Soto?! Suzuki?! Every MLB Team’s All-Star Snub, Including Some Head-Scratchers

Rowan Kavner

MLB Writer

The 2025 All-Star Game rosters have been unveiled, and you might be wondering how (insert player name from your favorite team) didn’t make it.

Now, it’s worth remembering this isn’t the final list of All-Stars. There will be additions and replacements between now and July 15 (8 p.m. ET on FOX), when the teams take the field at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.

It’s also worth remembering the following:

Fans voted for the starting position players on each team.
Pitchers and reserves were picked through a mix of player ballots and commissioner’s office selections.
Only 20 position players and 12 pitchers make each roster (the NL got a 33rd player this year in Clayton Kershaw, who was added as a “legend pick”; he did not take the spot of another potential All-Star).
Every team needed to be represented.

Still, there seemed to be more surprising choices than usual from the players this year.

For now, here is every team’s biggest All-Star snub, ranked from 30 down to the most glaring omission in MLB.

The obvious one-and-done teams

30) Colorado Rockies: RP Jake Bird
29) Miami Marlins – SP Edward Cabrera
28) Chicago White Sox: SP Adrian Houser
27) Pittsburgh Pirates – RP David Bednar

Considering the dearth of star power on these squads (and their place in the standings), the odds of these teams getting a second All-Star were miniscule, though Houser has a 1.60 ERA in eight starts and Bednar was the NL Reliever of the Month in June.

The Rockies or White Sox aren’t likely getting a second All-Star, but Jake Bird and Adrian Houser could have made a small case. (Getty Images)

The two-and-through teams

26) Cleveland Guardians – RP Cade Smith
25) Athletics – OF Lawrence Butler

The Guardians are 40-48 and enter the week having lost 10 straight. The A’s are the cellar-dwellers of the AL West. Both squads got two All-Stars in; neither deserved a third.

Where are the saves?

24) Milwaukee Brewers – RP Trevor Megill
23) San Diego Padres – RP Robert Suarez

Suarez and Megill rank first and second in saves, respectively, in the National League. Neither made it in. In fact, none of the top three saves leaders in the NL (Cincinnati’s Emilio Pagan ranks third) made the team following player votes and commissioner’s office selections. It’s both great and justified that Randy Rodriguez (0.69 ERA for the best bullpen in the league) got in, but it’s still a surprise to see that two of the three NL All-Star relievers (Rodriguez and San Diego’s Jason Adam) are not closers.

Robert Suarez, who leads the NL in saves, didn’t get initially selected as an All-Star. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

The young backstops

22) Atlanta Braves: C Drake Baldwin
21) Boston Red Sox: C Carlos Narvaez

Each league only got two catchers in, which left these two standout rookies on the outside looking in for the lone reserve catching spot. Both Baldwin and Narvaez have been well-above-average hitters, but Hunter Goodman needed to be the Rockies’ lone rep, and defensive stalwart Alejandro Kirk has helped key the Blue Jays’ surge with his best offensive season since his last All-Star season three years ago.

Former All-Stars

20) Baltimore Orioles – SS Gunnar Henderson
19) Arizona Diamondbacks – SS Geraldo Perdomo
18) St. Louis Cardinals – SP Sonny Gray
17) Texas Rangers – SP Nathan Eovaldi
16) Washington Nationals – SS C.J. Abrams
15) New York Yankees – SP Carlos Rodon
14) Seattle Mariners – OF Randy Arozarena

I thought Henderson might have an outside chance just by the star power, even if the Orioles didn’t deserve more than one rep. Perdomo and Abrams were both the victims of a stacked shortstop class (but keep reading, there was an even bigger NL shortstop snub). Gray has been the best pitcher on a surprising Cardinals squad and recently tossed a one-hit shutout. I have to think Eovaldi, who has the lowest ERA of any MLB pitcher with at least 75 innings (1.75), would’ve made it had he not missed a month.

Rodón has the third-most strikeouts and second-lowest batting average against in the AL(Trent Grisham had an argument to make it for the Yankees, too). Arozarena leads Julio Rodriguez in every slash line category and has an OPS more than 100 points higher than his Seattle teammate, but players voted in Rodriguez. Outfield spots were going to be limited once Javier Baez, who hasn’t played the outfield in more than a month, was voted in as a starter.

Randy Arozarena may have a better slash line than Julio Rodriguez, but the latter was voted in as a deserved All-Star. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

First-time cases

13) Detroit Tigers: UTIL Zach McKinstry
12) Los Angeles Angels: OF Jo Adell
11) Los Angeles Dodgers: OF Andy Pages
10) Cincinnati Reds: SP Andrew Abbott
9) Kansas City Royals: 3B Maikel Garcia

The Tigers, who have been arguably the biggest success story of the first half, probably deserved more than four representatives. Both McKinstry and Spencer Torkelson had an argument, but the overall value provided by McKinstry — he ranks 12th among all AL position players in fWAR, has logged time at six different positions and is hitting 28% better than league average — made him the team’s biggest snub. The Angels were likely only bound to have one rep, but considering the number of worthy pitchers in the AL, I thought it’d be Adell (.823 OPS, 19 HR) over Kikuchi.

On a Dodgers team teeming with star power, Pages ranks first on the club in RBI, second in hits and homers and third in WAR. Abbott ranks fourth in the NL in ERA among pitchers with at least 75 innings; his late start to the season might have doomed him, but he took a 1.79 ERA into July. Maybe he replaces the injured Chris Sale. Garcia has the highest batting average and on-base percentage of any qualified AL third baseman to go along with 18 steals.

On teams teeming with All-Stars, Tigers’ Zach McKinstry and Dodgers’ Andy Pages were among those crowded out. (Getty Images)

The league switch

8) San Francisco Giants: DH Rafael Devers

Devers would probably have started for the American League if he had remained with the Red Sox. Instead, now in the NL behind All-Star designated hitters Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber, he’s on the outside looking in.

A likely All-Star had he stayed in Boston, Giants slugger Rafael Devers will likely miss this one. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)

The tandem snub

7) Chicago Cubs: 1B Michael Busch/DH Seiya Suzuki

There’s arguably a DH with a greater gripe than Devers, and that’s Suzuki, who has knocked in more runs than any MLB hitter and has the fourth-highest slugging percentage in the NL. Busch, meanwhile, ranks first among all qualified N.L. first basemen in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS.

Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch have been a potent duo on the North Side. (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Chicago Cubs/Getty Images)

Get them to Atlanta

6) Tampa Bay Rays: 3B Junior Caminero
5) Houston Astros: SP Framber Valdez
4) Minnesota Twins: SP Joe Ryan
3) Philadelphia Phillies: SS Trea Turner
2) Toronto Blue Jays: OF George Springer

Alex Bregman had an incredible start to his Boston tenure, but he hasn’t played since May 23. He was still voted in by players. If he isn’t back from his quad injury in time, Caminero, who just turned 22 and leads all AL third basemen with 21 homers, should be Jose Ramirez’s backup. Isaac Paredes deserves consideration at the position, too, but Houston’s biggest snub was Valdez, who is 9-0 with a 2.07 ERA over his last 11 starts. The first-place Astros deserve more than three representatives.

The Phillies, meanwhile, deserve more than two. Pitchers Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez are both snubs, but the biggest on the team is Turner, who leads all NL players in hits and all NL shortstops in fWAR. Both squads should have had at least three shortstops. It was surprising that Rodriguez (.695 OPS) made it over teammate Arozarena (.801); it was mind-boggling that he made it over Springer (.886), especially after the Blue Jays’ surge to first.

Juan Soto was likely as surprised as the rest of MLB fans when he didn’t get the All-Star nod. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)

Uh, what!?

1) New York Mets: OF Juan Soto

I let out an audible “WHAT” when I realized Soto didn’t make it. I had to recheck the list of reserves about five times to be sure. Now, there are a ton of worthy NL outfielders who weren’t going to make it with Kyle Stowers (who really has been awesome) serving as Miami’s lone rep. Still, I thought Soto would be a shoo-in, even with his slow start. He ranks first in on-base percentage and second in OPS among qualified NL outfielders. Instead, Corbin Carroll, who missed just more than two weeks with an injury, and Fernando Tatis Jr., who ranks ninth in OPS among NL outfielders, made the final cut.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.