WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The All-Star Game has been appointment television for Orioles fans the past two seasons.
That might change this summer.
From 2017 to 2022, Baltimore failed to have more than the minimum one All-Star. But that changed when the Orioles emerged as one of the American League’s best teams in 2023 and 2024, sending nine total players to those two Midsummer Classics.
This year, as one of the AL’s worst teams, the Orioles would be fortunate to have more than one All-Star.
Still, there are several players on Baltimore who deserve a look. With the first phase of All-Star voting underway, here are the Orioles players who have a chance of representing Baltimore at the All-Star Game.
The slam dunk
Ryan O’Hearn
Barring a lengthy slump, it’s hard to imagine O’Hearn not being an All-Star, and what a story it would be. The castoff from Kansas City revived his career in Baltimore in 2023, proved it wasn’t a fluke in 2024 and somehow has gotten better in 2025.
Entering Saturday, O’Hearn isn’t just one of the best designated hitters in the AL; he’s one of the best hitters in all of baseball. The 31-year-old is one of five qualified hitters in MLB with at least a .300/.400/.500 slash line. O’Hearn is slashing .317/.402/.505 — good for an Orioles-best .907 OPS.
O’Hearn has played both first base and corner outfielder for the injury-plagued Orioles this season, but he’s an All-Star candidate at DH. That could be an uphill battle for fan voting going up against Boston Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers, a three-time All-Star who is one of the best pure hitters in baseball. Devers, who owns a .922 OPS, leads the AL in RBIs (56) and walks (51).
Even if O’Hearn doesn’t start at DH, he should be a slam dunk to be on the bench for the Junior Circuit.
The toss-up
Jackson Holliday
Holliday’s All-Star case is in the eye of the beholder.
Those who believe Holliday should be an All-Star can certainly make a credible case. The field for AL second basemen is weak without a true standout candidate. That could help Holliday, a popular young player who has emerged over the past six weeks to take over the leadoff spot in Baltimore. Entering Saturday, his .765 OPS and .445 slugging percentage both rank second among AL second basemen, behind Detroit’s Gleyber Torres (perhaps the front-runner to start for the AL at second base) and Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe, respectively.
Those numbers, though, include the first three weeks of the season during which Holliday struggled. Since April 16, he’s slashed .284/.345/.475 — good for an .820 OPS that ranks first among qualified MLB second basemen during that span.
However, the argument against Holliday’s All-Star candidacy is just as strong. Six AL second basemen have a higher wins above replacement than Holliday’s 1.0, according to FanGraphs’ estimation. Three of them — Toronto’s Ernie Clement, New York’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Lowe — play in the same division as Holliday. The 21-year-old’s WAR is lower than what would be expected given his offensive production because he’s been a below average defender with minus-5 defensive runs saved, ranking third-worst among MLB second basemen.
This could be a coin flip, and it might come down to how fervently Baltimore fans vote for Holliday to start the game.
The long shot
Tomoyuki Sugano
It might be unfair to label Sugano’s All-Star odds as a long shot, but such is life as a starting pitcher. The most competitive spots on the All-Star team are the seven to nine spots for starting pitchers.
Sugano has been the Orioles’ second-best player behind O’Hearn, but it’s difficult to imagine him making the All-Star team given how many dominant starters there have been in the AL. Among qualified AL starters entering Saturday, Sugano ranks 12th in WHIP (1.04), 14th in ERA (3.04), tied for 16th in quality starts (six) and 41st (last) in strikeout rate (14.2%).
In a league with Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, Boston’s Garrett Crochet, New York’s Max Fried, Texas’ Jacob deGrom and many, many other elite starters, it will be an uphill battle for Sugano to make it to Atlanta for the Midsummer Classic.
The big names
Adley Rutschman
Rutschman does not have a good All-Star case. In fact, it might be confusing to even include him on this list. However, at a position as weak as catcher combined with the fact that the AL has carried three backstops each of the past two years, it’s possible Rutschman sneaks in because of his pedigree.
A year ago, he was seen as one of the best catchers in MLB — if not the best — and was a slam dunk to make his second straight All-Star Game. Two years ago, he participated in the Home Run Derby, and last year he started behind the plate.
Since, he’s slumped at the plate, raising concerns about whether he can get back to the player he was over the first two and a half years of his MLB career. He’s been a league-average hitter this season with a .221 average and .679 OPS entering Saturday — far from All-Star numbers. But the opportunity is there if he gets hot in the next few weeks and reestablishes himself as the star he used to be.
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, who leads the majors with 24 home runs, is a slam dunk to start the game for the AL. After him, there aren’t many great options. Detroit’s Dillon Dingler and Boston’s Carlos Narváez are having good seasons, but neither have taken enough at-bats to even be qualified hitters. Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk is hitting .303, but his OPS is only 50 points higher than Rutschman’s. Sacramento’s Shea Langeliers is on the injured list, while New York’s Austin Wells has essentially the same offensive production as Rutschman.
If the All-Star Game was purely about putting together rosters of the players who performed best in the first half, then Rutschman almost certainly doesn’t have a case. But it’s always been much more than that, and that’s why Rutschman has a chance.
Gunnar Henderson
The same goes for Henderson, an AL Most Valuable Player candidate last year who is off to a relatively slow start this season.
Despite his underwhelming numbers (.257 batting average, .752 OPS entering Saturday), it’s assumed that Henderson will go on a heater at some point this season to get his OPS back into the .800s where it belongs. If that happens this month, he could be a worthy All-Star candidate.
However, the odds for Henderson are even worse than Rutschman’s since there are three shortstops (the number the AL carries on its roster) who are clearly having All-Star campaigns: Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr., Sacramento’s Jacob Wilson and Houston’s Jeremy Peña.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.