Read our story on the balloting format, which includes two phases of fan voting to determine the All-Star starters.
Every season, by the time we get close to the All-Star break, there are plenty of shoo-ins for the All-Star Game.
Everyone already knows Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are on their way to the 2025 Midsummer Classic. There's not much drama there.
But that's why, when the MLB All-Star ballot comes out, we like to pick out some outside-the-box All-Star candidates to highlight.
Let's find some under-the-radar players who we'd love to see in the 2025 All-Star Game. Here are a dozen of them -- six in each league. (All stats are entering the weekend.)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Ronald Acuña Jr., OF, Braves
Acuña has only been back for 18 games. So what? The Braves superstar is as electric as ever. Acuña is batting .353 with a 1.083 OPS and six home runs -- including the 115.5 mph, 467-foot monster he crushed on the first pitch he saw in his 2025 debut. The NL has a crowded outfield All-Star race -- including players like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, Corbin Carroll, James Wood, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto -- but Acuña is as good as any of them.
Oneil Cruz, OF, Pirates
Add another outfielder to the NL logjam. Cruz is only batting .226 this season, but forget about that. He's one of the most electric power-speed players in baseball. Cruz is the hardest hitter in baseball right now. He's already hit the hardest ball of the entire Statcast era this season -- the 122.9 mph rocket home run he hit on May 26. And along with his 13 homers, he leads the NL with 24 stolen bases. If the All-Star Game is a showcase of Major League Baseball's best talent, Cruz is the type of player you want in it.
Seiya Suzuki, DH, Cubs
On the NL ballot at DH, Suzuki is going to run into the All-Star roadblock that is Ohtani. Shohei owns the DH spot. And even beyond Ohtani, there's Kyle Schwarber slugging tons of home runs to lead the way for the Phillies lineup. Plus, Suzuki has gone even more under-the-radar at times this season because he plays alongside a perennial star in Tucker and the sensation that is PCA. But Suzuki's numbers are absolutely All-Star-worthy. He's belted 17 home runs and ranks second in the National League in RBIs behind only Alonso.
Hyeseong Kim, 2B, Dodgers
It took Kim a little while to crack the Dodgers' big league roster, but since he finally got the callup at the beginning of May, he's been fantastic. The former Korean league star is batting .391 with two homers, six steals and a .997 OPS in his first 29 games as a Dodger. Ketel Marte is leading the pack at second base in the NL, but write Kim in on your ballot. He's playing like an All-Star.
Matt Olson, 1B, Braves
Pete Alonso and Freddie Freeman are the heavyweights in this year's NL first-base All-Star race, but there's another mainstay who's having a better season than you might realize. Olson's .398 expected wOBA is sandwiched between Alonso and Freeman for the best among NL first basemen, as his .561 expected slugging percentage. His quality of contact belongs with the best, he just hasn't gotten the results to match, with "only" 14 home runs and an .814 OPS.
Matt Chapman, 3B, Giants
Chapman's recent hand injury is bad timing, because the Giants third baseman was putting together an under-the-radar All-Star case. Manny Machado is having a stellar season, and Eugenio Suárez is mashing home runs, but Chapman's offense-and-defense combination makes him a worthy candidate as usual. Chapman ranks third among MLB third basemen in Wins Above Replacement, behind only José Ramírez and Machado, thanks to his two-way play.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Mike Trout, OF, Angels
OK, so maybe Trout's numbers aren't quite at the level of All-Star candidates like Judge, Julio Rodríguez and Byron Buxton. But he's still Mike Trout. He still has one of the most dangerous swings in baseball -- just look at the 484-foot home run he hit in April, the longest of the 2025 MLB season. And he's one of the greatest All-Star Game performers of all time -- Trout is a .412 hitter with two home runs, two doubles and a triple in his seven career All-Star Games. It would be a thrill to watch a healthy Trout in the Midsummer Classic again.
Jackson Holliday, 2B, Orioles
Holliday is finally coming into his own. Last year's No. 1 overall prospect has looked like a different player since taking some hitting advice from his dad near the end of April. Over Holliday's 43 games since, he's batting .284 with six homers, six stolen bases and 16 extra-base hits. Gleyber Torres and Jose Altuve are probably the AL favorites at second base for now, but that position race is wide open. Matt Holliday made seven All-Star teams … Jackson's swing changes might have him on the path to his first.
Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays
Similar to Holliday, Caminero's a recent star prospect (No. 4 overall last year) who's starting to look the part in the big leagues. The 21-year-old has the fastest bat in the American League -- Caminero's average swing speed this season of 78.0 mph ranks second only to Oneil Cruz in the Majors. And he's turning those big hacks into home runs. J-Ram and Alex Bregman have more star power at third base in the AL, but it's Caminero who leads AL third basemen with 15 home runs (tied with Isaac Paredes).
Corey Seager, SS, Rangers
As great as Seager usually is, it seems crazy to suggest him as an All-Star in 2025 when he's been mired in a 2-for-31 slump in June, and shortstops like Bobby Witt Jr., Jacob Wilson and Jeremy Peña are having great years. But here's the crazier thing: Seager's quality of contact this season has actually been better than all of them. Seager is batting .238 … but his expected batting average is .292. He's slugging .392 … but his expected slugging percentage is .534. And by Statcast's all-around offensive metric, expected wOBA, Seager ranks No. 1 among all MLB shortstops. He might be one of the unluckiest hitters in the Majors.
Alejandro Kirk, C, Blue Jays
Cal Raleigh has stolen the show at the catcher position this year. But if you're looking for another All-Star-caliber catcher in the AL, look at Kirk. The Blue Jays backstop has been excellent both offensively and defensively. Kirk is batting .325 thanks to a top-tier hard-hit rate, and he one of the lowest strikeout rates in the Majors, 10.1%. And behind the plate, he's been the most valuable defensive catcher in MLB -- and the second-most valuable fielder overall by Statcast's Fielding Run Value, behind only Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Denzel Clarke, OF, A's
Who cares about the hitting? Clarke is one of the most fun players to watch in baseball this season thanks to his defense alone. He's a human highlight reel.
Clarke has already made two of the plays of the year -- his running catch at the wall against the Orioles on June 6 and his out-of-this-world home run robbery against the Angels three days later. Clarke has been a top-three defensive outfielder in the Majors by Statcast's Outs Above Average -- in less than a quarter of the innings of the players above him on the leaderboard (PCA and Ceddanne Rafaela). Get him to the All-Star Game and watch the rookie center fielder rob the best hitters in baseball.