Over the last decade, there are not many teams for whom the Major League Baseball All Star Game has been more relevant nor more of a celebration of team accomplishment than the Houston Astros. Since their run of dominance began in 2015, the Astros have sent 16 different players to the All Star Game, several of them multiple times.

We bring this up because the annual opportunity for you, the fan, to have your voice heard just commenced on Wednesday afternoon, as MLB dropped the ballot for the 2025 All Star Game. Now, if you’re inclined to vote (and yes, the link in the previous sentence takes you directly to the ballot), the rules go as follows:

1. In Phase 1 of the balloting, you can vote five (5) times a day every day between now and June 26 at 11 a.m. Houston time.

2. The first phase of voting runs from June 4 through June 25, and it will narrow every position in both leagues down to two finalists, except for outfield, where there will be six finalists. From June 30 through July 4, there will be run off voting between all of the finalists to determine the starters for each position in both leagues, with three of the six outfielders getting starting nods.

3. Each team has representation at each position, with each team having three outfielders on the ballot.

With that in mind, here are the Houston Astros on this year’s ballot:

First base – Christian Walker
Second base – Jose Altuve
Shortstop – Jeremy Pena
Third base – Isaac Paredes
Catcher – Yainer Diaz
Outfield – Mauricio Dubon, Jake Meyers, Cam Smith
Designated Hitter – Yordan Alvarez
A few thoughts:

Altuve is listed as a second baseman
If you’re someone who is hoping for Altuve to pile up as many All Star appearances as possible before his time in the game is through (he currently has nine), then this is a positive development. Altuve has split his time between second base and left field all season, but competing with the pool of second basemen in the AL is far easier than trying to be voted in as one of the three best outfielders. Truth be told, Altuve hasn’t even been the best outfielder on his own team, thus far. That would be Jake Meyers.

Jeremy Pena is the most deserving Astro
Pena’s ascension from good player to great player this season has been a joy to watch. Aside from Jacob Wilson of the Athletics, Pena has the best offensive stats among AL shortstops, as he is second at the position in batting average, second in home runs, and third in runs batted in. His defense has been elite, and he is third in all of baseball in the highly important Wins Above Replacement metric (3.6 total), behind only Aaron Judge and Pete Crow-Armstrong.

How close will Yordan be in the balloting?
To be clear, Alvarez has no business sniffing the All Star game this season. He’s been out since May 2 with a hand injury that was recently downgraded to a broken hand that will keep him out for a continued extended period of time. There are at least two DH’s that are putting up All Star starter level numbers in Boston’s Rafael Devers and Baltimore’s Ryan O’Hearn. Alvarez is a big name, who people will vote for on name recognition alone. He won’t win the voting, but it will be interesting to see how much clout his mere name carries in what is largely a popularity contest.

All of the pitchers and position player reserves are chosen through a combination of Player Ballot selections and choices made by the Commissioner’s Office. There are 32 roster spots for each league (20 position players and 12 pitchers). The 2025 MLB All Star Game will be played on Tuesday, July 15 at Truist Field in Atlanta.

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