3 Cubs Who Should Be First-Time All-Stars In 2026

The Chicago Cubs are off to a remarkable start to the 2026 season. The team as a whole has put together a pair of 10-game win streaks, and Craig Counsell has done a spectacular job managing this squad. There are also a few players who haven’t been named All-Stars yet that are pushing for the first bids in their career.

Nico Hoerner

Fresh off of earning a six-year, $141 million extension with the team that drafted him, Nico Hoerner got off to a red-hot start to this year. Chicago’s second baseman has four home runs, 29 runs batted in and holds at least a .260 batting average for the seventh time in eight seasons with the North Siders.

Diving a bit further, his hand-eye coordination and approach at the plate have been top-tier. Hoerner’s whiff rate (10.3%) and strikeout rate (7.9%) are both in the 99th percentile among hitters. The 29-year-old’s 8.9% walk rate is a tad below the league average, but it’s higher than his strikeout rate to this point, which is an outrageous accomplishment in 2026.

Hoerner’s contact-first approach has earned him plenty of respect to start his big league career, but his defense has made headlines as well. The two-time Gold Glover is in a class of his own, logging seven outs above average through the first few weeks of the season. That mark puts him in the 99th percentile among MLB defenders. The Stanford alum has been as reliable as they come, and the leather-flashing and contact-oriented numbers he’s put up to start the 2026 season have only gotten better with time.

Ben Brown 

Not only is Ben Brown putting together a season worthy of an All-Star nod, but he has the chance to form quite the one-year turnaround story. After producing mixed results in his call-up season (2024), Brown struggled mightily in a variety of ways last season. 

Producing a 5-8 record with a 5.92 earned run average, up two total runs from his mark the year prior, Brown gave up one of the highest average exit velocities (92.4 mph) in baseball, slotting him in the bottom percentile among all qualified pitchers. While his strikeout (25.6%) and whiff (28.3%) rates lived well above the league average, the hard-throwing righty gave up his fair share of pure contact and routinely ran into trouble.

This season, the bullpen arm is sporting a 1-1 record, a 1.60 ERA and added a true third pitch. Just a season after utilizing his fastball/knuckle-curve combination 96% of the time, Brown expanded his arsenal. The 26-year-old reliever has mixed in a sinker, an option that rides up and away from lefties, similarly to his four-seamer. Overall, Brown has kept the ball down much more. After allowing average launch angles of 16.2 and 12.7 degrees in the last two seasons, the 7.2 degree mark has allowed a spike in ground ball rate, and therefore, a .196 batting average against. Brown has been one of the more impactful relievers in baseball and could be in the All-Star conversation if he keeps this pace up into the month of July. 

Seiya Suzuki

Seiya Suzuki rounds out this list after making a strong case for himself just last year. The 31-year-old slugger is fresh off of a remarkable 2025 campaign that saw career-best marks in home runs (32), runs batted in (103) and walks (71). 

Suzuki is seemingly picking up where he left off last year, as his seven home runs in 31 games has him on another promising pace. The Cubs’ masher is seeing the ball very well, sporting a 42% sweet-spot percentage (93rd percentile) while walking 14% of the time (86th percentile). This has allowed his on-base percentage to explode toward the 400 mark, as the righty is developing a keen eye at the plate while also garnering more respect from opposing pitching. 

The Arakawa, Japan native has a chance to make this a banner season. He currently sits six home runs shy of 100 for his MLB career, could earn his first big-league contract extension and may even add “All-Star” to his already impressive résumé.