The initial 2025 MLB All-Star rosters have been released, the product of the collaborative process between fans, players, and the league. So how did this combination do?
We already know that some of these selectees won’t be appearing in Atlanta due to injury, and replacement choices will be announced in the coming days. By the time this entire process is over, we could end up with anywhere from 70 to 75 All-Stars for this season.
These first-draft rosters contain 65 players with the odd number stemming from the decision to send Clayton Kershaw to the festivities as a “Legend” pick. I don’t have much issue with this as baseball’s newest member of the 3,000 strikeout club has earned everything he gets. However, there is always plenty of nitpicking to do when it comes to All-Star rosters and there are always snubs to acknowledge so let’s get into it.
2025 MLB All-Star Rosters Are Set
American League Snubs
The Minnesota Twins only representative on the initial rosters is outfielder Byron Buxton, a worthy selection of course. Joe Ryan is 8–4 with a 2.76 ERA and he fell into a group of similar performers including Kris Bubic of the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers duo of Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob DeGrom. Bubic and Degrom made it, which is deserved.
Ryan and Eovaldi did not make it, and both were arguably a little more deserving than Bryan Woo, who is 8–4 with a 2.77 ERA, nearly identical to Ryan’s numbers. Woo plays in a more pitcher-friendly park, and the under-the-hood metrics favor Ryan. However, if this is the biggest discrepancy, the process worked really well, as Woo has had an outstanding year as well.
The every-team-gets-a-player requirement, along with positional requirements, always knock out worthy performers from teams with multiple candidates. There are a few picks on the position side of things that may have gone differently without these rules the MLB has set.
The Tampa Bay Rays are playing well and they probably deserve more than one player. Their most deserving pick, infielder Jonathan Aranda, made it and so did veteran second baseman Brandon Lowe. Infielders such as J.P. Crawford, Isaac Paredes, and Zach McKinstry arguably had a case to make it ahead of Lowe, but the power numbers of Lowe (19 homers, 54 RBIs) swayed the players.
National League Snubs
Juan Soto is a victim of his own standards. Yes, he signed a contract for a ridiculous amount of money, and so far he hasn’t reinvented the game as a member of the New York Mets. He has just been lower-end Soto, but even at his worst he is still one of the best players in the sport. He is starting to pick it up and his OBP is north of .400, plus he leads the league in walks. Pete Alonso certainly seems to enjoy hitting behind him and is having what could end up being the best year of his career.
The All-Star game was invented for players like Soto, and you still would leave out someone like him if he was having a truly poor season, but that’s just not the case here. An interesting fact is that MacKenzie Gore and James Wood were both involved in the trade that sent Soto from the Washington Nationals to the San Diego Padres and they will both be playing in the big game and Soto will not as of now. Both Gore and Wood are deserving and you can make a case that another Nationals player from that same trade, CJ Abrams, deserves to be in as well.
The Miami Marlins most-deserving pick is outfielder Kyle Stowers, who ended up as their default selection, but realistically he probably ended up getting what would’ve been Soto’s spot.
It’s hard to overlook anyone on the Los Angeles Dodgers, but somehow Andy Pages slipped through the cracks despite his fantastic all-around first half for the defending champs. It was just a numbers game here as there are probably at least five National League outfielders that were more deserving and you can’t keep Ronald Acuña Jr. out of the All-Star game in Atlanta. Yes, he has only played about half the games so far, but he has been extremely productive.
Other Thoughts
The Athletics’ Jacob Wilson was elected as a starter and is easily the most deserving player from that squad. Brent Rooker also made it as a designated hitter. Rooker has been fine, but his spot could have gone to one of the overlooked hitters already mentioned, or maybe even someone like Maikel Garcia of the Kansas City Royals.
The shortstop position is loaded in the National League, but the only pure shortstops to make it were starter Francisco Lindor and Elly De La Cruz. Both are good selections, but the Philadelphia Phillies’ Trea Turner has been just as outstanding. Abrams and Geraldo Perdomo are also deserving. The position has been so good that the player with the most career value currently playing in the National League, Mookie Betts, barely merits a mention. Betts has had a subpar first half of the season, but would anyone really be surprised if he’s outperforming all of these guys by the end of the season?
As for the American League starters, the fans did a great job for the most part. I think I would have went with Jeremy Peña over Wilson at shortstop, but it seems likely that Peña will miss the game anyways being on the injured list. I also would’ve started Buxton over Javier Báez in the outfield.
I would agree with most, if not all, of the National League starters, though many argue that Alonso or Michael Busch are more deserving at first base over Freddie Freeman. However, it will be great to see Freeman’s reception when he takes the field in Atlanta early on in the All-Star game.
Main Image: © Brett Davis-Imagn Images
