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics
• OF: Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners
• OF: Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers
• OF: Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees
• DH: Ryan O’Hearn, Baltimore Orioles

O’Hoppe is our Angels representative, and Lowe joins teammate Aranda on the All-Star roster. Paredes has had a good season for the Astros, although Junior Caminero is emerging strongly for the Rays, and Bregman will merit consideration if he can return soon from his hamstring injury. Greene has had a strange season for the Tigers with a large number of strikeouts, but he has been a mainstay in a Detroit lineup that has performed better than expected. Bellinger is one of many other candidates for the outfield. Any of the three Red Sox outfielders (Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela) could make it (Rafaela because of his defense), and Lawrence Butler of the Athletics is heating up after a slow start. O’Hearn makes it as the sole representative of the Orioles, and Alvarez’s injury opens up a designated hitter spot. Garcia was my final choice, having a good season for the Royals, batting above .300 while also starting games at second base and in the outfield.

American League Starters

• SP: Kris Bubic, Kansas City Royals
• SP: Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox
• SP: Max Fried, New York Yankees
• SP: Hunter Brown, Houston Astros
• SP: Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers
• SP: Carlos Rodon, New York Yankees
• SP: Framber Valdez, Houston Astros
• SP: Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox
• RP: Josh Hader, Houston Astros
• RP: Andres Muñoz, Seattle Mariners
• RP: Jhoan Duran, Minnesota Twins

Look at all those lefties! Besides Skubal, five of the other eight American League starters are left-handed. Brown and Fried have ERAs below 2.00 and could merit consideration to start as well; this is a very deep group of American League starters. Nathan Eovaldi is left out only because he’s on the injured list, but he’s expected to be out not for long and was as good as anyone, with an ERA of 1.56. It’s great to see deGrom back, and even if he’s not as dominant as in his peak days with the Mets, he still has an ERA of 2.12. Valdez gets the nod over Tyler Mahle and Joe Ryan, and Smith makes it as the White Sox representative.

For relievers, Hader didn’t make the All-Star Game last year, but he’s dominating again, going 17 for 17 in save opportunities. Muñoz had an ERA of 0.00 through May 30. Duran is 4-1 with 10 saves and an ERA of 1.19, part of a Twins bullpen that has been the best in the majors.