Meet the 5 Tool Six: The Players Behind Today’s Gold Series Drop

Hit for average. Hit for power. Run. Field. Throw. Most big leaguers are great at one or two of those. The six players in today’s drop built careers on all five.

The 2026 MLB Gold Series: 5 Tool reverse auction opens today, Thursday, October 1, at 2 p.m. ET. Thirty-six packs. Six ICONs in every pack, one for each player below. The full drop breakdown is in the announcement post. This one is about the players.

Heads up: You must opt in on the Quests page at candy.io/quests before the quest deadline, or you won’t qualify for the reward.

Sal Stewart | Cincinnati Reds

Candy debut. First Mint badge.

The Reds took Stewart 32nd overall in 2022 out of Westminster Christian in Miami, and he hit his way up the ladder: a .309 average, 20 homers and Southern League MVP honors in 2025 earned him a September call-up. He singled in his first big-league at-bat.

Then he put together one of the best rookie seasons Cincinnati has ever seen. Stewart played all 162 games in 2026 and finished with 32 home runs and 111 RBI, breaking a Reds rookie RBI record that had stood since 1953. He was the first player in baseball to reach 100 RBI this year, made the NL All-Star team and heads into the offseason as the runaway favorite for NL Rookie of the Year.

On Candy: This is Stewart’s first-ever Candy collectible, so every 5 Tool ICON carries the First Mint badge, including the one and only Sal Stewart Legendary 1-of-1. Whoever pulls it owns the starting point of his entire Candy collecting story.

Mike Trout | Los Angeles Angels

The blueprint.

When scouts describe a five-tool player, they are describing Trout’s prime. As a 20-year-old in 2012 he hit .324 with 30 homers, led the league with 49 steals and robbed four home runs at the wall. Three MVPs, a unanimous Rookie of the Year and nine Silver Sluggers followed. Sixteen seasons, one franchise, 426 career home runs.

2026 was a reminder that he is still Mike Trout. He played 142 games, his most since 2016, and started 109 of them in center field. Fans voted him into the All-Star Game for the 12th time, this one in Philadelphia, about 45 miles from his hometown of Millville, New Jersey. Along the way he passed 1,200 runs, 1,800 hits, 1,100 walks and 3,500 total bases, and became one of three players ever with 400 homers, 200 steals and 1,000 walks by age 34. The other two are Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.

On Candy: Thirty-six Gold Series ICONs. One Legendary. For a player whose résumé already reads like a Cooperstown plaque.

Fernando Tatís Jr. | San Diego Padres

Flair, with the hardware to back it up.

Tatís was 17 when the Padres acquired him from the White Sox in the James Shields trade. He debuted in 2019, started the 2021 All-Star Game as the first Padre to do so since Tony Gwynn, and signed a 14-year, $340 million deal. When San Diego moved him from shortstop to right field in 2023, he won the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove in his first season out there. He did it again in 2025. He also owns a 100 mph outfield assist from 2023 and topped it in 2025 at 102.9 mph. The arm is real.

2026 started quiet, with no home runs through his first 55 games, and ended loud: 20 homers and a .995 OPS after the All-Star break, a career-high 38 stolen bases and a .289 average. On August 18 at Citi Field he hit a 452-foot leadoff homer, hit another, then went up the wall to take a grand slam away from Francisco Lindor. Tuesday night he opened the Wild Card Series with the first leadoff home run in Padres postseason history.

On Candy: El Niño’s Legendary 1-of-1 is one of six waiting inside 36 packs.

José Ramírez | Cleveland Guardians

The Momenticon moment.

Cleveland signed Ramírez out of Baní, Dominican Republic, in 2009. Seventeen years later he is a seven-time All-Star, a six-time Silver Slugger, a three-time 30/30 player and the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, a record he broke this April that had stood since 1918. In 2024 he finished one home run short of 40/40.

On May 2 in Sacramento, he stole third base in the fifth inning for the 300th steal of his career, joining Kenny Lofton as the only players in franchise history to reach the mark. He is just the third primary third baseman since 1900 to get there. He missed five weeks after a hamate fracture in June, came back in July and still went 37-for-41 on the bases at age 33. He drove in his 1,000th career run on September 19, and the Guardians clinched a third straight AL Central title a week later. He sits at 297 home runs, three shy of 300 and the 300-300 club.

On Candy: The José Ramírez Momenticon, numbered to /5, captures that 300th stolen base. Any pack that contains it comes with seven ICONs instead of six.

Bobby Witt Jr. | Kansas City Royals

Elite at everything, from shortstop.

The No. 2 overall pick in 2019, Witt became the first shortstop in MLB history with two 30/30 seasons (2023 and 2024). In 2024 he won the batting title at .332, led the majors with 211 hits and finished second in AL MVP voting. In 2025 he added the Platinum Glove as the best defender in the American League, and he has won both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in each of the past two seasons. He led all of baseball in sprint speed as a rookie and has uncorked a 94.4 mph throw from the infield.

In 2026, fans voted him the AL’s starting shortstop at the All-Star Game, the first Royals shortstop elected since 2015. He stole 45 bases, hit 33 doubles, scored 94 runs and posted an AL-best 22 Outs Above Average. He finished third in MLB.com’s final AL MVP poll, behind only Yordan Alvarez and Junior Caminero.

On Candy: The Bobby Witt Jr. Pixicon, numbered to /5, puts Witt in his royal blues and trademark shades, with a catcher’s view of Kauffman Stadium at twilight behind him.

Corbin Carroll | Arizona Diamondbacks

Nobody turns a double into a triple like he does.

Carroll was the unanimous 2023 NL Rookie of the Year and the first rookie ever with 25 homers and 50 stolen bases in the same season, then helped Arizona reach the World Series. In 2025 he gave the Diamondbacks their first 30/30 season. He is a Seattle kid whose first baseball memory is watching Ichiro in right field, and a photo of the two is still his phone screensaver.

In 2026 he made history nobody else has: Carroll became the first player ever to lead all of MLB in triples three straight years. His 17 triples matched his career high, and his 53rd career triple in June broke Arizona’s franchise record in roughly 200 fewer games than the previous holder. He added 22 homers and 33 doubles, went 21-for-24 on the bases and made his third All-Star team. He did all of it after breaking the hamate bone in his hand in February and making the Opening Day roster anyway.

On Candy: Speed on the card, speed off it. Twenty-five Rares, 10 Epics, one Legendary.

The Drop, in Brief

• When: Thursday, October 1, at 2 p.m. ET
• Format: Candy Digital Reverse Auction, starting at $2,000 and dropping $100 every 60 seconds
• Packs: 36 total, six ICONs per pack (seven when an insert is included), no limit per transaction
• Rarity: Rares /25, Epics /10, Legendary 1-of-1. At least one Epic in every pack and a one-in-six shot at a Legendary
• Inserts: José Ramírez Momenticon /5 and Bobby Witt Jr. Pixicon /5

Every 5 Tool ICON counts toward the 2026 Gold Series Collection Quests, which close November 2 at 2 p.m. ET. Get the full Collection Quest breakdown here.

Every Tool on the Board

Six players who can beat you every way there is. Thirty-six packs. Six Legendary 1-of-1s.

The reverse auction opens at 2 p.m. ET. Pick your spot. Collect the 5 Tool.