20 MLB players who could be first-time All-Stars in 2025

Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo has been an annual entrant on this list, and one of these years he will finally get the opportunity to represent the National League at the Midsummer Classic. For most of the first half last season, it really looked like 2024 would be the year for the veteran, as before the all-star break Nimmo slashed. 248/.361/.454 with 16 homers and 63 RBI. Both he and eventual NL MVP candidate Francisco Lindor looked to be more deserving of all-stars than first baseman Pete Alonso, who ended up representing the Mets at the game, but as we know, all-star game selections can be fickle. Nimmo admittedly did not look like himself down the stretch--we later learned he'd been struggling with painful plantar fasciitis--but he still finished the year with 23 long balls and a career-high 90 RBI. The 31-year-old will be healthy entering spring training, and as one of the leaders on an up-and-coming Mets team, he'll be motivated to deliver a big year for both himself and the team. 

The Braves position player core is the primary reason they've had so much success in recent years, and young center fielder Michael Harris II is certainly right in the middle of that mix. The 23-year-old was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2022, and he's done nothing but build on that early success in the two years that have followed. A hamstring injury cost Harris about two months in '24, but when he was on the field, he slashed .264/.304/.418 with 16 homers, 48 RBI, and 14 doubles in 110 games. He's also the best friend of Atlanta's pitching staff, playing a phenomenal defensive center field day in and day out, and it would not be surprising to see him both make the all-star team and win a Gold Glove award in 2025. 

Pittsburgh shortstop Oneil Cruz is as physically gifted as any young player in the game today, and his days of being an annual participant in the all-star game are rapidly approaching. After losing essentially all of his 2023 campaign to injury when he fractured his ankle on a play at the plate in April, Cruz came back strong last year and was incredibly impressive in his first full Major League season. Playing in 146 of the Pirates games, the 26-year-old slashed .259/.324/.449 with 21 home runs, 76 RBI, 34 doubles, three triples, and 22 stolen bases. He absolutely has both the power and speed to be a consistent 30/30 threat, and Pittsburgh fans are going to enjoy watching him for years to come. 

Righty Tanner Bibee debuted for the Guardians early in 2023, and in just two big league seasons has already established himself as Cleveland's top starting pitcher. In 56 career starts to date, the Cal State Fullerton product has pitched to a 3.25 ERA with a 1.14 WHIP, while striking out 187 hitters in 173.2 innings, earning 22 victories, and holding opponents to just a .230 batting average. The Guardians were one of the best teams in baseball all season long in 2024 before disappointingly falling to the Yankees in the ALCS, and as they look to take the next step in '25 and beyond, Bibee will be front and center. 

Like the earlier mentioned Brandon Nimmo, veteran first baseman Christian Walker seems to be on this list every season. The 33-year-old slugger delivered back-to-back 30+ home run seasons in '22 and '23 for Arizona and would have made it a three-peat last year had an oblique strain not taken him out of action for a month last summer. The biggest obstacle for Walker's all-star game aspirations has been the league he plays in, as the National League has consistently been loaded with star first basemen like Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman, Pete Alonso, Matt Olson, and Paul Goldschmidt. Walker's luck could potentially change soon, though, as he's currently a free agent, and perhaps if he signs with an American League team, his path to the Midsummer Classic would be less challenging. 

The leap young Mets third baseman Mark Vientos was able to make in 2024 was one of the most exciting developments of the 2024 season as a whole, and heading into '25 he appears poised for stardom. In 111 games for New York, the 24-year-old slashed .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs, 71 RBI, and 22 doubles, while consistently showing prodigious power to the opposite field. Vientos' performance in October really put him on the map nationally, and it's obvious the Mets have found their first long-term answer at the hot corner since David Wright--provided they don't move him to first base, of course. 

The Braves have a consistent ability to continuously churn out difference makers from their minor league system, and last season young righty Spencer Schwellenbach was just the latest example. Atlanta's 2nd round pick from the 2021 draft, Schwellenbach, debuted around Memorial Day last summer and instantly became a godsend in the Atlanta rotation. In 21 starts as a rookie, he turned in a 3.35 ERA with a 1.04 WHIP, while holding opponents to just a .226 batting average and punching out 127 hitters in 123.2 innings. The University of Nebraska product should only improve with more experience at the sport's highest level, and I'd expect big things out of him in '25 and beyond. 

Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar was the best player on the Colorado Rockies last season, and if we're calling a spade a spade he was more deserving of being the team's representative at the all-star game last summer than his infield partner Ryan McMahon. That said, at just 23-years-old I think it's safe to say Tovar's days of earning such accolades are coming. In his second full Major League season, Tovar just slashed .269/.295/.469 with 26 home runs, 78 RBI, and a league-high 45 doubles. He's become the biggest piece of what the Rockies envision will be their next winning core, and someone that would get a lot more national attention if he played on a better team. 

While Tovar is indisputably the best player on the Rockies right now, center fielder Brenton Doyle is developing into a pretty good running mate. The Warrenton, VA native debuted for Colorado early in 2023, and in his first full Major League season in '24 really began to blossom. In 149 games, he slashed .260/.317/.446 with 23 home runs, 79 RBI, 24 doubles, four triples, and 30 stolen bases. Doyle profiles as a perennial 30/30 candidate, but he's far from a one-sides player. Patrolling the cavernous center field grass at Coors Field he was a human highlight reel, and earned the NL Gold Glove award over the earlier mentioned Michael Harris II. 

It feels a little unfair to include Yoshinobu Yamamoto on this list given how much he accomplished in Japan, but he was not selected to the NL all-star team during his first year in Major League Baseball so here we are. With the Dodgers last year the 26-year-old righty made 18 starts, in which he pitched to a 3.00 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP. He struck out well over a hitter/inning, held opponents to just a .229 batting average and earned seven victories. He then made four more outings in October---three of which were excellent--and helped play a leading role in LA's World Series victory.

Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio is going to be a problem for the rest of the National League for a long, long time, as at the ripe age of just 20, he's already showing signs of blossoming into an absolute superstar. As a rookie last season, Chourio slashed an impressive .275/.327/.464 with 21 home runs, 79 RBI, 29 doubles, four triples, and 22 stolen bases. Then in October he was not fazed by the big stage whatsoever, hitting .455 with a pair of homers in the Brewers Wild Card loss to the Mets. This is a player who has all the makings of becoming a perennial MVP candidate, and I'd be stunned if he wasn't representing Milwaukee at the 2025 all-star game. 

Right-hander Michael King spent the first several seasons of his career as a highly effective multi-inning relief weapon in the Bronx, but in 2024 he proved himself capable of a much more prominent role. The Yankees dealt King to San Diego in the trade that sent superstar Juan Soto east last winter, and the Padres immediately inserted the Boston College product into their rotation. And they were instantly rewarded for that decision. King made 30 starts for the Padres, winning 13 games and pitching to a 2.95 ERA with an 0.90 WHIP. He struck out 201 hitters in 173.2 innings, held opponents to a .221 batting average, and emerged as one of the team's go-to arms down the stretch and into the postseason. 

The Cardinals have been in search of their long-term answer at shortstop for a while, and while names like Paul DeJong and Aledmys Diaz had periods of success in St. Louis, young Masyn Winn looks primed to be exactly who the team needed. The club's 2nd round pick from the 2020 draft, Winn excelled as a rookie in '24, slashing .267/.314/.416 with 15 home runs, 57 RBI, 32 doubles, five triples, and 11 stolen bases. St. Louis is an organization that has gotten long in the tooth on the position player side, and Winn looks poised to be the leader of their next core. 

The Nationals have assembled an impressive amount of young talent, and 22-year-old outfielder Dylan Crews has all the makings of a future superstar. Crews was chosen 2nd overall in the 2023 draft--just behind his LSU teammate Paul Skenes--and came into professional ball as an impressively polished offensive prospect. In 135 career minor league games, Crews slashed .275/.342/.451 with 18 homers, 97 RBI, 30 doubles, and 29 steals. His 31-game introduction to the Majors came with some growing pains last summer, but Crews possesses the type of power and speed mix all teams covet, and don't be surprised if he very quickly develops into a perennial 30/30 threat. 

Paul Skenes is obviously going to generate the majority of the pitching headlines in Pittsburgh---for years to come no less---but it shouldn't be overlooked that he has a pretty good running mate atop the Bucs rotation with him. Right-hander Jared Jones was another arm the Pirates spent a premium draft pick on, and like Skenes, the 23-year-old debuted last season and really made a strong impression. In 22 starts, Jones pitched to a 4.14 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP, while holding opponents to a .232 batting average and striking out 132 hitters in 121.2 innings. The Pirates envision their two young hurlers leading this rotation for years to come, and they could very well pitch this team back into prominence earlier than people realize. 

Right-handed swinging Wyatt Langford joined the Rangers organization as the 4th overall pick in the 2023 draft coming out of the University of Florida, and like so many high college picks these days, arrived in the Major Leagues very quickly. Langford debuted with Texas on opening day last season, and certainly made the Rangers look smart for selecting him. In 134 contests, he slashed .253/.325/.415 with 16 homers, 74 RBI, 25 doubles, and 19 steals. This kid has absolute light tower power, and with more experience at the sport's highest level, he's another player like the earlier mentioned Dylan Crews, who could easily develop into a yearly 30/30 threat. 

Young Taj Bradley spent several seasons being mentioned among the best young pitching prospects in the game, and while he has shown flashes in his two Major League seasons, he hasn't quite developed into the impact starter pundits predicted he would. But he's still only 23-years-old, and I'm not nearly ready to write off his potential quite yet. In 48 career Major League outings to date, Bradley has pitched to a 4.75 ERA in 242.2 innings. A deeper dive into his numbers, though, paints a telling picture. He's consistently been able to strike out more than a hitter/inning, but command has been an issue. He's walked more than three hitters/nine innings, but it's not just the free passes. Bradley's splits when he's been ahead in the count vs behind in the count are stark, and if he can get more consistent throwing first pitch strikes a huge breakout season could be on deck. 

Developing an upper-echelon offensive catcher is one of the hardest things to do in baseball, and the Mariners are incredibly fortunate to have Cal Raleigh on their side. The 27-year-old switch-hitter debuted in Seattle in 2021, and in a short time has blossomed into an elite power threat from behind the plate. Raleigh has connected on 30 or more home runs in each of the last two seasons and is coming off a campaign where he just drove in a career-high 100 runs. He does strike out a lot, and doesn't hit for a high average, but the name of the game is scoring runs, and it's hard to argue with Raleigh's run production output. 

The Royals emerged as a legitimate contender much earlier than we all expected in 2024, and while superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. got most of the headlines, let's not overlook the production from first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino. In 131 games, the left-handed slugger slashed .262/.315/.446 with 19 homers, 97 RBI, and 30 doubles. He was a huge piece of Kansas City's success, and the team missed him mightily after he fractured his thumb around Labor Day. 

One of the unsung heroes of the Mets success in 2024 was lefty David Peterson, who returned from offseason hip surgery in late May and turned in easily the best campaign of his career. In 21 starts, the University of Oregon product delivered a 2.90 ERA with a .243 batting average against. He struck out 101 hitters in 121 frames, earned a career-best 10 wins, and became a dynamic weapon for New York down the stretch and into October. The Mets rotation as a whole needs some attention this winter, but Peterson is firmly in place as one of the club's starting five, and if he can build off of last season he could take another enormous leap in '25.