But anything can happen in a one-game sample, so there have been a fair number of unexpected winners in recent years, too. Looking at you, Elias Díaz (2023) and Melky Cabrera (2012). Only two pitchers have been named All-Star MVP since 2000 — Shane Bieber (2019) and Mariano Rivera (2013) — but you can’t rule them out either.
We posed the question in the opening sentence to six writers (three from MLB.com and three from Yahoo Sports), and their answers run the gamut. There are established sluggers, under-the-radar youngsters and, yes, even one pitcher.
Here are our best guesses as to who will be the 2025 MLB All-Star Game MVP.
All statistics updated through Tuesday.
Pete Alonso, 1B, Mets
For the first time in his Major League career, Alonso will not be participating in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby. The Polar Bear claimed the dinger crown in 2019 and 2021 but has fallen short in recent years, failing to reach the finals in the past three Derbies. This year, Alonso said the Derby “didn’t call to him,” and he wants to enjoy the All-Star festivities without having to lock in on launching homer after homer on Monday night.
Even so, I don’t think Alonso’s humble rejection of a Derby invite precludes him from standing out on Tuesday in Atlanta. Although he recorded only one hit across his first four All-Star appearances (a single in 2019), I think Alonso delivers a big swing for the National League this year — perhaps even a home run to make up for all the long balls he’s passing up on Monday. It feels only right.
— Jordan Shusterman, Yahoo Sports
Cal Raleigh, C, Mariners
The winner of the All-Star Game MVP is so hard to predict and the actual result is so awesome, every time. So my strategy was uber-scientific: Who came to mind immediately when we received this prompt?
The answer was Raleigh, who is having a historic season and is no stranger to big moments long before this, too. Remember when he hit a walk-off homer to clinch a playoff spot and end the Mariners’ postseason drought? He became the first player to clinch his team’s playoff spot with a pinch-hit, walk-off home run. That’s understanding the moment and the stage.
Hunter Goodman, C, Rockies
History is cyclical, or at least that’s what my high school teachers told me. A relatively unknown Rockies catcher showing up to the All-Star Game, clapping a clutch homer and leaving with the MVP trophy? Yeah, I’ve seen that movie before, and gosh darn, I loved it. Elias Díaz became a hardball cult hero back in 2023, when he clobbered a go-ahead, two-run shot off Baltimore’s Félix Bautista. Two years later, it’s going to happen again. World, meet Hunter Goodman. Hunter Goodman, meet world.
Look, the Rockies are a bad ballclub — perhaps the worst ever once the dust settles — but Goodman is actually pretty good, man. The 25-year-old catcher has an .843 OPS and 17 long balls. He has a fun leg kick and big pop. He’s easily one of the least famous dudes going to Atlanta — and that’s why he’s going to steal the hearts of America. An RBI two-bagger down the line off the Royals’ Kris Bubic followed by a shocking tater off Astros closer Josh Hader. Book it.
— Jake Mintz, Yahoo Sports
Buxton would have been a logical MVP choice in his first All-Star Game in 2022. He did, after all, hit the homer that provided the winning run in the American League’s 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium. However, the award went to the batter immediately before him — Giancarlo Stanton — for his two-run shot that tied the game. There might have been some hometown favoritism with that pick since Stanton grew up in Southern California.
Well, guess who grew up not too far away from Atlanta? Yep, Buxton, who was raised in Baxley, Ga., about 190 miles southeast of this year’s Midsummer Classic.
To recap, Buxton has proven he can handle the All-Star spotlight, is rightfully back on baseball’s biggest summer stage and may be motivated to step up again in this homecoming game. Sounds like a worthy MVP candidate to me.
Kyle Stowers, OF, Marlins
Stowers has become a star for the Marlins just a year after being traded to Miami from the Baltimore Orioles, and in his first All-Star appearance, he’s the perfect candidate to win All-Star Game MVP. Stowers provides some nice pop from the left side and could make a trip to the Chop House in the right-field seats, and just as importantly, he’ll probably get at least two at-bats to make something special happen as a National League reserve.
— Russell Dorsey, Yahoo Sports
Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers
We’ve got to have a pitcher in here somewhere, right? And you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one than Skubal, who is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and on a run of epic proportions heading into the All-Star Game. Over his past two starts, the flamethrowing left-hander hasn’t yielded a run in 14 innings while walking one and striking out 23.
If you go back further, Skubal has a 1.12 ERA with 69 strikeouts to just seven walks over his past eight outings. That includes his two-hit shutout of the Guardians on May 25, when he walked none, struck out 13 and fired a 102.6 mph fastball on the final pitch of the game. Oh, and it was a “Maddux,” too.
If there’s anyone who could give us a performance reminiscent of Pedro Martinez’s in the 1999 All-Star Game, it’s Skubal. And Pedro himself took to social media to sing Skubal’s praises, saying he’s one of a trio of hurlers who are “the future of pitching” and “built to dominate.”
— Manny Randhawa, MLB.com
