5 Cardinals who could become first-time All-Stars in 2025

These players could attend their first All-Star Game this year.
Houston Astros v St. Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros v St. Louis Cardinals | Scott Kane/GettyImages
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CF Victor Scott II

After a torrid start to the year, center fielder Victor Scott II has cooled off a bit. Through his first eight games, Scott had a slash line of .310/.400/.448 with one home run, a double, eight strikeouts, five walks, and four stolen bases. Since then, he's slashing .200/.231/.320 with just one stolen base and two extra-base hits. He's struck out eight times and walked only once.

Something seems to have flipped for the 24-year-old speedster on the offensive end. Since April 8th, Scott has seen fastballs at a rate well above 50% and breaking balls around 10% of the time. His swing-and-miss rate is highest against breaking balls, and it's gone up from 20% on March 30th to 50% in his most recent game. He's seeing fewer breaking balls over the last week of games, but he's whiffing significantly more on them.

What helps Scott's case at becoming an All-Star for the first time would be his electricity. He ranks in the 100th percentile in sprint speed, and his range in the outfield is virtually unmatched in baseball. Exciting players tend to receive large numbers of votes, and that plays in Scott's favor, and he's one of the game's most exciting young players.

Additionally, his strong start shows that he has the ability to turn it on offensively while still being a plus defender. If he can return to his approach from the first half of the team's games, his counting and rate stats will improve to levels that are comparable to his peers. He'll never lead the league in offensive stats, but pairing his defense with said stats boosts his credibility.

Presently, Scott is tied for seventh in fWAR among all National League center fielders with a total of 0.6 fWAR. Only Jung Hoo Lee, Jackson Merrill, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, and Brenton Doyle surpass Scott among all center fielders. Lee is having a career year already, and he's likely a shoo-in for the National League starting center fielder spot. If Scott can have a strong May and June, he could find himself near the top of outfield lists in both WAR and All-Star voting.