C \u2014<\/strong> Will Smith, Dodgers Leading vote getter:<\/strong> Ohtani<\/p>\n Who else could it possibly be? Ohtani has made three starts in his return to pitching this season, but his fifth straight All-Star selection is all about his bat, which remains as good as any in the National League. Ohtani leads all qualified NL hitters in wRC+. He also leads the league in runs, home runs and slugging percentage, and his 11 stolen bases are the cherry on top. His slash line is remarkably similar to that of his past two seasons, each of which ended with an MVP award.<\/p>\n Shohei Ohtani, the NL\u2019s leading vote-getter, leads the league in several offensive categories. (Harry How \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n First timer:<\/strong> Crow-Armstrong<\/p>\n Already an elite runner and fielder, Crow-Armstrong has become an elite hitter as well, and that\u2019s made him one of baseball\u2019s best all-around players. Crow-Armstrong ranks fifth in the majors in fWAR, behind only Ohtani in the NL. He swings often and doesn\u2019t walk much, but he\u2019s hit 21 homers and ranks among the top five in defensive runs saved (he\u2019s also top 20 in sprint speed). Crow-Armstrong\u2019s emergence has helped lift the Cubs to first place in the NL Central, and he\u2019ll share an All-Star Game outfield with his teammate Tucker.<\/p>\n Biggest surprise:<\/strong> Acu\u00f1a<\/p>\n Per at-bat, only Aaron Judge has put up better offensive numbers than Acu\u00f1a this season. That Acu\u00f1a is one of the game\u2019s truly elite players is not up for debate. The only surprise is that he was voted as an All-Star Game starter after playing only 35 games this season. Acu\u00f1a returned from knee surgery on May 23 and immediately homered in his first game back. Then he homered again in his second game. On a per-game basis, he\u2019s been as good as anyone in the National League. He hasn\u2019t played many games, but when he\u2019s played, he\u2019s played at an All-Star level.<\/p>\n Feel-good story:<\/strong> Lindor<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly a Cinderella story \u2014 he\u2019s been an All-Star four times already \u2014 but this is Lindor\u2019s first career start and his first selection since 2019. Lindor had never been an All-Star in four seasons with the Mets, but his past 12 months have been a throwback to his younger days in Cleveland and a reminder that Lindor could end up with a plaque in Cooperstown. He has been one of the game\u2019s great and most engaging players of the past decade, and now he\u2019ll start an All-Star Game for the first time.<\/p>\n Early snub:<\/strong> James Wood, Nationals<\/p>\n The Dodgers had a finalist at every position, including three of the six finalists in the outfield. Such organizational popularity \u2014 and the popularity of Acu\u00f1a \u2014 overwhelmed an overcrowded field of worthy NL outfielders. Wood and Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll are each top 10 in the majors (at any position) with a 3.5 fWAR. Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres isn\u2019t far behind at 3.4. There could be room for all three on the NL bench. A milder Dodgers-related snub: Pete Alonso or Matt Olson arguably should start at first base over Freeman, but it\u2019s close. Similar situation at shortstop where Trea Turner of the Phillies has a case for starting over Lindor, but it\u2019s certainly not egregious.<\/p>\n Pick to pitch:<\/strong> Zach Wheeler, Phillies<\/p>\n Wheeler\u2019s made two All-Star teams in his career, and he\u2019s faced a total of one batter (he struck out Matt Olson in 2021). Let\u2019s change that in a big way this year. Obviously, Paul Skenes is in the mix. Logan Webb is, too. Honestly, it\u2019s a toss-up among those three. Pick any one of them, and it\u2019s justified.<\/p>\n The easy pick is Skenes, who started last year, but Wheeler has more strikeouts and a slightly lower WHIP (Skenes has a better ERA and four more innings). Maybe it comes down to which one pitches best in the next week. Hard to go wrong with this group.<\/p>\n American League<\/strong><\/p>\n C \u2014<\/strong> Cal Raleigh, Mariners Leading vote getter:<\/strong> Judge<\/p>\n Who else could it possibly be? Judge got more votes than even Ohtani. His numbers so far are even better than last year, when Judge had one of the greatest seasons in Major League history. He leads the majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. His 6.5 fWAR at the start of July is higher than all but seven players generated all of last season. This is Judge\u2019s fifth-straight All-Star selection and the seventh of his career.<\/p>\n There are several surprises on the All-Star teams, but Aaron Judge was a lock as the AL\u2019s leading vote-getter. (Vincent Carchietta \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n First timers:<\/strong> Raleigh, Wilson, O\u2019Hearn<\/p>\n Raleigh has won a Gold Glove and generated some down-ballot MVP votes, but he\u2019s never been an All-Star. All it took was him having one of the greatest seasons ever for a catcher. Raleigh\u2019s elite framing and tremendous power have made him one of the game\u2019s best all-around catchers for four years now, but this season he\u2019s emerged as one of the game\u2019s best players regardless of position (only Judge has a higher fWAR). Wilson is a first-time All-Star as a 23-year-old in his rookie season. O\u2019Hearn is a first-timer as a 31-year-old \u2014 32 later this month \u2014 in his eighth season. It would have been tough to predict either of those two at the start of the season.<\/p>\n Biggest surprise:<\/strong> B\u00e1ez<\/p>\n A rookie like Wilson getting the shortstop nod over an MVP candidate like Bobby Witt Jr. is certainly surprising, but B\u00e1ez\u2019s return to All-Star relevance is legitimately shocking. Once a fan favorite with the Chicago Cubs, B\u00e1ez had been an overwhelming disappointment since joining the Tigers in 2022. He played below replacement level last season and wasn\u2019t involved in his team\u2019s surprising playoff run. B\u00e1ez seemed more likely to be released than elected to the All-Star game. But here he is.<\/p>\n By the numbers, B\u00e1ez probably doesn\u2019t deserve to be in the lineup \u2014 Byron Buxton, Julio Rodriguez or even Tigers teammate Zach McKinstry might have been a better selection for the third outfield spot \u2014 but B\u00e1ez has been legitimately good with a 120 OPS+ that would be the second highest of his career (behind only his 2018 season when B\u00e1ez finished second for MVP). This is his third All-Star selection, but first as an outfielder.<\/p>\n Feel-good story: <\/strong>O\u2019Hearn<\/p>\n Would he be in the lineup if Rafael Devers hadn\u2019t been traded to the Giants? Maybe not, but O\u2019Hearn earned his place. He\u2019s 16th in the majors in wRC+ \u2014 ahead of Devers and every primary DH in the American League \u2014 \u00a0which has been a long-time coming for a player who was sold to the Orioles in 2023 after five largely disappointing seasons with the Royals. O\u2019Hearn is on track for a career year almost across the board offensively, and it comes at a good time as he\u2019s about to become a free agent in the offseason.<\/p>\n Early snub:<\/strong> Bobby Witt Jr., Royals<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that Wilson hasn\u2019t had a good season \u2014 he\u2019s second in the Majors in batting average and an early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year \u2014 but it\u2019s still surprising that he won the fan voting ahead of Bobby Witt Jr., Jeremy Pena and Gunnar Henderson. Pena, the Astros shortstop, has the highest fWAR and wRC+ of any shortstop in baseball, but he\u2019s currently hurt, and Witt basically matches him in fWAR while coming off a near-MVP season.<\/p>\n Witt was the presumptive favorite to start for the AL, but he lost out to a rookie playing in Sacramento. Wilson is only the third A\u2019s position player elected as an All-Star Game starter since 1993 (also Jason Giambi in 2000 and Josh Donaldson in 2014).<\/p>\n Pick to pitch:<\/strong> Tarik Skubal, Tigers<\/p>\n We see you, Hunter Brown. Lowest ERA in the league. Good strikeout numbers. Awesome season. And you, too, Garrett Crochet. Everything the Red Sox could have asked for and then some. But let\u2019s not overthink this. Skubal was a unanimous Cy Young selection last year, and he\u2019s been even better this year. His 9.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio is absurd, and his 0.83 WHIP is better than Bob Gibson\u2019s in 1968. Skubal was the first American League pitcher out of the bullpen last year. He should be the first one on the mound this year.<\/p>\n (Top photo of Jacob Wilson: Alex Slitz \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a surprise at shortstop in the American League, a young first-timer in center field for the National…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1279,1280,1276,1271,1282,1885,2502,1266,1305,2228,1306,1288,62,1290,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-34399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-cleveland-guardians","13":"tag-detroit-tigers","14":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-new-york-mets","17":"tag-new-york-yankees","18":"tag-san-diego-padres","19":"tag-seattle-mariners","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114787449802941696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
1B \u2014<\/strong> Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
2B \u2014<\/strong> Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
3B \u2014<\/strong> Manny Machado, Padres
SS \u2014<\/strong> Francisco Lindor, Mets
OF \u2014<\/strong> Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., Braves
OF \u2014<\/strong> Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
OF \u2014<\/strong> Kyle Tucker, Cubs
DH \u2014<\/strong> Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2217903018-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
1B \u2014<\/strong> Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
2B \u2014<\/strong> Gleyber Torres, Tigers
3B \u2014<\/strong> Jos\u00e9 Ramirez, Guardians
SS \u2014<\/strong> Jacob Wilson, Athletics
OF \u2014<\/strong> Aaron Judge, Yankees
OF \u2014<\/strong> Riley Greene, Tigers
OF \u2014<\/strong> Javier Baez, Tigers
DH \u2014<\/strong> Ryan O\u2019Hearn, Orioles<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_26076736_168395998_lowres-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n