Last Updated on July 16, 2025 4:48 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: July 16, 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 not just 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 pitchers. Each contributor selected three starters and one reliever.

Check out our picks for the infield/catcher here and for the outfield here. 

Nathan Baker – Follow on X here

Starters

Logan Webb

Webb has been a rock-solid fantasy asset for years, but the sizable tick up in strikeout rate without much of a tradeoff has turned him into a true SP1. Whether that holds is a separate matter, but he’s been superb value thus far, beyond his previously assumed ceiling.

MacKenzie Gore

Gore always had this in him, and it’s taken until 2025 to see the hard throwing lefty pitch like an ace for an extended period of time. His elite strikeout rate is now supplemented with excellent damage control, and he’s still only 26 years old.

Kris Bubic

Bubic joins a line of Royals starters fo have found their stride in KC, after Seth Lugo last year, and Noah Cameron this season. Bubic has some really interesting secondaries, and while he won’t be this good in the second half, he’s a legitimate fantasy asset worth relying upon.

Reliever

Josh Hader

Edwin Diaz may have better rate stats, but Hader has combined elite ratios with a heavy workload and an AL-leading 25 saves. It’s not often that relievers drafted this high justify their value, but in Hader’s case, he’s been entirely worth it.

Larry Vannozzi – Follow on X here

Starters

Tarik Skubal

The #1 SP is an easy All-Star choice. Skubal has 10 wins, 153 Ks and great ratios that include a 2.23 ERA and ridiculous 0.83 WHIP.

Zack Wheeler

Wheeler has one less win than fellow All-Star Skubal but otherwise his stats are nearly identical. The Phillies workhorse SP has 154 Ks with a 2.36 ERA and 0.86 WHIP.

Garrett Crochet

Other than a *slightly* less ridiculous WHIP than my other two SP All-Stars (Skubal and Wheeler), Crochet has similarly great stats with 10 wins, a league-leading 160 Ks plus a 2.23 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.

Reliever

Josh Hader

Although he slightly trails Robert Suarez for the league lead in saves, Hader is my RP All-Star because he has much better ratios and zero blown saves (well, at least until he finally blew one on the first half’s final weekend – darn!). He has nearly the best WHIP of his career plus an outstanding 65 Ks in under 43 innings.

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

Starters

Tarik Skubal

Utter domination for how many years now? Only Skubal can make Skenes look overrated.

Max Fried

One of the only consistent things about the Yankees this year.

Hunter Brown

They said last year was a fluke and Hunter Brown just continued to shove.

Reliever

Andres Munoz

Ran away with it this year by being absolutely filthy from the jump with a 34.1% strikeout rate.

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

Starters

Tarik Skubal

Skubal is the best starting pitcher in baseball right now—there, I said it—and for proof, all one has to do is check out his Baseball Savant page, which is redder than Rudolph’s nose. First, let’s start with the basics. Skubal boasts a 10-3 record with a ridiculous 2.23 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 153 strikeouts and 121 innings pitched in 19 starts. Under the hood, his 2.43 xERA, 2.02 FIP and 2.38 SIERA are all right in line with his stellar earned run average. In addition, the All-Star starter’s 33.4% strikeout rate, 3.5% walk rate, 33.6% whiff rate, and 32.3% hard-hit rate are all within the 94th percentile or higher, and so far he’s already earned a 4.7 fWAR this season. Yes, Skubal is not just a fantasy ace, he’s probably THE fantasy ace.

Garrett Crochet

Paul Skenes would probably be my pick here in fantasy leagues that use quality starts instead of wins, but in standard leagues, I’ll take the guy who’s NOT a member of the Pirates. As for Crochet, on the season, he’s got a 10-4 record with a highly impressive 2.23 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 160 strikeouts and 129.1 innings pitched in 20 starts. His 2.84 xERA is not much higher than the regular earned run average, and his 2.41 FIP (2.68 xFIP) and SIERA are right there as well. Simply put, the big guy strikes out a lot of people. The imposing lefty has got a 31.2% strikeout rate this season, which places him firmly within the 90th percentile, and he’s also got a low walk rate of 6.6% and already has a 4.3 fWAR this season . Yep, folks. Crochet is good, really good.

Zack Wheeler

Wheeler has been one of the steadiest arms in baseball for a while now and this year has been no different. In fact, so far this season, he has a 9-3 record, delivering an excellent 2.36 ERA and 0.86 WHIP with 154 strikeouts in 19 starts and 122 innings pitched. Looking deeper, the All-Star has a 2.37 xERA, 2.69 FIP (2.62 xFIP) and 2.64 SIERA, so the ERA is not a fluke. Wheeler’s Savant page looks great, too. His outstanding 33% strikeout rate, 30.7% whiff rate, 5.6% walk rate and 32.9% hard-hit rate are all in the 85 percentile or higher. The righty has been great again so far, and promises to be so after the All-Star break, as well.

Reliever

Josh Hader

Hader has been the best closer in baseball this year. Don’t believe me? Well then, let’s throw out some numbers, shall we? The left-hander has a 5-2 record so far, this season, with a remarkable 2.53 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 65 strikeouts in 40 games and 42.2 innings pitched. His FIP is at 3.25, but his 2.70 xFIP, 1.93 SIERA and 1.74 xERA are much more in line with the ERA. His xERA, along with the All-Star’s 39.2% strikeout rate, 39.1% chase rate, 40.1% whiff rate and 5.4% walk rate are all in the 99th percentile or better. In conclusion, when it comes to fantasy baseball, it’s hard to be a hater of Josh Hader.

Starters

Hunter Brown

He was the 26th pitcher drafted on average and has been one of the five best starters in all of baseball. He’s pitching deeper into games while walking fewer batters and striking out more, allowing the least amount of contact of his career while anchoring a division leading pitching staff. What more could you ask of your 8th round pick?

Tarik Skubal

I mean, c’mon. Less walks, more strikeouts, less runs allowed, less homes runs allowed, some of the lowest contact in the game and a whiff rate that is rivaled only by relievers. He’s been everything you could have wanted and then some. He is the best pitcher on the planet and is on pace to obliterate his 2024 season and win his second Cy young in a row.

Jacob deGrom

I have to admit, I was a draft season doubter. I didn’t think he’d be able to throw a ton of innings or maintain a high level of play the entire time. And I and all of the rest of the doubters have been proven wrong. He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, limiting walks and home runs, striking out a batter per inning and he just had a 14 start stretch where he threw five or more innings in each game and never allowed more than two runs. I can only hope to be this dominant when I am 37 (I’m 40 by the way and wasn’t this dominant at anything at 37).

Reliever

Aroldis Chapman

He wasn’t locked into the Red Sox closer role during Spring Training, but Liam Hendrik’s injury situation wasn’t settled and they weren’t going to give it to someone inexperienced, so the big lefty stepped in and has been as dominant as ever. He sports a career low walk rate, one of the best home run rates of his career and has one of the best strikeout rates among full time closers. He’s 37 years old and in his 16th season, as dominant as relievers many years younger.

Paul Wiliamson – Follow on X here, Blue Sky here

Tarik Skubal

Yeah, he has been THE MAN this year. 2.23 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 153 Ks, just 16 BBs and a 10-3 record.

Any and every metric support everything he is doing. 2.43 xERA, 2.02 FIP and 2.38 SIERA. 33.2% O-Sw% supports his ability to get chase and prevent walks as batters are only making contact 68.5% of the time with a 17.1% SwStr%. The four-seamer now sits 97-98 with over 17″ of induced vertical break as the changeup has been incredible with a 17 run-value.

Nathan Eovaldi

With an ADP of 203.3, he was thought to be a decent, end of rotation fantasy arm.

How wrong we were.

Eovaldi has turned in a career season so far with a 1.58 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 94 Ks to just 14 BBs in 91.0 innings. It could have been even better if he had not lost a month of the year to an injury.

Even a ‘regression’ to his ERA estimators like a 2.36 FIP or 2.87 SIERA would keep Eovaldi in the top 20 or so arms.

He continues to induce soft contact to go with a ton of groundballs as he has a 13.2% SwStr% and a career best 74.0% contact% leading to the solid K production. He is throwing more curveballs now and that carries 43.5% whiff rate on it and a .202 xwOBA.

He isn’t really a sell-high right now, unless you can get a premier arm or bat like Zack Wheeler or Corbin Carroll kind of return for him (which is doubtful). But that is his value right now. I wouldn’t trade him for anything less than an SP1 or a top bat.

Andrew Abbott

Eovaldi was at least drafted. Abbott was a waiver wire add and has turned in near league-winning production as he is the 19th ranked starting pitcher on the year per Fangraphs.

The K% escaped him last year from his rookie campaign of 2023 but it is now (somewhat) back.

In ’23 he owned a 26.1% K% and that dropped to just 19.5% last year.

Now, in 2025, it up to 22.5% with a career-best 6.5% BB%, 2.07 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.

It might be smart to consider Abbott a sell-high right now, with him being a flyball pitcher in Great America Ballpark heading into the summer months as he still does have modest swing-and-miss abilities with an 11.0% SwStr%. He also owns a 4.03 SIERA and 4.12 xFIP.

His trade value may never be higher than it is coming out of the break.

Reliever

Josh Hader

This is a bit of a homer/tooting my own pick.

Preseason I made Hader one of my bold proclamations, stating he will lead the league in saves.

Headed into the break he is only three saves behind Robert Suarez for the MLB-lead.

But Hader has 22 more Ks in just two more innings than Suarez to go with three less walks, four less earned runs and four less hits allowed.

The ERA is 2.53 with a 1.73 xERA, 3.25 FIP, and 1.93 SIERA.

He should be considered the top closer in the league for the rest of 2025.