You might think filling out your ballot for the 2020 All-MLB Team presented by CohnReznick would be easy. Just check off your DJ LeMahieus, your Mike Trouts, your Shane Biebers, your Jacob deGroms, and you're finished.

Not so fast. Before you vote -- which fans can do right here, once every 24 hours, until 2 p.m. ET on Friday -- take a good look at the other players on the ballot. There are a lot of deserving All-MLB candidates that might surprise you.

Here's one All-MLB ballot filled out only with those surprise names. Just like with the real ballot, we picked one player from each position, with three outfielders, five starting pitchers and two relievers. It's a crazy -- but defensible -- 2020 All-MLB Team.

First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals
Season stats: .304 AVG, 6 HR, 21 RBIs, 1 SB, .883 OPS
The reason: He carried his team

Goldschmidt carried the Cardinals offense to the playoffs. He had a weighted runs created plus of 146, meaning he was 46% better than an average hitter. No other Cardinal was even close. Goldschmidt's 146 wRC+ was 25 percentage points better than his next-closest teammate, Brad Miller, at 121 (and Miller didn't hit at all down the stretch in September). Besides Goldschmidt, Miller and Harrison Bader (113 wRC+) were the only Cardinals who performed better than league average in 2020. None of the other first basemen on the All-MLB ballot were the best hitter on their team by so wide a margin, or had to hit in a lineup with so few above-average hitters. Goldschmidt was all the Cardinals had.

Second base: Jake Cronenworth, Padres
Season stats: .285 AVG, 4 HR, 20 RBIs, 3 SB, .831 OPS
The reason: Elite contact quality

The Padres' out-of-nowhere NL Rookie of the Year contender had elite contact quality. Statcast takes the exit velocity and launch angle of every ball a player hits to generate an expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and overall expected wOBA (weighted on-base average, which is like on-base percentage but gives more credit for things like home runs than singles). Cronenworth? He had a .324 xBA, .541 xSLG and .383 xwOBA. His xwOBA was the best among second basemen -- yes, better than LeMahieu (.355) and Brandon Lowe (.369). Even Cronenworth's xBA was better than the MLB batting champ's (LeMahieu finished at .315).

Shortstop: David Fletcher, Angels
Season stats: .319 AVG, 3 HR, 18 RBIs, 2 SB, .801 OPS
The reason: Unparalleled contact ability

Fletcher's elite contact ability made him the perfect table-setter for Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon at the top of the Angels' lineup. He had the lowest swing-and-miss rate in the Major Leagues -- only 8.6%, meaning he was making contact on more than nine in every 10 swings he took. Fletcher barely struck out once every 10 plate appearances, a top-five (lowest) strikeout rate in MLB. All those balls in play produced a .319 batting average for Fletch, third-best among shortstops behind Trea Turner and Tim Anderson. Oh, and he also had to fill in for maybe the best defensive shortstop in the world, Andrelton Simmons. Not easy.

Third base: Justin Turner, Dodgers
Season stats: .307 AVG, 4 HR, 23 RBIs, 1 SB, .860 OPS
The reason: He did it all

There were a couple of interesting candidates here -- like Phillies rookie Alec Bohm, who led third basemen in win probability added -- making real contributions toward his team winning games. But Turner gave you the best of all worlds: great stat sheet stats, great quality of contact and great team win contributions. The Dodgers veteran was second among third basemen in WPA; second in batting average and on-base percentage; and the very best in Statcast's expected wOBA (.386, ahead of Anthony Rendon, Manny Machado and Gio Urshela).

Catcher: Austin Nola, Padres
Season stats: .273 AVG, 7 HR, 28 RBIs, .825 OPS
The reason: Stealing strikes for his pitchers

Nola provided strong offense at the catcher position (126 wRC+), which is important by itself, but the difference-maker was top-tier performance in a critical catcher area: pitch framing. Nola got 640 called strikes on borderline pitches this season (within a baseball's width of the edge of the zone), second only to Martín Maldonado. And from the time he arrived in San Diego on Aug. 31 through the end of the season, Nola took it up a notch. He got a called strike on 55% of the borderline pitches he caught with the Padres, third-best behind Jason Castro and Maldonado. Thanks to Nola, no pitching staff stole more strikes on borderline pitches down the stretch than the Padres -- San Diego vaulted to the top of the framing leaders only after Nola arrived (the White Sox, with star framer Yasmani Grandal, were next-best).

DH: Michael Brantley, Astros
Season stats: .300 AVG, 5 HR, 22 RBIs, 2 SB, .840 OPS
The reason: He hit pitchers' nastiest stuff

Brantley is always one of the best bat-to-ball contact hitters in baseball (look no further than his .346 postseason batting average on the Astros' surprising ALCS run) -- and he stood out from the other top All-MLB DH candidates in one key area: hitting secondary pitches. That's a huge skill to have in 2020, with pitchers spinning nastier breaking and offspeed stuff than ever before and moving away from the traditional fastball-first philosophy. Brantley hit .308 and slugged .538 against breaking and offspeed pitches in 2020, both ranking near the top of the league. Nelson Cruz and Marcell Ozuna had amazing seasons, but they feasted on fastballs -- Cruz hit .244 and slugged .411 vs. breaking and offspeed pitches, and Ozuna hit .255 and slugged .449.

Outfield: Bryce Harper, Phillies
Season stats: .268 AVG, 13 HR, 33 RBIs, 8 SB, .962 OPS
The reason: He does the most with the least

People seem to sometimes forget just how good Harper is. He put up superstar numbers again in 2020, and he manages to do it even though pitchers won't throw him a strike. Only 39% of the pitches Harper saw this season were in the strike zone, which is insanely low ... the lowest in the Majors, in fact, a testament to how dangerous Harper is at the plate. But if you don't throw him a strike, he'll just walk; Harper led the Majors with 49 walks (compared to only 43 strikeouts, making him one of only a handful of hitters to walk more than they struck out, a rarity in this day and age). And if you do throw him a strike, he crushes it -- Harper had a .435 expected wOBA based on his quality of contact and those walk and strikeout numbers. That was third-best among MLB hitters behind only Juan Soto and Freddie Freeman.

Outfield: Trent Grisham, Padres
Season stats: .251 AVG, 10 HR, 26 RBIs, 10 SB, .808 OPS
The reason: All-around play at a premium position

Grisham was one of baseball's best defensive center fielders -- his +6 outs above average, Statcast's outfield defense metric, was tied for fourth-best in MLB, just one behind league leaders Luis Robert, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Cody Bellinger. Grisham was also an excellent all-around offensive player. He had a 121 wRC+, with impressive on-base ability, and he was one of only six players with 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases this year. Combine that and his fielding at a premium position and you get one of the most valuable outfielders in the league.

Outfield: Mike Yastrzemski, Giants
Season stats: .297 AVG, 10 HR, 35 RBIs, 2 SB, .968 OPS
The reason: He made the leap to stardom

Yastrzemski was a great story for the Giants as a 28-year-old rookie in 2019. In '20, he showed that debut season was no fluke. Yaz blossomed into a true star for San Francisco -- remember, for a long time this season, he was in the MVP conversation. Yastrzemski finished the year with the second-highest wins above replacement of any outfielder, behind only Mookie Betts, and that 2.7 WAR was tied for fifth-best in the Majors.

SP: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Season stats: 6-2, 2.16 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 62 K
The reason: A return to dominance

Kershaw's stuff was the sharpest it's been in years, and his rare regained velocity (his fastball jumped from 90.3 mph to 91.6 mph after declining for four straight seasons) drove his reascendance to elite ace status. Kershaw's 2.16 ERA was his best mark since 2016 and ranked seventh among pitchers who threw at least 50 innings in '20. Kershaw deserves his spot on the All-MLB ballot even without considering his superb World Series performance to banish his October demons once and for all.

SP: Lucas Giolito, White Sox
Season stats: 4-3, 3.48 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 97 K
The reason: An ace with the season's signature moment

Giolito was the driving force on the pitching side of the White Sox breakout postseason-bound 2020. He struck out over a third of the batters he faced, posting the fifth-best strikeout rate among qualified starters. And he had one of the signature moments of the 2020 regular season: his 13-strikeout no-hitter against the Pirates on Aug. 25. It was the most dominant game pitched in baseball all year.

SP: Kyle Hendricks, Cubs
Season stats: 6-5, 2.88 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 64 K
The reason: He's a master of command (2.5% BB, 3rd in MLB in IP, T-most 7+ IP starts)

In this age of velocity, Hendricks keeps proving that command can still be king. Yu Darvish might be the Cy Young finalist, but Hendricks is a human pitching clinic. His 2.5% walk rate was tied for the lowest among qualified starters. He goes deep in games, pitching the third-most innings in baseball this year. Hendricks went seven innings or more in six of his 12 starts, tied for the most seven-inning starts of any pitcher. All while throwing his fastball at just over 87 mph.

SP: Kenta Maeda, Twins
Season stats: 6-1, 2.70 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 80 K
The reason: Expected ERA

Statcast tracks the quality of contact a pitcher allows and combines it with his strikeouts and walks to create an expected ERA number. Maeda's was among the best in the Majors. His 2.76 xERA was fourth-best among all the pitchers who faced 150 or more batters in 2020, behind only fellow Cy Young contenders Trevor Bauer (2.17), Shane Bieber (2.63) and Jacob deGrom (2.72). His actual ERA, 2.70, was pretty great, too. In his debut season with the Twins, Maeda turned out to be the ace the Bomba Squad needed to repeat as AL Central division champs.

SP: Chris Bassitt, A's
Season stats: 5-2, 2.29 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 55 K
The reason: Stretch-run dominance

Bassitt was arguably the best pitcher in baseball when it mattered most down the stretch. The 31-year-old right-hander led the Majors with a 0.34 ERA in September, nearly three times lower than the next-closest qualifier, Gerrit Cole (1.00). Three of Bassitt's four starts in September were scoreless (including one against the division-rival Astros), and he allowed one run in the other, as the A's ran away with the AL West.

RP: Jake Diekman, A's
Season stats: 0 SV, 0.42 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 13.1 K/9
The reason: Putting up zeros

Diekman's teammate, Liam Hendriks, got the shine as the closer, and his 14-save, 1.78 ERA season was dominant in its own right. But Diekman was as lights-out as any reliever in the AL this season. Diekman's first 18 outings of the season were scoreless, a run that lasted from July 24 through Sept. 19. He didn't allow his first run until his third-to-last appearance of the year on Sept. 23. Diekman finished the year with a 0.42 ERA that was second-lowest among relievers; only Brewers sensation Devin Williams' 0.33 mark was lower.

RP: Greg Holland, Royals
Season stats: 6 SV, 1.91 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 9.8 K/9
The reason: He had to beat the best

Holland had a great comeback season in his return to the Royals, lowering his ERA from 4.54 in 2019 to 1.91 in '20 while striking out 31 batters in 28 1/3 innings. And he had to do all that while facing the best competition. Twenty-two of Holland's 28 appearances in '20 came against teams that finished .500 or better. That was the second-most games pitched against winning teams of any pitcher this year, and Holland still put up those dominant numbers.