MLB Players Cry Foul Over NL Rookie’s All-Star Nod

The Boston Red Sox organization will be well-represented at the 2025 MLB All-Star Game with Alex Bregman, Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Crochet all selected to the American League squad.

One Red Sox player who won’t be in attendance is outfielder/infielder Ceddanne Rafaela, who completed the first half of the season as one of the hottest hitters in MLB with a 10-game hitting streak. After going 16-for-39 with five home runs and 15 RBIs over his last 10 games, Rafaela has been viewed by many baseball insiders as one of the obvious All-Star snubs around the league.

While Rafaela’s late push wasn’t enough to be named an All-Star this season, a different kind of snub on the National League team has baseball insiders and players crying foul. After Chicago Cubs starter Matthew Boyd was replaced on the National League roster due to his workload, Major League Baseball took the unusual step of replacing Boyd with Milwaukee Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski.

Misiorowski, a hard throwing right-hander who made his MLB debut on June 12, has only pitched in five games this season and earned a spot on the NL roster despite strong arguments that Philadelphia Phillies pitchers Cristopher Sanchez (8-2) and Ranger Suárez (7-3) deserved the nod instead of the rookie, who is 4-1 in his first five starts.

The slight to Sanchez didn’t go unnoticed with ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan posting on social media a simple but clear message. “This is a Cristopher Sánchez appreciation post. That is all.”

Phillies teammate Trea Turner echoed Passan’s sentiment when asked about Sánchez’s snub by The Athletic‘s Matt Gelb.

“That’s unacceptable that they can’t name him an All-Star and do the same thing (to replace him),” said Turner, per Gelb. “So the only excuse that that guy’s not in the All-Star Game is that he can’t pitch that day? That’s terrible.”

MLB insider Jon Heyman also revealed his thoughts on Misiorowski’s addition to the All-Star game with a social media post calling into question the league’s motives for not selecting three pitchers he believes are more worthy of the honor this season.

“The Miz has great stuff. But five games in, he’s an All-Star? And Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez and Kodai Senga are all still home? Are they using a dartboard to pick the players again?,” wrote Heyman.

With criticism of MLB’s addition of Misiorowski continuing to gain traction, it remains to be seen if the league will adopt a model similar to the NBA by having the top rookies from both leagues suit up and play an All-Rookie game to avoid the same type of backlash in the future.