The 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star Game will take place July 15 in suburban Atlanta at Truist Park, home of the Braves. As has been custom for decades, the non-pitcher starters will be voted in by the fans. While it used to be via paper ballots in ballparks across baseball, voting is now held online. Full details here, but you could also just head to mlb.com/vote.
My task here is to run through my own ballot. We’ll pick American League first and then National League, going in order of how the positions are listed on the ballot — which means catcher comes after the infield for some godforsaken reason — and we get three outfielders without having to tie them specifically to a position.
American League
First base – Paul Goldschmidt, Yankees
This was a tough one. I felt a slight tug toward Spencer Torkelson and his home runs while Jonathan Aranda of the Rays has great numbers and is an exciting player. The biggest star here is probably Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and some people like to choose via that method.
Goldschmidt, though, might well be a Hall of Famer someday and he’s hitting .323 for a team sitting in first place by 5 ½ games. His re-emergence has been gigantic for the Yankees in helping to replace the departure of Juan Soto.
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Second base – Brandon Lowe, Rays
One of the weaker positions on the board. Daniel Schneemann and Gleyber Torres have cases, but I’m going with Lowe’s power. He has 12 home runs while no one else has more than eight here. He also leads the position in RBI and runs.
Third base – José Ramírez, Guardians
This might’ve been an incredibly difficult decision between Ramírez and Alex Bregman, but Bregman’s injury cleared a path. Ramírez is one of baseball’s biggest and most under-appreciated superstars and is actually on pace for his best season thanks to a .327 average with 14 doubles, 11 homers and 16 stolen bases.
Shortstop – Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
Jacob Wilson is hitting .358 for the Athletics. Jeremy Peña is having a breakout season for the first-place Astros. Gunnar Henderson established himself last season as a viable MVP-caliber player. Corey Seager is still great when he plays. But all roads lead to Witt for me. He was MVP runner-up last season and though he’s not been as good this year, he’s still leading the position in WAR and is plenty capable of getting scorching hot in the coming weeks.
Catcher – Cal Raleigh, Mariners
No one else is even close. This vote better not be close, either. It would be embarrassing. Let’s do this.
Oh, and I just wanted to point out that Raleigh is on pace for 62 homers.
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Outfield – Aaron Judge, Yankees; Julio Rodríguez, Mariners; Riley Greene, Tigers
Judge is one of the easy and obvious picks. He’s been the best player in baseball anyway.
Things get a little tougher after that.
With Julio, you have to remember just how much his home ballpark suppresses offense. He’s hitting .248.318/.413, but that’s a 115 OPS+. He has 10 homers, 32 RBI, 38 runs and nine steals. His WAR among AL outfielders is second to Judge and he is a big name.
Greene got off to a slow start but is hitting .283/.336/.506 (137 OPS+) with 14 doubles and 13 homers for the team with the best record in baseball. It’s possible the Tigers get the starting pitcher in Tarik Skubal, but even so, they deserve to have a starter.
Apologies here to Steven Kwan and Byron Buxton, but AL outfield isn’t nearly as strong as the NL side once we get past Judge.
Designated hitter – Rafael Devers, Red Sox
In his transition to designated hitter, Devers has been crushing the ball. He’s hitting .285/.408/.506 with 17 doubles, 12 homers and an MLB-best 54 RBI. He also leads the majors with 50 walks.
National League
First base – Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
With apologies to Pete Alonso and the star power of Bryce Harper, Freeman is hitting .363/.429/.616 (195 OPS+), leading the NL in doubles, average, OPS and OPS+. He’s also coming off a World Series MVP, a performance that included a walk-off grand slam. Even if there were other strong candidates, this was an incredibly easy choice.
And, yeah, it’s an added bonus that he’s returning to Atlanta for this All-Star Game.
Second base – Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
Marte trails Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan in WAR due to a stint on the injured list earlier this season, but he’ll have logged plenty of games by the time we get to the Midsummer Classic and he’s the best second baseman in baseball. Through 35 games, he’s got six doubles, 10 homers, 17 RBI, 27 runs, has walked more than he’s struck out and is hitting .293/.416/.585.
Third base – Manny Machado, Padres
Matt Chapman of the Giants would be a fine choice here too, due to his exceptional defense and 11 home runs. I’m going with Machado, who has the better bat (78 points of average and 74 of OPS), only slightly worse defense and more star power.
Shortstop – Francisco Lindor, Mets
In a crowded position that includes Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Elly De La Cruz, C.J. Abrams and Dansby Swanson, among others, Lindor stands in the top spot. The 2024 NL MVP runner-up, Lindor is the catalyst for the offense for the first-place Mets. He plays every day, hits for decent average, gets on base, hits for power, steals bases and plays outstanding defense. He’s a “heart and soul” guy, too.
Catcher – Will Smith, Dodgers
Smith is hitting .323/.433/.487 while the chief competition is Gabriel Moreno and Carson Kelly as William Contreras deals with a power outage.
Outfield – Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs; Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks; James Wood, Nationals
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Kyle Tucker have arguments, both for performance this season and for established star power. With my three selections and these two, I feel like it’s a clear-cut top five, though I could see a case for Jackson Merrill, Juan Soto and even Ronald Acuña Jr., now that he’s back.
PCA leads all NL outfielders in WAR. He has 21 stolen bases and is probably the best defensive outfielder in baseball. He also has 15 homers and is the type of player who could put on a show in the All-Star Game. It might feel early, but he’s deserving now.
Wood is becoming a superstar in front of our eyes as well. In a nice contrast from the spindly and speedy PCA, Wood is a hulking 6-foot-7. He’s hitting .283/.379/.561 with 16 homers and nine steals.
Carroll, Tatis and Tucker are established stars, as noted. I took Carroll here but it was very close among my top five selections.
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Designated hitter – Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
As a Cubs fan who went to Indiana University, passing on both Kyle Schwarber and Seiya Suzuki hurts a little, but this isn’t really a choice, is it? Ohtani has to start the All-Star Game. It’s the showcase of our great game and he’s the biggest star in the sport. He also has 23 homers and is on pace to post one of the highest runs scored totals in MLB history.
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