MLB All-Star Game 2026: Players we stop everything to watch -- and why - ESPN

Jacob Misiorowski's fastball. Kyle Schwarber's power. Shohei Ohtani's… well, everything.

As baseball's best players gather in Philadelphia for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, we are reminded of the too-many-to-count reasons we love to watch each of them play the sport. Because of injuries and pitching schedules, not all of them will be on display Tuesday night. But they have represented the best of baseball all season long.

Ahead of this year's Midsummer Classic, we asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield to choose a few of the players whose singular skills make them must-sees whenever they take the field. We then asked their fellow All-Stars to weigh in on what makes each of them impressive — even to their peers.

Triples are kind of a fluke event in today's game, a hard-to-replicate combination of speed and ballpark. Nevertheless, Carroll has become an elite triples hitter, leading the National League season after season, making him the master of baseball's most exhilarating play.

The Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder seems almost greedy about triples — in the best possible way. He flies around first base, and by then he knows, accelerating and making the turn at second with an almost maniacal look on his determined face. As soon as Carroll plugs a gap in the outfield, you have to sit up straight and watch him fly. And as for that greed? He is up to 53 career triples and has never been thrown out trying to stretch what otherwise might be a ho-hum double. — Doolittle

A fellow All-Star's take:

He's just a freak. Just a quick, twitchy guy. He's not the biggest guy, but pound for pound, he has some of the most juice in the big leagues. He just does everything so well. — Pete