10 worthy candidates to make their first All-Star Game

When you reach an All-Star Game, you have accomplished something that can never be taken away from you. You can write a little “All-Star ‘25” next to your autograph for the rest of your life, if you want. Maybe you will make multiple All-Star Games. But you only get to make your first one once.

Now that we know the starters for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard (July 15 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX), we await the announcement of the rest of the roster today, starting at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN. And when that happens, there are going to be some players who will hear their names for the first time. These could be 10 of them.

Jonathan Aranda, 1B, Rays
Age 27 (4th MLB season)

No one represents the strides this occasionally overwhelming Rays offense has made better than Aranda. He has steadily improved each of his four years with the team, and now that he is (at last) getting regular playing time, he has broken out in a big way.

He’s hitting .320 with a .401 OBP, but do not take that to mean that he is somehow a slap hitter, as witnessed by the 467-foot home run he launched against the Orioles last week. His teammates are almost demanding he make the ASG: “Can we get him to Atlanta, please?” Jake Mangum said. “Like, please?”

Hunter Brown, SP, Astros
Age 26 (4th MLB season)

The Astros lost two of their stars this offseason in Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, they’ve been missing more than half of their rotation and Yordan Alvarez hasn’t played in more than two months. (And may be facing yet another setback.) And yet the Astros are still in first place, and comfortably so.

One of the main reasons is the emergence of Brown as one of the best pitchers in baseball. His first year in the rotation, 2023, was a struggle (5.09 ERA). But just two years later, Brown has been magical, leading all of baseball with a 1.82 ERA and giving up fewer than six hits per nine innings. His strikeouts are up, his walks are down, he’s basically doing everything right. Not only should he make his first All-Star Game … you can make a good argument that he should start it.

Kris Bubic, SP, Royals
Age 27 (6th MLB season)

This season hasn’t turned out, so far, the way Royals fans might have been hoping, but that is hardly Bubic’s fault. Bubic was a decent starter in 2021 but struggled badly in 2022 (he went 3-13 with a 5.58 ERA), then underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023.

After making a successful return as a reliever last year, Bubic earned a rotation spot back in 2025, and he has rewarded the Royals with a 2.25 ERA in his 16 starts. He has taken a couple steps back in June since being named AL Pitcher of the Month for May, but his numbers on the whole are more than deserving of a spot in the American League.

Brendan Donovan, 2B, Cardinals
Age 28 (4th MLB season)

Donovan has already won a Gold Glove Award as a utility player, but “utility” doesn’t really cover what he has been for the surprising Cardinals this year. Sure, he has played multiple positions – allowing the Cardinals to play hot hitters and bench struggling ones, knowing Donovan can just fill in wherever he’s needed – but he has also been the most consistent hitter on an offense that runs hot and cold. (It’s a team that can score nearly 30 runs in a weekend and then get shut out in the next series.)

A recent slump has dropped Donovan’s average under .300 for the year, but he’s still putting up a .364 OBP and has recently been moved to the leadoff spot. He’s one of the more underappreciated all-around players whose first All-Star spot is probably overdue.

Trevor Megill, RP, Brewers
Age 31 (5th MLB season)

Who needs Devin Williams? Not the Brewers, obviously, who are really good, once again, like they always are, after trading him to the Yankees (and despite the implosion of Nestor Cortes, the primary player they received in return).

One of the main reasons the Brewers felt so comfortable trading Williams was Megill, who had 21 saves filling in for Williams last year and already has 18 this year as his replacement. His walk rate is a little higher than you’d like, but Megill’s heater definitely plays, and he’s a primary reason the Brewers are surprising everyone. Again.

Andy Pages, OF, Dodgers
Age 24 (2nd MLB season)

The Dodgers are, obviously, stacked with great hitters, but when you look over their lineup, you can’t help but notice: Almost all of them are 30 or over. The exception is Pages, who, at 24, is the sort of power-hitting prospect it almost doesn’t feel fair that the loaded Dodgers are able to produce. He already has four more homers than he did last year (in 32 fewer games), and he has raised his batting average nearly 50 points.

He has become a consistent producer in a lineup that already has stars (even stars like Mookie Betts who are not having their greatest seasons), and, unlike all those thirtysomethings, he’s likely to just keep improving. On almost any other team, Pages would be the future star everyone is building their whole future around. On the Dodgers, he’s just another guy smashing the ball … albeit the youngest one.

Joe Ryan, SP, Twins
Age 29 (5th MLB season)

It feels like Joe Ryan has made an All-Star Game before, right? (In 2022, for example, he went 13-8 with a 3.55 ERA.) But he’s never been better, on the surface anyway, than he has been in 2025, going 8-4 with a 2.75 ERA for a Twins team that is struggling when he’s NOT pitching.

His peripheral numbers argue he’s essentially the same pitcher he has always been but is getting better batted-ball luck, but the Twins, well, they’ll take all the luck they can get. If Ryan’s ever going to get that All-Star nod, this seems like as good a time as any.

Kyle Stowers, OF, Marlins
Age 27 (4th MLB season)

The Marlins’ recent hot streak – a hot streak that, however briefly, had them passing the Braves for third place in the NL East – got people to notice the Marlins for the first time this year, and that helped shine a light on the breakout year that Stowers is having.

The Orioles’ second-round pick in 2019 – he came to Miami with Connor Norby in last year’s Trevor Rogers trade – never really got a chance to play regularly until 2025, his age-27 season. He has taken full advantage, leading the Marlins in nearly every major statistical category. Look away when I write this, Orioles fans: He has a higher slugging percentage (.514) than almost everyone in the Orioles’ lineup.

Seiya Suzuki, DH, Cubs
Age 30 (4th MLB season)

For good reason, Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong have drawn most of the headlines in Chicago – they are All-Star starters after all – but Suzuki, in his fourth season since arriving from Japan, is having his breakout year as well. He’s getting on base less than he has in the past, but he’s more than making up for it with his power, with his .547 slugging percentage up more than 60 points from his career high.

That’s manifesting itself in an MLB-high 75 RBIs, surpassing his career-high 2023 total in 53 fewer games. He already has a career-high 23 homers as well; he looks like he’s going to make it to 40 … and maybe 140 RBIs, or even more. Only four Cubs have led the National League in RBIs: Ernie Banks (twice), Sammy Sosa (twice), Andre Dawson and Javier Báez. Suzuki, if he can stay healthy, may well be the fifth.

James Wood, OF, Nationals
Age 22 (2nd MLB season)

Every All-Star Game needs a future star who is firmly announcing himself as a current star, and that’s precisely what Wood has done this year. He has, quite simply, been one of the best players in the sport – he’s eighth in the Majors in FanGraphs WAR – and has the sort of all-around game that’s impossible to ignore: He hits for power, he hits for average, he gets on base, he steals bases.

Someday, we may be saying 10-time All-Star James Wood. For now, we’ll appreciate the last moment when we get to say first-time All-Star James Wood. (And we’ll also appreciate getting to watch him in the Home Run Derby.)