The most surprising names on 2023 All-MLB ballot

Have you made your picks for the All-MLB Team yet? If not, click the link below right now, fill out your ballot and then come back here. We'll wait for you. Promise.

• VOTE NOW: 2023 All-MLB Team presented by MGM Rewards

The All-MLB Team celebrates the best player or players at each position from the past season. Every player on that ballot -- all 121 of them -- earned the privilege to be considered one of the game's top players by how they performed this season. They all look like sensible selections now, but we come to that conclusion only through the benefit of hindsight.

It took no stretch of the imagination to predict during the preseason that Shohei Ohtani or Mookie Betts would be worthy of the All-MLB Team. But if you had made the same prediction with a few other names on the ballot, that might have garnered a quizzical look.

• VOTE: Here are this year's All-MLB Team nominees by position

Today, let's recognize those players who didn't seem like obvious candidates for this honor back in the spring but ultimately proved that they belong. Here is the most surprising All-MLB Team nominee at each position.

Catcher: Jonah Heim, Rangers
It was no surprise that the Rangers were at the top of the American League in runs scored this year, with players such as Corey Seager and Marcus Semien leading the charge. Adolis García was a bona fide slugger. Nathaniel Lowe was coming off a Silver Slugger season. Power has always been one of Josh Jung's top tools. People probably overlooked Heim, who logged a .215/.275/.383 slash line over his first two seasons in Texas. However, through July 26 of this season, he carried a .282 average with 14 home runs and led AL catchers in slugging percentage (.477) and OPS (.816).

Heim suffered a wrist injury on that date, and his production waned once he returned in August. But between his All-Star Game start, his Gold Glove, his key hit in the World Series clincher and this nomination, it was quite the breakthrough season for the 29-year-old backstop.

• All-time All-MLB winners

First baseman: Yandy Díaz, Rays
Díaz and Josh Naylor are the only All-MLB Team nominees at this position who haven’t been considered before. The Rays’ leadoff hitter obviously deserved his spot after claiming the franchise’s first batting title and its first Silver Slugger since 2010. He has always been a disciplined hitter who commonly thwacks pitches, but his power numbers have often left something to be desired. And with his hulking biceps, it’s not like Díaz lacks for power.

He finally took his game to another level this year, bopping a career-high 22 homers and pacing Tampa Bay with 57 extra-base hits. Díaz still made hard contact consistently, but his power stats improved thanks to a huge jump in his barrels, which are batted balls with the optimal combination of exit velocity and launch angle. Díaz’s 41 barrels were more than double his 2022 total and were at least 14 more than any other season in his career. And he barreled up basically everything this year. Díaz faced seven individual pitch types at least 100 times and recorded a slugging percentage of .455 or better on six of them.

Second baseman: Ha-Seong Kim, Padres
Which Padres position player had the most bWAR this season? Was it Juan Soto? Fernando Tatis Jr.? Xander Bogaerts? No, as you’ve likely judged by the heading above, it was Kim, whose 5.8 wins above replacement ranked seventh in the NL, just ahead of Tatis and Soto. His WAR was also the second most by a primary second baseman in San Diego, trailing only Mark Loretta in 2004 (6.0).

Kim recorded 5.0 WAR last year, so his 2023 season didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. But this was the year he became a star, and how many people predicted that he would become arguably the most valuable player in this star-studded lineup? He set career highs with 17 home runs and 38 steals. He also took home a Gold Glove in his first year manning the keystone position. He landed in the 96th percentile in outs above average with +9 OAA.

Shortstop: Orlando Arcia, Braves
Who would replace Dansby Swanson at shortstop? That was the top story to track during Braves Spring Training this year. As we got deep into March, the competition appeared to be between prospect Braden Shewmake and Vaughn Grissom, who was Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect when he debuted in 2022.

And the winner was Arcia. He won the job thanks in part to a .351 average and 1.037 OPS in the preseason. But considering he owned a 75 OPS+ through more than 2,000 career at-bats, perhaps some thought he would be just a temporary solution until one of the aforementioned youngsters was ready to fill the role.

Nope. Upon returning from an early-season wrist injury that sidelined him for nearly a month, Arcia was Atlanta’s starting shortstop for 80 consecutive games. He slashed .291/.345/.460 during that span. The first-time All-Star finished with a career-best 17 homers, and his .420 slugging percentage was a 51-point increase from his career average prior to the season. He fit right in on a team that was one of the most powerful the sport has ever seen.

Third baseman: Isaac Paredes, Rays
The Rays were loaded with hitters who experienced career years in 2023. Besides Díaz, there was Luke Raley, Harold Ramírez, All-MLB Team nominee Josh Lowe, and Paredes, who clobbered a team-high 31 dingers amid an extreme pull-power season.

Paredes compiled a meager .572 OPS and had only two homers through parts of two seasons with Detroit before the Rays acquired him for Austin Meadows prior to the 2022 season. He went yard 20 times in 331 at-bats that year and then upped his production by hitting ground balls at a much lower rate. His 31.6% ground ball rate this season was a 10.5-point drop from '22, tied for the third-largest decrease among qualified hitters. Paredes, a right-handed hitter, also crushed righty pitchers, taking them deep 27 times. His .513 slugging and .860 OPS against RHPs dwarfed his total in each category -- .404 and .701, respectively -- last year.

Designated hitter: Brent Rooker, A's
It’s understandable if you were unfamiliar with Rooker at the season’s outset. The 28-year-old received only 240 Major League at-bats from 2020-22 and had been on four teams -- Twins, Padres, Royals and A’s -- over the previous 12 months. But he demanded your attention early this year.

Rooker was arguably the best hitter in the game during April as he put together an outrageous .358/.471/.791 slash line. His 1.262 OPS led all hitters and was the highest by an A’s player in April since 1992, when Mark McGwire posted a 1.280 OPS during the season’s first month. Rooker also belted nine homers, the most by an A’s player in April since Khris Davis in 2017.

His season featured peaks and valleys from there, but that amazing first month helped make Rooker an All-Star. By season’s end, he had 30 homers, hard-hit and barrel rates that each ranked above the 90th percentile and had become an entertaining follow on social media.

Outfielder: Nolan Jones, Rockies
A second-round pick by Cleveland in 2016, Jones was a Top 100 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He got a chance to show what he could do in 2022 but struck out 33% of the time and had a .681 OPS in only 94 plate appearances with the Guardians before he was dealt to Colorado in November. He began this year in the Minors, but upon making his Rockies debut on May 26, Jones displayed elite skills at the plate and in the field.

You want raw power? Six of Jones’ 20 home runs traveled a projected distance of 450 feet or longer. Only Ronald Acuña Jr. had more such clouts this season. Jones also smashed the second-longest dinger of the year, this 483-foot moonshot on June 7.

You want arm strength? Jones has a cannon attached to his right shoulder. His average velocity was the best among qualified players and greatly contributed to him racking up 19 outfield assists, a Rockies single-season record and the most by any player since 2012. That’s incredible considering Jones didn’t start playing in Colorado’s outfield every day until mid-June. One of those assists came on a 102.7 mph throw -- the fastest outfield assist of the season -- that cut down the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki at home plate.

Starting pitcher: Kyle Bradish, Orioles
Bradish had a very rocky introduction to the big leagues in 2022, registering a 7.01 ERA through his first 11 starts. There were at least glimpses of what was to come in the back half of the year as he turned in a 3.26 ERA over his final 12 starts. But his sophomore campaign saw Bradish transform into a legitimate ace.

You know about the breaking balls that veterans such as Blake Snell, Charlie Morton and Clayton Kershaw possess, but Bradish’s breaking stuff topped them all this season. His 28.8 Run Value on breaking balls led the Majors. Through 329 at-bats that ended on a curveball or slider, batters mustered a .158 average and a .231 slugging percentage against the right-hander. He recorded a 2.14 ERA over the final three months of the season, and his 2.83 ERA in this breakout year was the lowest by a qualified Orioles starter since Mike Mussina’s 2.54 in 1992.

Relief pitcher, Tanner Scott, Marlins
In terms of ERA+, Scott was no better than a league-average pitcher in any non-shortened season since making his debut in 2017. In 2023, with a 195 ERA+, he was almost 100% better than league average.

How did he do it? Most strikingly, Scott cut his walk rate by more than half, taking it from 15.9% -- the highest among all pitchers with at least 60 innings last season -- to a career-best 7.8%. He was armed with one of the most valuable sliders and recorded a 26.3% hard-hit rate, which tied for the third lowest in MLB.

Scott tossed 11 scoreless innings in August and then had a monumental September as he saved nine games to help the Marlins clinch a playoff spot, captured NL Reliever of the Month honors and welcomed the birth of his first child. His 2.31 ERA overall was more than two runs better than his 4.61 career mark through 2022.