MLB All-Star Game: 2026 All-Snub Team features Willson Contreras, Brice Turang, Zack Wheeler and more

The rosters for the 96th MLB All-Star Game were announced Saturday, revealing which top players around the league were selected to participate in the Midsummer Classic on July 14 at Citizens Bank Park.

>On one hand, this is a great opportunity to spotlight the best performers from the first half of the season and look forward to their showcase in Philadelphia. At the same time, the initial All-Star roster reveal has become an annual exercise in discontent among fans who are quick to identify those notably absent from the AL and NL teams. This is an inevitable outcome, considering the limited number of spots on each roster and the abundance of talent around the league, but that doesn’t stop us from expressing our dissatisfaction with the squads, whether it be due to the results of the fan voting or the league office and player ballots that determine pitchers and reserves.

>It’s worth noting that a lot of this frustration will end up being temporary. Rosters expand every year due to selected All-Stars withdrawing due to injury or starting pitchers being replaced when their start schedules render them unavailable for the All-Star Game. In all likelihood, some portion of the snubs below will end up in Philadelphia next week.

>But for now, we must stand up and defend the honor of these disrespected ballplayers (and, ironically, end up snubbing some other players in the process).

>Presenting: The 2026 All-Snub Team.

Ivan Herrera, C, CardinalsIf you were told before the season that the 2026 Cardinals were going to have only one All-Star, that might not have come as much of a surprise. But St. Louis has played well enough to produce multiple deserving candidates beyond slugger Jordan Walker, who was selected. Rookie JJ Wetherholt is the first that jumps out, as his rock-solid bat (120 wRC+) and outstanding defensive metrics at second base place him in the top 10 among position players in both fWAR (3.7) and baseball-reference WAR (3.8). But Herrera is also being overlooked. He’s one of just 11 players in MLB who have started every single one of his team’s games, and his 130 wRC+ ranks second behind only Dillon Dingler among qualified hitters whose primary position is catcher.

Willson Contreras, 1B, Red SoxIt has been a tumultuous stretch for Contreras, who has been grappling with the devastating earthquake back home in Venezuela and is now suspended for his participation in the on-field fracas with the Nationals last week. Contreras was already in the midst of a difficult and chaotic campaign, having been dealt to Boston in the offseason only to have the Red Sox fire their manager in April and plummet into last place. But you wouldn’t know it from Contreras’ performance, as the veteran masher has been raking: Of the top 17 qualified hitters by wRC+, only Contreras (150, 11th) was not named an All-Star. He isn’t the only Red Sox player with a strong snub case (Ceddanne Rafaela, hello), but he’s the most deserving. Contreras would be a sensible choice to replace starter Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was voted in by the fans but has already announced he won’t be participating.

Brice Turang, 2B, BrewersYou can find a wide variety of snubs at the keystone, particularly in the National League. It’s not just the aforementioned star rookie Wetherholt who ended up on the outside looking in but also several others, such as Ketel Marte (most total bases among non-All-Stars), Xavier Edwards (most hits among non-All-Stars) and Brandon Lowe (one of three hitters with 20 homers and 20 doubles, along with All-Stars James Wood and Matt Olson). Turang, though, stands out as most deserving among his positional peers, considering he has been the best and most consistent all-around player on a Brewers team with the second-best record in MLB.

Josh Jung, 3B, RangersInjuries and inconsistency have plagued Jung since he was voted an All-Star starter as a rookie during Texas’ tremendous 2023 campaign, but now the former first-round pick is right back in the mix among the top third basemen in the league. The over-the-fence power has been limited (9 HR), but Jung is tied with Ernie Clement for the AL lead in doubles (22), and only Xavier Edwards has more hits (97) than Jung (96) among non-All-Stars. The plate discipline strides are impressive as well: Jung has slashed his strikeout rate from a 28% career mark entering this season to 18% in 2026 while walking at a career-high clip (8.1%).

Elly De La Cruz, SS, RedsTwo more AL Central shortstops, Colson Montgomery and Brayan Rocchio, have gripes here, especially without having missed any time due to injury. But De La Cruz was outperforming both before he went on the injured list for the first time in his career due to a hamstring strain, and he remains right in line with Rocchio and Montgomery on the fWAR leaderboard, despite missing three weeks. If the All-Star Game is about showcasing the best talent the sport has to offer and celebrating the best performers from the first half, excluding an all-around dynamo in De La Cruz is an obvious oversight.

Some of these names will end up in Philadelphia after all, but for now, Brice Turang, Foster Griffin and the others on this list are snubs.Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo SportsBryan Reynolds, OF, PiratesPerhaps rejuvenated by the vastly improved lineup that surrounds him after years of being the lone quality bat in an inept Pirates offense, Reynolds is enjoying his best season since he received down-ballot MVP votes in 2021. Only Juan Soto (.404) boasts a higher on-base percentage than Reynolds (.395) among qualified outfielders, and Reynolds’ 61 runs scored are tied with Nick Kurtz for fourth in MLB.

Mickey Moniak, OF, RockiesThere’s a lot you could hold against Moniak’s All-Star case. He missed a month due to an ankle injury, harbors extreme platoon splits and has done the majority of his damage at his hitter-haven home venue, Coors Field. But come on: He’s slugging .612! That’s second only to Yordan Alvarez among hitters with at least 200 plate appearances. Moniak has perfected his power stroke with Colorado, and it would be incredible to see him in the All-Star Game back where his career began with Philadelphia, the team that selected him first overall 10 years ago. Put this dude in the Home Run Derby, at least.

Jung Hoo Lee, OF, GiantsIt hasn’t gotten much attention amid another dismally disappointing season in San Francisco, but Lee continues to demonstrate elite contact skills. In fact, after starting cold — Lee was hitting .143 through his first 13 games — he leads MLB in batting average since April 10 at a sterling .345 clip, just ahead of All-Stars Otto Lopez (.342) and his teammate Luis Arraez (.332). Lee’s five four-hit games lead MLB (no one else has more than three), and he has made impressive strides against left-handed pitching, slashing .311/.344/.444 against southpaws this season after hitting .238/.269/.342 against them in his first two major-league seasons.

Liam Hicks, DH, MarlinsHe cooled off a bit in May after a red-hot April, but Hicks has resumed raking, which unsurprisingly has coincided with the Marlins having MLB’s best record in June (20-6). Hicks has been a key cog in Miami’s lineup all season, as he leads the team in home runs (13) and RBI (54) while handling first base and catcher when he’s not DHing. He is one of just eight qualified hitters with more walks than strikeouts this season, and of that cohort, Hicks’ .465 slugging percentage ranks third behind only All-Stars Juan Soto (.560) and Arraez (.467).

Braxton Ashcraft, SP, PiratesAshcraft doesn’t have the name recognition of his All-Star rotationmate Paul Skenes, but his effectiveness has been eerily similar, if not downright superior through 18 starts:

Skenes: 97 IP, 3.62 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 1.01 WHIP, 30.1% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate, 2.7 fWAR

• >Ashcraft: 108 ⅓ IP, 3.24 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, 27.8% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate, 2.9 fWAR

But the results for Pittsburgh have been drastically different when each right-hander has taken the mound: The Pirates are 12-6 in Ashcraft starts but 6-12 in Skenes starts. Weird!

>Skenes is lined up to start the Sunday before the All-Star break, so he could be one of several pitchers who will be unable to pitch in the Midsummer Classic based on schedule. On Saturday, Skenes said that he was “shocked” he was the only Pirate selected and that he hopes Ashcraft replaces him on the active roster. I concur.

Foster Griffin, SP, NationalsWashington’s dynamic lineup has stolen the show this season — and for good reason: The Nationals rank among the league’s best in numerous offensive categories (fourth in OPS, second in runs, second in homers) while the pitching staff ranks 25th in ERA and 30th in fWAR. And the exception to a mostly miserable performance on the mound has been Griffin, a total revelation in the rotation after he signed with Washington in the winter following three stellar seasons pitching in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants. Griffin attacks methodically with a balanced seven-pitch (!) mix that has proven effective even with well below-average fastball velocity. His 1.52 ERA over his past eight starts is third-lowest in MLB over that span behind only All-Stars Jacob Misiorowski (0.96) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1.51).

Davis Martin, SP, White SoxIdentifying which starting pitching snubs are most egregious can depend a lot on your WAR of choice, as baseball-reference WAR places a greater emphasis on workload and run prevention, while FanGraphs’ WAR is FIP-based, meaning it places a higher value on process-related metrics such as strikeouts, walks and home run suppression. Reid Detmers, for example, is tied for sixth among qualified pitchers in fWAR (2.9), but he’s 40th in bWAR (1.4). Conversely, A’s right-hander J.T. Ginn is tied for seventh in bWAR (3.1), but he’s 45th in fWAR.

>What does this have to do with Martin? He rates well by both metrics: sixth in bWAR (3.2) and tied for 11th in fWAR (2.7). Wielding a remarkably balanced repertoire — Martin throws six different pitches at least 10% of the time — the 29-year-old right-hander has been the steadiest starter for the surprisingly competitive White Sox.

Zack Wheeler, SP, PhilliesThe host team will be well-represented at the All-Star Game, as five Phillies — Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Cristopher Sánchez, plus first-timers Brandon Marsh and Jhoan Duran — were already announced as members of the NL squad. But Wheeler has a strong case as well, as he has been excellent since rejoining the rotation in late April following his recovery from the thoracic outlet surgery that ended his 2025 campaign. Since his return, only six qualified pitchers (all All-Stars) have a lower ERA than Wheeler (2.36), and only three (Misiorowski, Yamamoto, Sánchez) have a lower WHIP (0.94). Also, the Phillies have won 11 of Wheeler’s 13 outings, nine of which have been quality starts.

Bryce Miller, SP, MarinersAn oblique strain delayed the start to Miller’s season until mid-May — and Seattle’s piggybacking/six-man rotation strategy has limited his workload — but the 27-year-old right-hander has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since he was activated from the injured list. Only Misiorowski has a higher strikeout rate and lower WHIP over that span among qualified pitchers, with Miller also exhibiting sensational control, striking out 62 batters compared to just five free passes surrendered with a sparkling 1.71 ERA. The lack of innings might’ve doomed his All-Star chances, but it’s tough to ignore just how dominant Miller has been.

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Tanner Scott, RP, DodgersThe Dodgers have another lefty in Justin Wrobleski who could have earned a nod in the All-Snub rotation, but I’d rather shine some light on Scott, who has regained his status as an elite reliever after a disastrous first season in Dodger blue. This return to form has been all the more crucial in the absence of marquee offseason signing Edwin Díaz — added in theory to lessen the load on Scott — who made seven appearances before suffering an elbow injury that required surgery. As a result, Scott was thrust back into high-leverage and has answered the call in a big way, racking up a ton of punchouts (45 in 35 ⅔ innings) while posting the lowest walk rate (2.3%) of any qualified reliever, a shocking development considering his control woes earlier in his career.

Dylan Lee, RP, BravesA steady contributor in Atlanta’s bullpen over the past half-decade, Lee has leveled up his game in 2026 to become one of the most dominant lefty relievers in the league, with as much red on his Baseball Savant page as any late-inning arm, despite below-average fastball velocity. A rare clunker against St. Louis last week accounted for three of the seven earned runs Lee has surrendered this season (and ballooned his ERA from 0.95 to 1.64), but he has been nearly untouchable otherwise: Only All-Star Jacob Latz has a lower WHIP (0.619) than Lee (0.661) among relievers, and only Mason Miller (0.58) has a lower FIP (1.33).

Tyler Rogers, RP, Blue JaysI could have gone in a dozen directions with my third and final bullpen spot. In the end, I’m giving the nod to Rogers, who perhaps would’ve been voted in by the enthusiastic Blue Jays supporters if fan voting included pitchers. Instead, the sublime submariner was left to compete for one of the All-Star roster spots with the more traditional closers and strikeout artists who inhabit bullpens around the league. But here’s Rogers, with his MLB-best 66% groundball rate and MLB-worst 12% strikeout rate across 41 appearances amounting to a pristine 1.82 ERA. Rogers was already rewarded handsomely with the $37 million free-agent contract Toronto gave him this past winter; now it would be cool to see the 35-year-old’s unique skill set honored with his first All-Star Game invite.