UNDER FURTHER REVIEW – Here are some possible Rockies All-Star picks

 Who is your Rockies All-Star this season?

Voting to determine which players will represent their teams at the 96th Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia July 14 began June 3. Pitchers will be named later.

Major League Baseball requires that every team have at least one player or pitcher in the game, so Colorado is assured of having someone in uniform at Citizens Bank Park. 

The Rockies aren’t going to place more than that mandatory one representative on the National League roster, but at least there’s more than one legitimate possibility.

Consider these candidates:

Hunter Goodman

The National League Silver Slugger at catcher last season, Goodman was the All-Star backup to the Dodgers’ Will Smith for the game in Atlanta.  Goodman was hitting .278 with 17 home runs and 52 runs batted in when chosen.

This year he leads National League catchers in home runs and is among the league leaders in that category overall. His batting average, though, is more than 30 points below last year at this point, and his RBI total is nowhere near last season.

Goodman’s competition on the All-Star ballot includes Smith, the likely starter again; Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin, who is flirting with .300 and has the best overall offensive numbers—for the team with the best won-lost record in all of baseball; and Miami’s Liam Hicks, who leads all NL catchers in RBI and isn’t far from the league lead overall.

Last season, Goodman replaced Smith in the fifth inning, flied out to deep left-center in the sixth, was pinch-hit for by Washington’s James Wood in the eighth, then re-entered the game to catch the ninth of an ultimate 6-6 tie.

Troy Johnston

Before he was a Rockie, Troy Johnston was a fish out water, so to speak: a Jupiter Hammerhead, Beloit Snapper, Pensacola Blue Wahoo, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and Miami Marlin.

This time last season he was laboring in Jacksonville of the International League, compiling a .252 average with 12 homers, 39 RBI and 31 stolen bases.

Now he’s one of the top hitters by average in the National League, a critical piece in the improved Colorado lineup.

Called to the majors two weeks after last year’s All-Star Game, Johnston played in 44 games for the Marlins the rest of 2025, hitting .277 with four homers and 13 RBI in 121 plate appearances. Yet he was waived at end of the season and claimed by Colorado on Nov. 5, 2025.

Even though he has played a lot of outfield for the Rockies, Johnston’s on the All-Star ballot as a designated hitter—along with Shohei Ohtani (a cinch); Philly’s Kyle Schwarber, who leads baseball in homers but is barely hitting his weight; and Christian Yellich of the Brewers; a former MVP.

Mickey Moniak

The No.1 pick in the 2016 draft, Moniak was a disappointment in 47 games across parts of three seasons with the Phillies, who made him “one-one” that year, and the Angels, who waived him after two-plus, average-at-best seasons.

Claimed by the Rockies, he hit .270 with career highs in home runs (24) and RBI (68) in 2025. And in 43 games this year, he’s hit .280 with 12 homers and 28 driven in. 

That’s an All-Star pace, but he’s missed a third of the Rockies’ games with injuries. Playing and delivering between now and the close of voting is his only hope to be chosen from a crowded list of outfield candidates.

Antonio Senzatela

Pitchers are selected by the managers from last season’s World Series, in the NL’s case, Dave Roberts of the Dodgers. He could satisfy the “one-player-per-team” requirement by naming Antonio Senzatela, whose successful conversion from starter to relief pitcher makes him an appealing member of an All-Star Game roster (as well as a prime trade deadline target).

A member of Venezuela’s World Baseball Classic champions before the 2026 season started, Senzatela was a starter until late last season, when he made seven effective relief appearances at the end of a 4-15 year.

This season his earned run average has hovered below two and, through the start of All-Star voting, he was unbeaten in five decisions.

Whoever winds up carrying Rockies colors in this year’s All-Star Game, it will be a surprise if he emerges a star among the stars. Fate, or luck, usually decides that.

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Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.