MLB: The 2020 All-MLB Team

With the 2020 MLB season now in the books, who played well enough to earn First-Team All-MLB honors?

After the 2019 season, Major League Baseball introduced the first-ever All-MLB Team awards, honoring the league’s best players over the course of a full season. Picking just one player at each position or just three outfielders proved difficult enough last season, it’s even more difficult in 2020 after a shortened 60-game schedule.

Voting is underway now at MLB.com, where 50% of the final vote that determines first and second-team honors comes from the fan vote.

The official 2020 All-MLB teams will be announced in early December, but we’re going to drop our ballot for first-team honors now.

Some of these decisions were nearly impossible to make with such a small sample size worth of play to choose from, so feel free to drop your counter-arguments in the comments below and let us know who makes your All-MLB first team.

All players were chosen from MLB.com’s list of finalists.

First-Team Infield

Catcher: Travis d’Arnaud, Atlanta Braves- It didn’t take long to reach the first position where choosing just one player doesn’t seem fair. However, d’Arnaud’s solid season at the plate and impact he had on Atlanta’s run to the playoffs gives him the nod here. d’Arnaud slashed .321/.386/.533 with nine home runs, an MLB-leading 34 RBI (among catchers), eight doubles, and was worth 1.6 Wins Above Replacement.

First base: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves- Despite a scary battle with COVID-19, Freeman played in all 60 games for Atlanta and is a favorite to take home 2020 MVP honors. He led all qualified MLB first basemen in batting average (.341), OBP (.462), slugging percentage (.640), wRC+ (187), extra-base hits (37), and fWAR (3.4). He also walked more times (45) than he struck out 37).

Second base: DJ LeMahieu, New York Yankees- Other than Tampa Bay’s Brandon Lowe, no other second baseman came close to producing the types of numbers LeMahieu put up in 2020. In 50 games, LeMahieu hit .364 with 10 home runs, a .421 OBP, and a 177 wRC+. After a dominant two-year run with the Yankees, LeMahieu is now one of the top free agents on the market and even in a depressed market, he should have his pick of suitors.

Shortstop: Trea Turner, Washington Nationals- Turner quietly put together one of the top offensive seasons for a shortstop this season, slashing .335/.394/.588 with 12 home runs, 46 runs scored, 41 RBI, 12 stolen bases, and a 157 wRC+. Can we have two first-team shortstops and also include Fernando Tatis Jr?

Third base: Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians- Finishing tied with Freddie Freeman for first place in the league in fWAR (3.4), Ramirez is an AL MVP candidate and, at times, was the entire offense for the Indians in 2020. He led all third basemen in home runs (17), wRC+ (163), runs scored (45), and doubles (16).