KC Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. subtly throws Aaron Boone under the bus after All-Star flub

The 2025 All-Star festivities are behind us now after the two-day showcase was capped off in the most exciting way possible. After the American League came back to tie things at 6-6 in the top of the ninth, the home run derby-style extra innings format got broken out to decide this one, with the National Coming out on top.

The format saw each league got nine combined swings split evenly between three players with the league hitting the most home runs breaking the tie and taking home the win.

Other than Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber going 3-for-3 what can only be described as an absolute masterclass of sheer power, the biggest conversation point about the impromptu derby seemed to be who was selected to fill each three spots, or to put it better, who wasn't selected.

Alongside Schwarber, the National League led off with Miami Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers and would have finished off with Pete Alonso of the New York Mets if it were necessary. Then on the American League side, it was Brent Rooker of the Athletics, Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners and Jonathan Aranda of the Tampa Bay Rays.

All of these are All-Star names so Dave Roberts and Aaron Boone really couldn't go wrong with making their pre-determined orders to an extent. At the same time though, Roberts' omission of Shohei Ohtani and then Boone's omissions Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or even Kansas City's own Bobby Witt Jr. is certainly perplexing.

And the Royals MVP-caliber shortstop shared his thoughts on the derby and not being one of Boone's trio of selections.

KC Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. subtly throws Aaron Boone under the bus after All-Star flub

As mentioned earlier, the order was pre-determined and some of the omissions, particularly the ones who were starters sort of make sense.

On the MLB Network broadcast last night, Matt Vasgersian and Yonder Alonso mentioned the fact that Aaron Judge may not have still been in the building and ready to use, and we saw an example of starters out of uniform when the extra-innings rolled around when AL starting pitcher Tarik Skubal came back to support his team wearing his street clothes.

While you can give the managers a bit of a pass for knowing that some of their big name starters may not be in the building if extra-innings came around, the omissions of names in reserve roles, like the reigning AL MVP runner-up in Witt were definitely head scratchers, especially when the order was predetermined.

When asked by MLB.com's Anne Rogers if he'd been asked by Boone to be a part of the order, he said he hadn't despite being willing to step in.

"I wish," he told Rogers. "That would have been fun."

Again, at the end of the day three All-Stars were selected, so it's not a question of not having guys with quality up at the dish with the game on the line. However, it's the level of quality that should be questioned in this case.

When the reigning MVP wasn't expected to be in the building, maybe it would be wise to ask the guy who finished second to step in with the game on the line.