Fan voting for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game—the 95th in history!—opened Wednesday. This date on the calendar can sneak up on you. Wait, wasn’t Opening Day yesterday? Now we’re voting for All-Stars?
Well, if you have some research to do for your ballot, we’re here to help. Our five-member staff roundtable covers some of the more difficult decisions on the ballot as well as an early look at the favorites to start on the mound.
1. Make the case for someone to make their All-Star Game debut.
Tom Verducci: The easy pick here is Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs, one of the major breakout stars of the season. I’ll go with a slightly less obvious pick: James Wood of the Washington Nationals. In NL OPS he trails only Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber. He also is top five in the league in home runs, RBI and total bases. He hits lefties, he’s a .305 hitter with runners in scoring position and he absolutely mashes fastballs (.667) with his easy off-field power.
Stephanie Apstein: It has to be Cal Raleigh, right? He’s on pace for the greatest season of all time by a catcher. Raleigh has played in every game for the Seattle Mariners this season, he leads the league in dingers and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Sign him up for the Home Run Derby while we’re at it.
Nick Selbe: There are plenty of candidates here who need no political stumping—Raleigh, Crow-Armstrong and Hunter Brown will all be heading to Atlanta (at least let’s hope so). So I’ll use this space to campaign for Nick Pivetta, who’s enjoying the best year of his career in his age-32 season. Pivetta waited until mid-February to sign with the San Diego Padres despite posting the league’s fifth-highest strikeout rate from 2023 to ’24 (minimum 250 innings pitched). The owner of a 4.76 career ERA heading into the ’25 campaign, Pivetta has put it all together through the first couple months, posting a 6–2 mark with a 2.74 ERA backed up by a 2.97 FIP. It’s a crowded field of worthy arms in both leagues, but he’s done enough to earn a roster spot.
Ryan Phillips: The Chicago White Sox aren’t as bad as they were last year but they’re still terrible. Despite that, they need an All-Star, and it’s not easy to find one on their roster. Enter rookie righty Shane Smith. A Rule 5 pick this year, he’s 2–3 with a 2.45 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 60 strikeouts against 25 walks in 62 1/3 innings. He also leads the team with 1.7 WAR, making him an easy pick as their lone participant. And he’s a former undrafted free agent, so this is a great story to boot.
Will Laws: We’ll get to Crow-Armstrong in just a second, so let’s talk about a player who may never again get a shot at an All-Star Game. In his eighth MLB season, Baltimore Orioles DH Ryan O’Hearn has already surpassed his previous career high in WAR (2.1). A former eighth-round pick of the Royals, O’Hearn has proven to be quite the find for the O’s over the last several years and is somehow the team’s most deserving nominee amid a hugely disappointing season in Baltimore. And while the batted-ball metrics indicate O’Hearn’s breakout at age 31 shouldn’t be taken lightly, he can’t exactly be counted on to be slashing .326/.411/.519 through 52 games again. He’ll battle with Rafael Devers for the starting AL DH slot—and I kind of want to give credit to O’Hearn for playing three different positions.
2. The National League outfield race is especially crowded. Which three most deserve to start?
TV: The future is now. How about this outfield when it comes to youth and athleticism: Crow-Armstrong, 23; Wood, 22; and Corbin Carroll, 24. No offense to Fernando Tatís Jr. and Kyle Tucker, but those three rank 1-2-3 in some order in slugging and total bases among NL outfielders.
SA: I think Crow-Armstrong is a lock here, and I expect Padres fans to vote in force for Tatís, which is very reasonable. Carroll makes a good case, as does Tucker, but I think for me the third spot goes to Wood. The light-tower power, the poise at age 22 and the fact that he was asked to replace Juan Soto and then basically did that—this guy is incredible.
NS: Crow-Armstrong, Wood and Tucker. Aside from their natural defensive fits, these three have the slightest of edges on their competitors. Wood has the highest wRC+ (163) among all NL outfielders and is tied for the lead in home runs. Tucker ranks second in wRC+ and has the highest on-base percentage (.394). And Crow-Armstrong ranks first in runs, second in RBI and stolen bases, and leads all center fielders in Outs Above Average (10) and ranks second in defensive runs saved (8). Apologies to Carroll and Tatís, but this is the trio I would choose.
RP: Crow-Armstrong should be a lock to start as he leads the National League in WAR (3.7). While it’s a deep field, I’m going with the guys who are second and third in WAR. Tatís (3.0) started the year on fire but has cooled a bit. Still, he’s one of the most exciting players in the game and should start the All-Star Game. James Wood (2.7 WAR) gets my other nod. The 22-year-old owns a .925 OPS and 16 home runs. Here’s hoping he’s in the Home Run Derby too.
WL: There are nine players with at least 15 homers and only four with at least 20 stolen bases. Crow-Armstrong is the only player in both clubs, and he’ll be starting. It’s very hard to distinguish between the other four contenders, but I’ll go with Carroll—for his position-high 18 home runs and 3.0 fWAR, behind only Crow-Armstrong among NL outfielders—in right and Wood in left for his position-best 160 wRC+. Tatís also deserves to be penalized for this.
3. Who’s your current pick to start at shortstop for the American League—Bobby Witt Jr., Jeremy Peña or Jacob Wilson?
TV: You can never go wrong with Bobby Witt Jr. But I’m fascinated by Jacob Wilson, a .363 hitter with his 86 hits and 16 strikeouts. He could join Placido Polanco as the only righthanded hitters in the past 50 years to get 200 hits with less than 40 strikeouts. He also leads AL shortstops in OPS.
SA: It’s really close, but I'll go with Jeremy Peña. It’s probably not fair to call his last two seasons disappointing, but after his outrageous postseason in his rookie year, he’s only been about average as a hitter. The chance to hit leadoff this year (the incumbent José Altuve needed a few extra minutes to catch his breath after running in from his new position in left field) seems to have unlocked something in Peña, who’s been by offensive WAR the fourth-best player in the American League. He’s also a stellar defender, although that’s always been true.
NS: Few would dispute the notion that Witt is the bigger star, and it’s not often you see a player hit .355 to begin their rookie season, but Peña gets the spot for now. The 27-year-old has maintained his usual stellar defense, but has elevated his hitting to another level. A league-average hitter for his career with a 100 wRC+ prior to this season, Peña has put up a 145 mark to date, trailing only Wilson. Based on their performances this season, Peña’s edge on Witt’s offensive production and Wilson’s defensive capabilities make him the pick by the slimmest of margins.
RP: Peña has earned this one. He leads AL shortstops in WAR by nearly a full point—he’s at 3.6 while Witt is at 2.8. But he’s also having a great season across the board statistically. He has the edge on Witt in OPS, .854 to .842, and has two more home runs. Wilson is really fun, but he’s not an All-Star starter yet.
WL: Wilson trailing only Aaron Judge and Freddie Freeman in batting average while compiling more extra-base hits than the likes of Austin Riley, Trea Turner and Paul Goldschmidt (having a very nice rebound year with the Yankees) vaults him to the top of the race for now. But this could end up being the closest race.
4. Last year, four rookies (Paul Skenes, Jackson Merrill, Shota Imanaga, Mason Miller) were named All-Stars. Do any rookies besides Wilson deserve selections this year? If so, who?
TV: Shane Smith of the White Sox (2.45 ERA in 12 starts) deserves consideration. Chad Patrick of the Brewers (2.97 ERA in 63.2 IP) and 35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano (3.04 ERA in rookie-high 71 innings) of the Orioles bear watching. I like catcher Drake Baldwin of the Braves but don’t see enough volume at this point.
SA: Baldwin has been a really fun story for Atlanta, and the Drake Rakes T-shirts are sick, but he just hasn’t played enough this season to unseat Will Smith and Gabriel Moreno.
NS: There aren’t any rookies impressing to the level that Skenes, Merrill & Co. did last season. But a couple stand out to me (aside from Wilson): White Sox starter Shane Smith and Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez. Both get nods partially due to a lack of options—after Raleigh, there aren’t any slam-dunk choices for backup AL catchers, and someone has to be the White Sox representative. Narváez will have to fend off guys like Dillon Dingler, Alejandro Kirk and Shea Langeliers for a roster spot. Smith, on the other hand, won’t face much competition in his own clubhouse for an invitation to the Fall Classic. The top pick in December’s Rule 5 draft, Smith owns a 2.45 ERA over his first 12 career starts, yet has just two wins to show for it—occupational hazard of pitching for the South Siders.
RP: Smith and Wilson make it for me. I’d put Dodgers reliever Ben Casparius and Orioles starter Sugano on the borderline.
WL: Smith’s odds are looking pretty good, and not entirely by default of the White Sox needing a representative. Patrick has had a nice start, but I don’t love his odds of keeping pace in a crowded NL pitching field. Narváez and Baldwin have both impressed behind the plate, but I’d like to see either officially take over as their respective team’s starting catcher before they make the All-Star team.
5. Though the fans don’t vote for pitchers, who would be your picks as the starting pitchers?
TV: Garrett Crochet of Boston and Skenes of Pittsburgh. The AL call is a difficult one. Kris Bubic of the Royals, Hunter Brown of the Astros and Max Fried of the Yankees all have sub-2 ERAs, but I’ll go with Crochet (1.92), who also leads the league in innings and strikeouts. The NL starter is obvious. Skenes (2.05 ERA, league leader in WHIP and innings) should get his second All-Star start in as many seasons. Skenes is the Pedro Martínez of this generation: The best put-away pitcher in baseball because he has so many options to finish hitters. He has thrown 410 pitches this year with two strikes and given up only 14 hits and an .082 batting average. How good is that? The lowest recorded average allowed with two strikes by a pitcher with at least 25 starts is .080 by Hideo Nomo in 1995.
SA: Tarik Skubal and Logan Webb would be fun, in part because they’re ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in FanGraphs WAR and also because they are so just so stylistically different. Skubal throws a billion miles an hour and tries to strike everybody out; Webb directs his sinker into hitters’ bat paths and makes them roll over to the infield. It would be a nice reminder that there are still a lot of ways to get outs.
NS: Skubal gets the ball for the AL. The reigning Cy Young Award winner has the league’s best strikeout rate (34.7%), walk rate (2.5%) and WHIP (0.79). For the NL, give me Logan Webb, who’s put up a 2.55 ERA and an MLB-leading 2.14 FIP over an NL-leading 81 1/3 innings. There’s a not-so-short list of other players putting up ace-like numbers, so expect them to jockey for position over the next few weeks to make this a tight race.
RP: Skenes is a no-brainer to start for the National League. The American League crowd is a lot tighter. I’d pick Royals lefty Bubic and his 1.43 ERA over Brown and Crochet, but it’s incredibly close for me.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as MLB All-Star Game Voting Roundtable: Potential Debuts, Close Races and Pitcher Picks.
