3 Cardinals who could be first-time All-Stars in 2026

When you go through a rebuild, it’s characteristic for the roster to be jam-packed with young, blossoming talent.

The St. Louis Cardinals find themselves in this exact position. 

Teams in the past have had future Hall-of-Famers, perennial All-Stars, and grizzly veterans that turned in predominantly S-tier output. 

Now, the Redbirds sport a young, dumb offering that has former top prospects, diamonds in the rough, and potential breakout candidates. With so much yet to be seen from the players on St. Louis’ big league club, there are plenty of players bidding for their first All-Star nod. Every team gets a representative, and in all likelihood, the Cardinals will have one who’s a first-timer. Here are the top candidates to earn their first All-Star selection come July. 

Ivan Herrera

Even after a slow start, Herrera is the leading candidate to notch his first career appearance in an All-Star game. St. Louis’ primary right-handed slugger absolutely rakes, despite what he’s displayed to this point in the year. 

In his prior two seasons, Herrera has had an OPS that cumulatively sat above .800, often the benchmark for All-Stars. Most of his production came against the southpaws. In 2025, he sported a 1.014 OPS in 124 PAs against lefties, nothing short of astronomical. If Herrera wants to play in this year’s mid-summer classic, he’ll have to save some pop for the righties, too. 

Riley O’Brien 

After trading away long-time closer Ryan Helsley during 2025, the Redbirds entered this year without a promised ninth inning. O’Brien saw that opportunity and took off. So far, the sinker is dipping, diving, and crashing around bats at an average of 97.5mph, and the sweeper has been biting to the sweet silence of no hits yet recorded against it. With the sudden fall-off of Matt Svanson and JoJo Romero’s prowess in the setup role, expect O’Brien to settle in nicely as the Cardinal closer. 

If the Cardinals struggle to hit, which most analysts predicted they would before the season, it’s common to see a high-end bullpen arm get an All-Star nod. Veteran relievers like Jake Bird and Gregory Soto have inked All-Star selections via this exact situation. If O’Brien holds steady, the league will have no reason not to appoint him to the 2026 All-Star game. 

Jordan Walker

How many of you expected to see this name before the season? Don’t worry, I didn’t know what to expect either. After an offseason of rigorous work with Driveline and the Cardinals' hitting coaches, former phenom prospect Jordan Walker has seemingly hit his stride. As of April 11th, Walker is tied for the MLB lead in home runs with checks notes YORDAN ALVAREZ and GUNNAR HENDERSON. Wow. If Walker were to crash and burn from here on out, this little stretch would merely become a flash in the pan. However, the numbers are confident in Walker’s newfound success. 

His bat speed has remained top-tier, but he’s now pairing that with a reformed attack angle. This had led Walker to put the ball in the air more often, and look what happened! J-Dub’s performance is nothing short of a blessing for Cardinals fans. He ranks in the 100th percentile for xSLG and average exit velocity on Baseball Savant as of April 11th. If he keeps this up, forget an All-Star nod, this is MVP stuff. It’s worth adding that Walker not only looks like a refined force at the plate, but his defense in right field has been rather elite, and his sprint speed dwells in the upper echelon as well. 

Most fans aren’t thinking about All-Stars and MVPs when they enter a season where they saw off their top three talents. Fortunately for The Lou, young birds are soaring, and if the success holds, those bitter goodbyes might become a mere afterthought to what the future may hold.