Last Updated on July 14, 2025 8:59 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: July 14, 2025

The 2025 All-Star break is a time for reflection on the first part of the season and recognizing the best players of the season so far.

But that’s for real baseball.

For fantasy purposes, we are wondering, who are the ‘All-Stars’ of our game?

Is it someone who is performing as elite as they were expected to or should we choose the lowly drafted players that are well outperforming their ADP.

Each of our contributors have compiled a list of their selections.

This piece will cover our selections for Infielders and Catchers.

Catcher

Nathan Baker – Follow on X here

Cal Raleigh

On pace for the best catcher season of all time, and challenging Aaron Judge for the AL MVP.

Larry Vannozzi – Follow on X here

Cal Raleigh

This isn’t even close. He has twice as many HRs as any other catcher in MLB. You drafted him expecting 30+ HRs for the year but he has already delivered that by the break! He also leads in runs scored. Oh, and he leads his position in steals, too!

Chris Rossi – Follow on X here, Blue Sky, here

Cal Raleigh

Mr. Raleigh has taken the league by storm with his out of position dingers and overall feel good story. There is no bigger name at the position right now or in recent memory.

Anthony Kates – Follow on X here, Blue Sky here

Cal Raleigh

There’s really no other option. 2nd most home runs before the All Star break in league history. On pace for the greatest offensive catcher season of all time. On pace for a top 10 fantasy hitter season of all time. On pace to shatter the all time home run record for catchers, based on his first three and a half seasons and how far ahead of Piazza’s pace he will be at the end of the season. It’s just ridiculous.

Chris Houston – Follow on X here, Blue Sky, here

Cal Raleigh

When it comes to fantasy baseball catchers, my philosophy is to try to roster a guy who is rock solid in at least one category. Cal Raleigh, however, far exceeds that requirement, boasting a .259/.376/.634 slash line with a league-leading 38 home runs, and also 65 runs scored, 80 RBI and 10 steals in 417 plate appearances, a stat set which helps significantly in every standard fantasy category other than batting average. A perusal of the All-Star’s underlying numbers reveals no reason to think that the surface numbers are a fluke, either. The Big Dumper has registered a .385 xwOBA and .569 expected slugging percentage, helping to validate the triple-slash, and his 20% barrel rate, 49% hard-hit rate, 14.9% walk rate and 91.8 mph average exit velocity all place him in at least the 82nd percentile in those metrics, resulting in a 6.2 fWAR. Simply put, Raleigh, with his workload, immense power and all-around fantasy skill-set is a cheat code at the catcher position.

Paul Williamson – Follow on X here, Blue Sky here

Agustin Ramirez

Yes, the correct answer is Cal Raleigh. But let’s spice this up with a different name here. I’m going with Agustin Ramirez. who is ranked sixth on Fangraph’s player rater, though he has only played in 71 games since being called up on April 21. In 301 plate appearances, he has hit 14 homers with 40 runs and 41 RBI and a solid .242/.289/.470 slash line.

He has done this on the back of some impressive statcast numbers – 92.2 MPH avgEV, 12.0% barrel rate and 48.4 hard-hit rate. According to his xStats, he is actually a tad UNlucky with a .280 xBA, .512 xSLG and .355 xwOBA (.324 surface wOBA). What is possible most impressive is he has done a great job limiting his swing and miss with a solid 11.3% SwStr%..

First base

Paul – Michael Busch

After being drafted in the very back end of 12-team drafts, or not at all, Michael Busch has been an incredible fantasy asset all season, being ranked third on the player rater from Fangraphs among all first baseman, ahead of Josh Naylor, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Olson.

He is turning in a career season with 19 homers (just two off his 21 HR mark from ’24) with 45 runs, 59 RBI and an impressive .290/.375/.550 slashline. His wOBA is .397 and the wRC+ is 160.

There is no sign of any luck here with a 91.7 avgEV, 16.1% barrel rate, 16.9 degree launch angle, .283 xBA, .587 xSLG and .405 xwOBA. He has trimmed the K% down to 22.6%, as well.

Chris H. – Pete Alonso

One thing’s for certain: Alonso is having himself a monster year. His .280/.376/.532 slash line this season features the highest batting average and OBP of his career and second highest slugging percentage of his career. Furthermore, his .294 expected batting average, .416 xwOBA, and .605 expected slugging percentage lend credence to those career-high numbers. Alonso has also slugged 21 homers with 77 RBI in 361 plate appearances this year, generating a 95th percentile or better 20.4% barrel rate, 54.3% hard-hit rate, and 94.1 mph average exit velocity. Indeed, the Polar Bear is having a career year at the dish, so congrats to his fantasy managers for being along for the ride.

Anthony  – Michael Busch

He was the 23rd drafted 1B on average and is currently the 3rd ranked 1B performer overall. He has already outproduced his 2024 season overall in 226 less plate appearances. He’s been more active on the basepaths – he has both more triples and more stolen bases this season than he did last. He is on pace for 30 home runs, has dropped his strikeout rate six full percentage points, is posting elite statcast data and has raised his contact rate. I was a year early proclaiming him as a top 8 fantasy 1B last season, so I am happy to see him succeed this season.

Chris R. – Pete Alonso

Home runs and more home runs. Mr. Trade Block has silenced the doubters yet again with a power explosion that only a guy nicknamed “The Polar Bear” could produce.

Larry – Pete Alonso

He has delivered the goods with more runs, HRs and RBI combined than any other 1B in baseball. All those great counting stats are accompanied by an excellent batting average that is 30 points higher than his career average.

Nathan – Pete Alonso 

It would’ve been fair to project Alonso to continue his decline from the season prior, but he’s proved the doubters wrong with his best all-round offensive season to date. I’m sure he won’t fall into the fourth round much next year, and I’m also sure he’ll have a much more fruitful free-agency.

Second Base

Nathan – Maikel Garcia

The Maikel Garcia breakout has finally arrived – a bit too late for myself in most leagues, but 18 steals and an .809 OPS will play for those who kept the faith. His line-drive swing is built for that cavernous ballpark in KC.

Larry – Jonathan Aranda and Brandon Lowe

These two guys are the top two 2Bs in many formats and both have FAR exceeded our Draft Day expectations. Lowe has brought more power while Aranda has the better batting average but both have been unexpectedly very strong boosts to fantasy teams.

Chris R – Brandon Lowe

Most valuable player at the position on the heels of 19 home runs. Seeing a pattern here?

Anthony – Maikel Garcia

he was drafted after pick 200 and has been the third most productive fantasy 2B on the season. He will probably finish the year as a top 5 player at the position and is the only player at the position currently projected to hit 10 or more home runs and steal 30 or more bases, while also posting one of the best batting averages. He’s made real gains in walk and strikeout rate, both moving in the right direction, elevating the ball more while making more quality contact and hitting the ball harder than last season. Has batted in the 3 or 4 spot in every game since June started, which, if it continues, should only help his volume stats over the second half.

Chris H. – Jose Altuve

Reports of Altuve’s demise, in the midst of his early-season struggles, turned out to been greatly exaggerated, it seems. I mean, to be fair, Altuve does appear to be reaching the declining stage of his career. His Baseball Savant page has a conspicuous amount of blue on it. But the diminutive right-hander has never really been much of a Statcast darling, and heading into the All-Star break, his .277/.336/.465 triple-slash is right in line with last year’s numbers. As for power, Altuve’s 17 home runs in 396 plate appearances have him set to surpass the 20 he tallied in 682 plate appearances last year. He is still running, too, stealing six bags so far. Ultimately, it is no surprise that, at a rather shallow position right now for fantasy, the 35-year-old has somehow managed to still shine in the first half of 2025.

Paul – Jose Altuve

I have shied away from going with the top players at each position so far, but I think Jose Altuve is having an exceptional season, especially considering my own preseason fade (oops). He is turning in one of his best seasons since 2022, already just three homers off his 20 homer mark from ’24 at 17 with 50 runs, 52 RBI, and a .277/.336/.465 slash with a 121 wRC+.

He continues to do this without impressive statcast numbers as he is outperforming his xStats. But anyone who knows ‘Tuv’ knows, that is just what he does. He is one of the few hitters in MLB that fantasy managers just have to ignore the 84.9 MPH avgEV, 6.0% barrel rate and 30.3% hard-hit rate. We have to ignore the .400 xSLG, .249 xBA and .309 xwOBA. Throughout his career, he greatly outperforms those metrics. His incredible bat control with a ton of lift and pull gives him his power but he isn’t an extreme flyball hitter, so the average isn’t negatively affected.

It is also worth noting he is the anti-Rafael Devers. The Astros move him from second base to the outfield, to DH and he plays hard. The Astros have been fielding a near Quad-A squad these days and yet are 56-40 and stand atop of the AL West by 5.0 games at the break, and they have their unquestioned leader to thank. Oh, and I guess Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez, too.

Third base

Paul – Manny Machado

Death, taxes and Manny Machado being a top fantasy third baseman. Ignoring the shortened 2020 season (wouldn’t we all like to just block out that entire year?), Machado has hit 28+ homers in every year from 2015-2024. Seven of those years he hit 30+. He is on the same pace again in 2025. He has 17 bombs in 408 plate appearances. He also is still getting done on the basepaths with eight steals.

His career WORST batting average in any given season is .256, hitting .270+ in nine seasons.

Machado is also turning in near career-best marks in avgEV at 92.6 MPH, barrel rate at 13.5% and hard-hit rate at 50.8%.

Chris H. – Jose Ramirez

When will Ramírez finally slow down? The answer is: not in 2025. In fact, this year, the 32-year-old has slashed an impressive .295/.363/.506, posting 18 home runs, 54 runs scored and 29 stolen bases in 391 plate appearances. Ramírez still has some strengths in regards to the underlying numbers as well. His .292 xBA, .350 xwOBA and .465 xSLG attest to the legitimacy of his slash line, and his 11.3% strike out rate and 16.1% whiff rate tend to indicate that he remains patient at the plate. So, if the question is: has Ramírez slowed down at all this season? The answer is: no way, José.

Anthony – Eugenio Suarez

And I am not sure it is particularly close. JRam still sets the ceiling and Manny Machado is a top three guy, but those are expected. Junior Caminero is excellent, which we expected, but the last time Suarez had a power binge like this was way back in 2019…two uniforms ago. The soon to be 34-year-old is hitting for more power than he has in any season of his career (seriously, he has a .319 ISO, only five players are above .300 this year), he is one of just five players with 30 or more home runs, yet he has just the 16th highest wRC+ in the league. An elite season out of an elite masher.

Chris R. – Junior Caminero

This is where I diverge a bit and go with Junior over Eugenio. I just love the upside and rise and can’t wait to see what he accomplishes over the next few years.

Larry – Eugenio Suarez 

The easy pick would have been José Ramírez because, well, he’s doing usual José Ramírez things like hitting lots of HRs, stealing many bases and hitting around .300. However, I chose Eugenio Suárez because of his value, which has far exceeded what we expected when we drafted him back in March. The man leads all 3B in HRs and RBI – boom!

Nathan – Addison Barger

Jose Ramirez is still king, but Barger was available on waivers in most leagues, and has performed as well as any B list third baseman, if not better.

Shortstop

Nathan – Jacob Wilson

Another prospect who was often undrafted, Wilson has offered a fantastic alternative to many of the overdrafted top 10 SS, particularly with his unexpected power.

Larry – Elly De La Cruz

There were still some doubters entering this season but Elly has dispatched those fears with an outstanding first half that ranks him among the top 10 players in MLB. He leads his position in runs scored and is in the top few in HRs, RBI and SB. And check out his average! Few if any believed that he would be hitting around .280 as he has turned from a fantasy team drain into a helper in that category.

Chris R – Trea Turner

Tried and true staple with steals now back on the menu.

Anthony – Jeremy Pena

At the time of Pena’s injury, he had the fifth most WAR in all of baseball. He had been the most productive SS in all of baseball, is still the sixth ranked fantasy SS and has just 0.6 WAR less than Bobby Witt even though he has appeared in 16 fewer games. This was his true breakout season, where everything was clicking as he was entering his peak years. Jose Altuve asked the coaches to move him into the leadoff spot where he flourished, producing a 166 wRC+ and a .941 OPS in 55 games out of the top spot. He was stealing more bases, hitting for more power, striking out less, and getting on base more than ever.

Chris H. – Elly De La Cruz

This was a close call between De La Cruz and Bobby Witt Jr., but ultimately, I had to give the nod to Elly, and here’s why. As inspired by the immortal words of the great Allen Iverson, “We talmbout fantasy. Not reality, not re-ality, not re-al-i-ty. We talmbout fantasy!” And when it comes to fantasy baseball, a .284/.359/.495 triple-slash with 18 home runs, 72 runs scored, 63 RBI and 28 stolen bases in 370 plate appearances is simply a difficult combination of statistics to beat. To be fair, Junior does enjoys the slight edge in batting average and slugging percentage, but EDLC holds the advantage in OBP, homers, runs scored, RBI and steals. Thus, although I see Witt Jr. as the better real-life player, and I hate to put results over process, but more cats, more snaps (ancient slang for: money, cash, dollars), and it’s as simple as that. (Ha! That rhymed!)

Paul – Trevor Story

It is always great to see an old friend after many years apart.

Trevor Story has perpetually been hurt and off the field since going to the Boston Red Sox. The 384 plate appearances from this year are just 12 off the most he has had in Boston, turning in two straight sub-168 PA seasons in 2023-24.

He is proving to everyone that he is still an incredible baseball player. He has 15 homers, 16 steals, with a .257/.298/.417 slash. The statcast numbers are all back with a 91.0 MPH avgEV, 10.5% barrel rate and 47.3% hard-hit rate.

He is on pace to turn in his best season since his 2019 season in Colorado and fantasy managers couldn’t be happier to see it.