MLB released its All-Star rosters over the Fourth of July weekend, and the annual ritual of grievance began roughly four seconds later. Some of this will sort itself out. Injuries and starting-pitcher scheduling always force replacements, and several of these names will end up at Citizens Bank Park next week regardless (and one has already been confirmed).
That doesn’t excuse the initial roster. A fan vote handed a starting job to the seventh-best second baseman in the National League. The best first baseman in the American League had to wait for the fan-vote winner to withdraw before getting his spot. Here are ten players who should already be on a roster.
MLB All-Star Snubs: 10 Players Who Should Have Made AL, NL Teams
JJ Wetherholt, 2B, Cardinals
The rookie leads all second basemen in baseball by fWAR, and it isn’t close. St. Louis has played better than anyone expected and sent exactly one player to Philadelphia in Jordan Walker. Wetherholt pairs a 120 wRC+ with defensive metrics that rank among the league’s best at the position, a complete profile that lands him inside the top 10 among all position players.
Rookies get squeezed by this process. Fans don’t know them, and players vote for the guys they’ve faced for years. Wetherholt is the cleanest example this season.
© Jeff Curry-Imagn ImagesBrice Turang, 2B, Brewers
The most-cited snub in baseball right now, and for good reason. Turang has been the best and most consistent player on a Brewers team with the second-best record in the majors. He’s at 3.2 fWAR, 14th among all position players, with a .824 OPS, 12 home runs, 51 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases.
The comparison that matters is Ozzie Albies, who was voted in as the NL starter. Turang has been better in nearly every offensive category and is the far superior defender. He was better in 2024. He was better in 2025. He’s been better in 2026. Albies ranks seventh among NL second basemen by fWAR.
Willson Contreras, 1B, Red Sox
Frequent ejections notwithstanding, Contreras has been the second-most valuable first baseman in the American League. He’s hitting .285/.378/.536 with 19 home runs and 56 RBIs, a 2.9 fWAR that ranks 18th among position players, a 150 wRC+ that ranks 11th in the majors, and a .914 OPS that ranks ninth.
He’s also the obvious solution to the roster’s silliest problem. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won the fan vote at first base and has already said he won’t participate. Contreras will be in Philly, but should have been there from the start.
Willson Contreras (40) is held back by teammates during an altercation in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Jaiden Tripi-Imagn ImagesZack Wheeler, SP, Phillies
The Phillies have five All-Stars. Wheeler should be the sixth, and the game is in Philadelphia. After a late start recovering from surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, he’s 8-1 with a 2.36 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP, and 84 strikeouts across 80 innings in 13 starts.
The innings total is the only argument against him, and it’s not a good one. He’s been as dominant as anyone in the National League when healthy.
Justin Wrobleski, SP, Dodgers
If the All-Star Game is meant to reward first-half production, Wrobleski has the strongest pitching case in the National League. He’s 10-2 with a 2.80 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP across 15 appearances. His 1.74 BB/9 ranks fourth among qualified pitchers and his 0.77 HR/9 ranks 11th.
He’s not a strikeout artist, but the command is elite. He’s also an 11th-round pick who forced his way into a loaded Dodgers rotation when injuries opened a door, which is a useful reminder that Los Angeles develops players as well as it signs them.
Sonny Gray, SP, Red Sox
Boston’s second snub, and arguably its more egregious one. Gray has been among the American League’s most effective starters all season, pairing a sub-3.00 ERA with the kind of win total that typically gets a pitcher an automatic invite.
He’ll almost certainly be added once the Sunday starters begin dropping off the roster. That he wasn’t there initially, on a team that also left Contreras home, is the strangest omission of the announcement.
Apr 20, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray (54) pitches during the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn ImagesJacob deGrom, SP, Rangers
The résumé argument cuts both ways. Sometimes it gets a veteran in on reputation. Here it left one of the game’s most talented arms off a roster he’s earned on merit this season.
deGrom belongs in the first wave of replacements once scheduling forces the league’s hand. Given how rarely he’s been healthy enough to make a case like this, leaving him off feels like a missed opportunity for a game built on star power.
Braxton Ashcraft, SP, Pirates
Paul Skenes said he was shocked to be Pittsburgh’s only representative, and that he hopes Ashcraft replaces him on the active roster. When your teammate publicly campaigns for you, the case makes itself.
Ashcraft is 9-3 with a 3.24 ERA and 122 strikeouts across 108 1/3 innings in 18 starts. Skenes, meanwhile, has seen his ERA climb to 3.62 and hasn’t won in his last nine starts. Nobody’s arguing Ashcraft is the better long-term pitcher. He’s had the better first half.
Josh Jung, 3B, Rangers
Jung leads the American League in doubles with 22 while hitting .297 with a 138 OPS+. That’s an All-Star line at a position where the AL was only ever going to take two.
Junior Caminero and Miguel Vargas are correctly ahead of him, which makes this a tough-luck snub rather than an injustice. Injuries and inconsistency have kept Jung from returning to the form that made him a starter as a rookie in 2023. He’s back, and the roster didn’t have room.
Yandy Díaz, 1B, Rays
The American League first base picture was crowded enough that someone deserving was always getting cut. Díaz, Nick Kurtz, and Ben Rice all merited invitations. Kurtz got in, then inherited Guerrero’s starting spot.
Díaz has been a central piece for the AL’s best team, ranking 11th among all position players with a .390 OBP and 13th in RBIs with 58. In a year where the fan vote produced Guerrero at first base, leaving Díaz off is hard to defend.
The Ones Who Just Missed
Ceddanne Rafaela had a real case in Boston. Cole Young leads all American League second basemen in WAR and didn’t make it, while Toronto’s Ernie Clement got voted in as the starter. Jazz Chisholm Jr. gives the AL its own second base grievance. Michael Harris II, Bryan Reynolds, Ketel Marte, Xavier Edwards, and Brandon Lowe all have arguments. Nick Martinez and Davis Martin should be near the front of the replacement line.
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