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Five Players Who Could Make Their First All-Star Game in 2025

Originally posted on Just Baseball | By Zach Worden | Last updated Jan 29, 2025 4:46 PM ET

Once again, first-time All-Stars dominated the field at the 2024 Midsummer Classic.

National League starting pitcher Paul Skenes and the game’s MVP, Jarren Duran, were just two of 39 first-timers selected to represent their respective leagues in Texas last summer.

It’s become an annual tradition for breakout stars and the future of baseball to get their first appearance on the national stage at MLB’s mid-season showcase.

Looking ahead to 2025, as the All-Star festivities make their way to Truist Park in Atlanta, there is sure to be a new crop of players donning the AL and NL All-Star uniforms for the first time.

Today, as we have done the past two years, we are going to look at five players who could stamp their name among baseball’s elite and earn a trip to the All-Star Game for the first time come July. However, we’ll be limiting the list to players in at least their third MLB season, as second-year stars like Jackson Chourio and Wyatt Langford already seem destined for stardom in 2025.

So, with that all set up, let’s dive in.

All stats courtesy FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

Five Potential First-Time All-Stars

Lawrence Butler, Athletics

2024 Stats: 451 PA, .262/.317/.490, .345 wOBA, 22 HR, 57 RBI, 130 wRC+, 3.3 fWAR
2025 Steamer Projections: 672 PA, .256/.317/.455, .333 wOBA, 29 HR, 78 RBI, 122 wRC+, 3.5 fWAR

A breakout star in 2024, Lawrence Butler is poised to take on the mantle of franchise centerpiece with the Athletics entering his third season in the big leagues.

Just 24 years old, the six-foot-four, sweet-swinging outfielder put his name on the map through his final 61 games last season, ranking as the 15th most-valuable position player in the second half. Butler slashed .300/.345/.553 — good for a 155 wRC+ — while smacking 13 homers and stealing 12 bases after the All-Star break.

However, it wasn’t necessarily a slam dunk, breakthrough season from Opening Day to Game 162. Butler was optioned to Triple-A on May 13, sporting a 29.8% strikeout rate, 67 wRC+, and .094 ISO. He looked more like the player who struggled to make any kind of quality contact through a 42-game debut in 2023.

But once he returned from 27 games in Triple-A Las Vegas on June 18, Butler had clearly made some adjustments both mechanically and in his approach.

OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 21: Oakland Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler (4) hits a single during an MLB game between the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics on September 21, 2024, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, CA. (Photo by Trinity Machan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Our Aram Leighton wrote an excellent piece in September, identifying some of the swing changes that Butler made that helped him find his stride in the majors.

Armed with his refined swing, Butler cut his strikeout rate to 21.8% from his return through the end of the season and was able to tap into his raw power more frequently — a pretty dangerous combination, as it turns out.

Over his final 330 plate appearances, Butler started to swing more often but also stopped whiffing.

Span	Swing%	Contact%	In-Zone Contact%	In-Zone Swing%
March 28 to May 13	42.9	70.1	76.5	59.8
June 18 to Sept 28	49.5	77.0	85.0	68.8

Butler’s swing and contact numbers pre- and post-demotion

Pairing any kind of significant improvement in results with a tangible adjustment in mechanics or approach is always a reassuring sign that a player isn’t just going through the ups and downs that naturally come in baseball. So, seeing Butler’s new swing pay immediate dividends should be an indication of good things to come in 2025.

As far as earning his spot among the American League’s finest this coming July, Butler will likely have some stiff competition to crack a starting outfield, with Aaron Judge and a hopefully healthy Mike Trout bound to earn a significant portion of the fan vote. But if Butler can maintain his second-half pace, he should be able to crack the next tier of AL outfielders.

Christian Walker, Houston Astros

2024 Stats: 552 PA, .251/.333/.468, .343 wOBA, 26 HR, 84 RBI, 119 wRC+, 3.0 fWAR
2025 Steamer Projections: 646 PA, .243/.327/.463, .339 wOBA, 32 HR, 96 RBI, 124 wRC+, 3.1 fWAR

Christian Walker has long been one of the most underrated players in baseball. Over his last three seasons with the Diamondbacks, the 33-year-old ranked sixth among qualified first basemen in fWAR (10.8), third in home runs (95) and ninth in wOBA (.347).

So, you might figure he had cracked the National League All-Star roster at least once. But that’s not the case. Going up against the likes of Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Pete Alonso and Matt Olson has made life rough for other intriguing senior circuit one-baggers.

But no longer calling the desert home, Walker could be in line to get that long-deserved All-Star nod as one of the Astros’ off-season expenditures.

Just Baseball’s Top 10 First Basemen for the 2025 season

In signing his three-year, $60 million deal with Houston, not only does Walker take himself out of the uber-competitive first base picture in the National League, but he also moves into a park that should prove to be a perfect fit for his swing.

According to Baseball Savant’s Park Factors Leaderboard, Houston’s Daikin Park — we miss you already, Minute Maid — has had the ninth-highest home run factor for right-handed hitters over the past three seasons, while Arizona’s Chase Field has had the seventh-lowest.

Of course, that is a product of the infamous Crawford Boxes, sitting a mere 315 feet from home plate down the left-field line in Houston.

Using Baseball Savant’s expected home runs by park feature, we can see that Walker will be uniquely positioned to take advantage of his new home. In 2024, only one stadium boosted the 33-year-old’s expected long ball totals higher than that of Daikin Park.

This article first appeared on Just Baseball and was syndicated with permission.

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