BALTIMORE (TNS) — Juan Soto is already making more than $100 million this season alone, but had he been named an All-Star, it could have been more.

The Mets’ star right fielder, the highest-paid player in baseball and one of the game’s biggest stars, was not selected for the game that showcases the league’s biggest stars this year. It was a somewhat surprising omission.

“It’s a lot of money on the table if I make it,” Soto said this week in Baltimore. The slugger would’ve been owed a $100,000 bonus if he made the All-Star Game. “Maybe something happens. We’ll see what it’s going to be like.”

The Mets’ other three All-Stars, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz, are still holding out hope that Soto will join them in Atlanta (“So the four of us can go there and get booed,” Lindor said). They feel he deserves it after the month he just had.

Soto slashed .322/.474/.722 in June with a league-best 1.196 OPS. He hit 11 home runs, tied for the third-most by any Mets hitter in a calendar month. The 26-year-old has been among league leaders all season in on-base percentage, which buoyed his early season numbers.

“To his standard, I think he didn’t get off to the start that he wanted,” Lindor said this week in Baltimore. “With that being said, he’s still elite. He was still picking up elite numbers throughout the months of April and May.”

Soto did have a sluggish start to the season. It was magnified because of his contract — $765 million over 15 years — and with where he plays. Fans of the Yankees were quick to blame his decision to choose the Mets over their own team for some down power numbers in April and early May.

But by mid May, Soto was looking more like the player the baseball world has come to know. He hit .300 with a 1.040 OPS and six home runs in his last 18 games in May, and carried that production right into June when All-Star voting opened. Position player selections are primarily voted via fans, but players and members of the commissioner’s office select the reserves.

Whether it was the fans or league decision-makers, the part of the season where Soto struggled the most might have been weighted more heavily than his more recent performance.

“There’s a lot of players out there that have great numbers and deserve to be there,” Soto said. “But it’s a roster that they got filled, and it’s only 25 guys. They can’t all take all the guys.”

This happened to Lindor the last two seasons as well, and it was the same case with Brandon Nimmo in 2024. The obvious flaw with fan voting is that fans are going to vote based on more emotional criteria, which is why the “player ballot” and league personnel fill in the gaps, and fill in the pitching staff. But the game is primarily for fans, so it’s important to give them a say.

Soto is unsure if he would go as a replacement player, saying he would have to assess the situation before committing, but that changes nothing in Queens.

“He’s an All-Star for us,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “It’s frustrating, but I’m hoping in the next couple of days we hear something and he makes it.”

There is still a chance Soto gets into the game as a replacement player. Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was sidelined with back tightness this week while lifting weights, but Acuña, the brother of Mets infield prospect Luisangel Acuña, will want to put on a show in his home ballpark. He also committed to participating in the Home Run Derby on Monday.

However, he was back in the lineup Wednesday night.

“Everybody thinks they should have made it,” Soto said. “Every player in this league that should have made it, they’re an All-Star. I feel like every player that makes it to the big leagues is an all star, so it’s just part of it. It’s going to happen for me. I would have loved to be there, but it’s just one of those years.”