It’s probably fair to say that 2025 is the most anticipated All-Star Game for Atlanta Braves fans since the year 2000, when the game was hosted at Turner Field and Chipper Jones started at 3B for a National League team that was managed by Bobby Cox. Entering this year, there was plenty of excitement about Truist Park’s first All-Star Game coming in a season where the Braves were projected to be a true World Series contender.
Fan voting for the 2025 All-Star Game began yesterday, and I doubt even the harshest critics of the Braves expected them to have the 11th best record in the NL at this point. Many of Atlanta’s stars have disappointed, but there have still been some noteworthy performances on the team, and no matter how badly you may want to toss the whole team into the ocean right now, they do have to have at least one representative. Let’s take a look at which players have a chance to represent Atlanta this year.
Note: all stats referenced were accurate at the start of play on Wednesday 6/4.
Caveat
Fan voting is not exactly the best system to reward top players with All-Star appearances. For example, Francisco Lindor is 3rd in fWAR among all position players since he became a Met at the start of 2021, yet he has not been an All-Star even one time during that stretch.
With the game being in Atlanta this year, I wouldn’t put it past Braves fans to stuff the ballots and elect as many of the team’s most recognizable and beloved players as possible. For the purpose of today’s article, we’ll primarily discuss those who at least have a somewhat compelling case for an All-Star appearance and ignore the possibility that, say, Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies might be elected by Braves country.
Chris Sale
Despite a rough start to the season, Sale is well-deserving of consideration for an All-Star nod as things stand now. Before his brilliant and wasted start on Wednesday, he ranked 12th in the NL in ERA, 8th in FIP, 6th in xERA, 3rd in K%, and 10th in fWAR. If he continues his recent stretch of dominance for a couple more weeks, Sale seems very likely to be named to the team. If that’s the case – and if his throwing schedule lines up right – NL Manager Dave Roberts could decide to give Sale the start since he’s the reigning Cy Young winner and the game is in Atlanta. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Roberts go with his own guy and give Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.39 ERA, 2.83 xERA) the ball instead.
Matt Olson
When All-Star ballots opened up on Wednesday, Olson ranked 3rd in fWAR and 2nd in bWAR among NL 1B. Freddie Freeman is likely to get the start, which should be a treat for the majority of Atlanta fans who still hold love for him. Mets 1B Pete Alonso (158 wRC+) has been a much better hitter than Olson (121 wRC+), but they’ve provided similar value due to Olson’s fantastic defense (Olson leads all MLB 1B in DRS and OAA, while Alonso is in the bottom 5 in each). Typically fans lean towards the better hitter, so Olson may need to go on a heater over the next few weeks to close the wRC+ and OPS gap. Even if Olson ultimately misses the All-Star game, however, he and Alonso entered Wednesday tied for the NL 1B lead in HRs, and it could be highly entertaining to see the pair of them compete in the Home Run Derby.
Marcell Ozuna
Ozuna leads all Braves hitters with 1.6 fWAR, which is both impressive (given that he doesn’t play defense) and depressing (given that he doesn’t play defense). His 151 wRC+ is a top 10 mark in the National League, and he currently edges Juan Soto for the MLB lead in walks.
Despite all of this, Ozuna may have a tough path to a DH spot on the National League All-Star squad. Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani is having yet another monster season, with an OPS north of 1.000 and an NL-best 23 HR to go along with 11 SB. Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber is also having a fantastic year (the final year of a 4-year deal that he signed with Philly back in 2022), posting the 2nd best HR total (19) and 3rd-best wRC+ (165). It would be unusual for the NL to carry three DHs, so Ozuna may end up a tough-luck snub.
Spencer Schwellenbach
Schwellenbach is following up his fantastic rookie year with an excellent sophomore campaign. Most All-Star teams carry 12 pitchers, and Schwelly isn’t in the top 12 in any major category except IP (74.2, 4th in the NL) BB% (4.0%, 2nd best in the NL). A couple of more niche metrics see him as a deserving selection; namely, xFIP (2.96, 5th best in the NL) and SIERA (3.17, 8th best in the NL). Otherwise, Schwelly generally ranks in the 15-20 range in ERA, FIP, K-BB%, xERA, and other key metrics.
With the way throwing schedules line up, however, there’s an opportunity for more than 12 pitchers to make the team. Last year, the National League had 17 pitchers in total, with 5 who were named to the team being unavailable either due to injury or which day the game fell in their throwing schedule. A good run from Schwellenbach over the next few weeks could put him in a rare position to make his first All-Star appearance at his home park.
Drake Baldwin
Will Smith is leading NL catchers in fWAR and has a 167 wRC+, so he seems almost certain to start the All-Star game. But Drake Baldwin has been a sensation this year and has a legitimate case to be the backup. Baldwin has a 146 wRC+ and 1.5 fWAR – both top five marks among NL catchers – and that fWAR is especially impressive considering he has much less playing time than several of the other top catchers in the NL. fWAR sees Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno as a tier above Baldwin and on par with Smith, but All-Star voters often lean more heavily on offense than defense, so Drake’s .318/.364/.518 line could appeal to fans.
Sean Murphy
By fWAR, Murphy entered play on Wednesday tied for 6th in fWAR among catchers in the NL, but all of Murphy, Baldwin, Carson Kelly, Iván Herrera, and William Contreras are closely contending for the third-best catcher behind Smith and Moreno at the top. Murph entered Wednesday with a very solid 124 wRC+ and 1.2 fWAR in just 141 PA (roughly pacing for a ~4 fWAR season if given a full-time catcher’s workload). He’s a long-shot to be sure, especially considering that he’s probably behind Drake in the eyes of most fans right now. But another hot stretch like we saw when he returned from his early-season injury could catapult him into the conversation.
Austin Riley
It feels funny to put Matt Olson and Austin Riley in this article, given how much angst the fanbase has towards the two corner infielders this year. But, like Olson, Riley currently ranks 3rd in the NL at his position in fWAR, so he’s got a real shot. He’s one of those guys who can catch fire in a hurry, and if he finds a hot streak that lifts his season OPS up from its current mark of .775 to something more in the .820-.850 range over the next few weeks, he’ll likely be in heavy competition with other good 3B such as Manny Machado, Matt Chapman, Max Muncy, and Eugenio Suárez for a spot on the NL squad.
Ronald Acuña Jr.
The NL outfield is loaded, so this one is a bit of a stretch. Last year’s NL All-Star team had 7 outfielders, and there are at least 12 or 13 outfielders right now who are decidedly more deserving than Ronald based on the value they’ve provided in 2025. But, if anyone is capable of making up for lost time in a hurry, it’s our guy Ronnie, who is sporting a cool 187 wRC+ across his first 10 games of the season after returning from the knee injury that kept him out 364 days. With the game being in Atlanta, it would feel like a missed opportunity not to have Ronald out there, and I could see either A) fans – and not just Braves fans – voting him in despite inferior credentials, or B) the league finding a way to get him on the team as Atlanta’s star player.
I don’t think there are any names beyond these that warrant even remote consideration for an All-Star appearance. Objectively speaking, with the rest of the field taken into account, Chris Sale may actually be the only player who legitimately belongs on the team as of this moment. The others mentioned above could certainly make a push with some strong play over the next several weeks, and frankly, the Braves might need every single one of those guys to go ahead and make that push to rediscover relevance in what is shaping up to be a catastrophic 2025 season.
