The All-MLB Team annually recognizes the best players at each position across Major League Baseball, and in 2025, it is entering its seventh year.
Sure, we may only be in the first full week of the new season, but it's never too early to project which players might be named to the All-MLB First and Second Teams at the end of the campaign. To that end, a panel of MLB.com experts voted on who they think will receive the prestigious honor when it's all said and done.
As a reminder, each team features one selection at catcher, first base, second base, shortstop, third base and DH, as well as three outfielders (regardless of specific outfield position), five starting pitchers and two relievers.
CATCHER
First team: William Contreras (MIL)
Second team: Adley Rutschman (BAL)
Contreras ascended to the top echelon of catchers with a career year in 2024. He hit .281/.365/.466 with 23 home runs and 4.9 bWAR to finish fifth in National League MVP voting. He also produced career bests in hard-hit rate (49.5%, 91st percentile among qualified batters) and walk rate (11.5%, 90th percentile).
Rutschman, meanwhile, saw his offensive production decline last season, but he remains one of the best all-around backstops in the game. He posted a .709 OPS with 19 homers at the plate, but some of the underlying metrics were encouraging -- he ranked above the 80th percentile among qualified batters in squared-up rate (30%, 87th percentile), whiff rate (17.1%, 89th) and strikeout rate (16.1%, 83rd). He got off to a great start to the 2025 campaign with a pair of homers on Opening Day.
Behind the plate, Rutschman was among the best blocking catchers in the game last year, with 10 blocks above average, according to Statcast (94th percentile).
Also receiving votes: Cal Raleigh, Patrick Bailey, Will Smith
FIRST BASE
First team: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR)
Second team: Bryce Harper (PHI)
Guerrero had a bounce-back season in 2024, reemerging as one of baseball¡¯s top sluggers after seeing his offensive production decline from 2022-23. He hit .323/.396/.544 with 30 home runs last year for his best offensive campaign since he finished runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for AL MVP in ¡¯21. A slimmed-down Vladdy is in the walk year of his contract, making him a prime candidate for a huge season.
If Harper has a healthy season, you can count on 30-plus homers and an OPS around .900. It¡¯s almost a given. And if he has a monster season, as he did in the two years in which he won the NL MVP Award, those numbers could be over 40 homers and an OPS near 1.100. But that will be the key: health. Harper hasn¡¯t played in more than 145 games since 2019.
Also receiving votes: Freddie Freeman, Pete Alonso
SECOND BASE
First team: Ketel Marte (ARI)
Second team: Marcus Semien (TEX)
Marte has finally entered the greater baseball world¡¯s consciousness after being an underrated player for much of his career. In 2019, he posted a .981 OPS with 32 homers for the D-backs in an All-Star campaign. But it wasn¡¯t until ¡¯23, when he helped fuel Arizona¡¯s surprising run to the World Series, that many began to take notice of him. Last season, he cemented his place as one of the best players in the game by hitting .292/.372/.560 with a career-best 36 homers to finish third in NL MVP balloting.
Semien, meanwhile, is looking for a rebound campaign after producing his lowest offensive output since 2018 (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign). Still, he¡¯s been an All-Star in three of the last four years and has three third-place finishes in AL MVP voting. He also owns the MLB record for single-season home runs by a second baseman, with 45 in 2021 with the Blue Jays.
Also receiving votes: Jackson Holliday, Brandon Lowe, Brendan Donovan
THIRD BASE
First team: José Ramírez (CLE)
Second team: Austin Riley (ATL)
Ram¨ªrez has simply been a machine the past several years -- from 2017-24, he posted an .888 OPS and averaged 34 home runs and 29 steals per 162 games, finishing among the top five in AL MVP voting five times. Last year, he fell just one double and one homer shy of becoming the second player in MLB history with 40 doubles, 40 homers and 40 steals in the same season. On the final day of the regular season, he said ¡°I¡¯ll do it next year.¡±
Riley endured an injury-plagued campaign in 2024, hitting 19 homers with a .783 OPS for the Braves. But when he¡¯s healthy, the slugging third baseman is one of the most feared right-handed hitters in the game. From 2021-23, he missed only four games and averaged 36 homers with an .878 OPS, finishing among the top seven in NL MVP balloting in each year over that span.
Also receiving votes: Matt Chapman, Manny Machado, Junior Caminero, Jordan Westburg
SHORTSTOP
First team: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)
Second team: Elly De La Cruz (CIN)
Witt took a quantum leap with his performance last season, and that was after a 30-homer/49-steal campaign in 2023. The 25-year-old superstar¡¯s OPS went from .813 to .977 and he led the Majors in hits (211) and batting average (.332) while belting 32 homers and swiping 31 bases. He was runner-up to Aaron Judge in AL MVP voting in just his third MLB season. He shined defensively, too, winning his first career Gold Glove Award.
One of the most electric players in baseball, De La Cruz also made big strides in 2024 -- literally and figuratively. In his age-22 campaign, he launched 25 homers and led MLB with 67 steals, becoming the fifth player -- and first shortstop -- in MLB history with 25 homers and 65 steals in the same season. He¡¯s only getting better, and if he can cut down on his strikeouts (he led MLB with 218 last year), he could become an MVP-caliber player.
Also receiving votes: Gunnar Henderson, Francisco Lindor
OUTFIELD
First team: Juan Soto (NYM), Aaron Judge (NYY), Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD)
Second team: Julio Rodríguez (SEA), Corbin Carroll (ARI), Kyle Tucker (CHC)
Soto may be the best pure hitter in the Majors, and in the wake of signing the largest contract in sports history, he¡¯s off and running with the Mets -- last Friday, he helped his new club pick up its first win of the season by launching his first homer. Still just 26 years old, we may not have seen the best of Soto after his 41-homer, .989 OPS campaign in 2024.
Soto¡¯s former teammate, Judge, remains the most feared home run threat in the game. The reigning AL MVP had, by many metrics, a better season last year than his 2022 MVP campaign in which he smashed an AL-record 62 homers. In ¡¯24, he became the first player in 20 years to slug over .700 (.701). And then he had a historic season-opening series this past weekend against the Brewers, becoming the first player in Yankees history to belt four homers in the team's first three games of a season.
Tatis made the move from shortstop to right field with aplomb in 2023, when he won a Gold Glove Award at his new position. At the plate, he continues to trend toward a return to the tremendous offensive force he was when he hit 42 homers with a .975 OPS in ¡¯21.
Although he had an up-and-down season in which he was slowed by quad and ankle injuries, Rodr¨ªguez finished the 2024 campaign strong with an .895 OPS and seven homers in September. He¡¯ll be looking to replicate his healthy ¡¯23 campaign, in which he finished fourth in AL MVP balloting.
Carroll got off to a slow start last year, but he turned things around dramatically -- on June 8, he had a slash line of .199/.286/.286, but from there through the end of the season, he posted an .871 OPS with 20 homers and 25 steals, recapturing the form that made him the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year.
Tucker may be in a new uniform and in a new league, but he remains a fearsome left-handed hitter who owns a career .514 slugging percentage and an .867 OPS in eight Major League seasons, all with the Astros. Despite being limited to 78 games due to a right shin fracture last year, Tucker still hit 23 home runs with a .993 OPS. Now with the Cubs, he¡¯s poised to continue putting up big numbers.
Also receiving votes: Jackson Merrill, Jarren Duran, Ronald Acu?a Jr., Mike Trout, Michael Harris II, Wyatt Langford, Riley Greene
DESIGNATED HITTER
First team: Shohei Ohtani (LAD)
Second team: Yordan Alvarez (HOU)
Ohtani continues to amaze us at every turn despite already putting together a legendary resume that features countless unprecedented feats -- including the first 50-homer, 50-steal season in MLB history last year. As he aims to return to his two-way superstardom and a debut on the mound with the Dodgers, he is the standard when it comes to designated hitters.
While Ohtani may be the standard, Alvarez isn¡¯t far behind. The big left-handed slugger played in more games last season than any other in his career -- in 147 games, he produced a .308/.392/.567 slash line with 35 homers. Now in his age-28 campaign, expect more prodigious numbers at the plate in 2025.
Also receiving votes: Brent Rooker
STARTING PITCHER
First team: Tarik Skubal (DET), Paul Skenes (PIT), Zack Wheeler (PHI), Corbin Burnes (ARI), Garrett Crochet (BOS)
Second team: Cole Ragans (KC), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD), Chris Sale (ATL), Sandy Alcantara (MIA), Roki Sasaki (LAD)
Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, rose to stardom with a tremendous 2024 campaign in which he won the pitching triple crown -- he posted an AL-best 2.39 ERA while tying for the MLB lead in wins (18) and leading the Majors with 228 strikeouts.
Excitement abounds for Skenes¡¯ first full season after he turned in a historic rookie campaign that led to NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2024. In 23 starts, the flamethrowing phenom with a signature ¡°splinker¡± pitched to a 1.96 ERA with a 33% strikeout rate to finish third in NL Cy Young Award voting.
Wheeler continues to be one of the most consistently excellent starters in baseball. Though he¡¯s never won a Cy Young Award, he¡¯s finished second twice -- including last year, when he posted the lowest single-season ERA of his career (2.57) and reached 200 innings for the second time in his career. Even entering his age-35 campaign, there¡¯s no indication he¡¯s slowing down.
For the second consecutive season, Burnes is with a new team after spending his first six years with the Brewers. Now with the D-backs, he figures to once again be among the best starting pitchers in the Majors. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2021, the right-hander has a 2.94 ERA and he¡¯s made at least 32 starts in each of the past three seasons.
Converted into a starter last year with the White Sox, Crochet hasn¡¯t looked back. The tall left-hander struck out 35% of opposing batters in an All-Star campaign before being traded to the Red Sox.
The second team predictions feature names that could all certainly be first team candidates as well. Ragans had a breakout campaign for Kansas City, finishing fourth in AL Cy Young Award balloting last year. Yamamoto was limited to 18 starts by injury, but he still had a 3.00 ERA for the Dodgers.
Sale won the NL Cy Young Award in an incredible resurgence that earned him the league¡¯s Comeback Player of the Year Award. Alcantara returns after missing the entire 2024 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery, and if he returns to his '22 Cy Young-winning form, watch out. And the Japanese phenom Sasaki could be yet another lights-out hurler for the Dodgers.
Also receiving votes: Dylan Cease, Spencer Strider, Jacob deGrom, Logan Gilbert, Hunter Greene, Michael King, Max Fried, Spencer Schwellenbach, Tyler Glasnow, Bryce Miller
RELIEF PITCHER
First team: Mason Miller (ATH), Emmanuel Clase (CLE)
Second team: Devin Williams (NYY), Andrés Muñoz (SEA)
Miller was utterly overpowering for the A's in his rookie campaign last year, striking out 41.8% of opposing batters while posting a 2.49 ERA with 28 saves in 31 chances. He blew away the competition with a fastball that averaged 101 mph to go along with a devastating slider.
Clase, meanwhile, continued to show why he is considered the class of MLB when it comes to closers -- he led the AL in saves for the third consecutive year by locking down 47 of them for the Guardians in 2024, all while posting a microscopic 0.61 ERA to finish third in AL Cy Young Award voting.
Now in Yankees pinstripes after spending the first six seasons of his Major League career with the Brewers, Williams brings his patented "Airbender" changeup to the Bronx. Although he missed most of last season due to stress fractures in his back, the right-hander was as dominant as ever in 22 appearances in 2024, posting a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves and a 43.2% strikeout rate.
Mu?oz was an All-Star for the first time last year thanks to a career-best campaign in which he posted a 2.12 ERA with 22 saves and struck out 42.9% of opposing batters. With a fastball that can reach triple digits and a slider that was one of the best among MLB relievers last season, he's poised to continue his ascent in the relief ranks. Not only that, he's added a new and potentially devastating pitch to his arsenal.
Also receiving votes: Felix Bautista, Jhoan Duran, Edwin D¨ªaz, Ryan Helsley, Ben Joyce, Tanner Scott, Trevor Megill, Raisel Iglesias, Cade Smith
Voters: David Adler, Jason Catania, Theo DeRosa, Jason Foster, Jared Greenspan, Jeffrey Lutz, Brent Maguire, Brian Murphy, Manny Randhawa, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon