ATLANTA. – The exclusion of Juan Soto from the 2025 All-Star Game continues to cause a stir in the baseball world, and now it was former Major League star Alex Rodríguez who joined the criticism for the absence of the stellar Dominican outfielder.
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During his participation in the program “The Herd with Colin Cowherd”, Rodriguez was categorical:The former player and current FOX Sports analyst was surprised by the decision to leave out one of the most media-covered and consistent figures in current baseball. In his opinion, the event loses appeal without figures like Soto:“If this is an All-Star Game, for entertainment, where you have partners like FOX, Juan Soto should have been in Atlanta. You can’t tell me there are 60 more compelling players or 60 more compelling stories than his.”
“In my day, when I saw Larry Bird or Magic Johnson, I didn’t care if their first half had been average. I wanted to see them in the All-Star Game every year. That’s how it should be with Soto.”
🔎 A performance that justified its presence
Soto finished the first half of the season with a .262 average, 23 home runs, 56 RBIs, an OPS of .905 and an OPS+ of 161, in addition to 173 total bases. In June he was named Player of the Month, which consolidated his good form after a more discreet start. However, the Dominican finished fourth in the fan voting, which left him out of the starting lineup, and subsequently was not selected as a reserve, either by the players or by the Commissioner’s Office, thus breaking a string of four consecutive appearances in the mid-season classic.Soto reacts with maturity
Far from showing frustration, the Yankees’ gardener took the situation with sportsmanship: “I have to be better for next year,” he recently declared. However, the controversy persists. Beyond the numbers, many analysts agree that Soto is one of the most representative faces of Major League Baseball, due to his charisma, his history, and his connection with the fans. For Rodriguez, leaving him out was a vision error:“There’s no way to justify it. If you want spectacle and global figures, Juan Soto has to be there.”
