The results of this year’s round of Hall of Fame voting will be announced at 5PM CT this evening. Ichiro Suzuki, C.C. Sabathia, and Billy Wagner appear to stand the best chance among this year’s crop of players to join the immortal ranks of Cooperstown alongside Dick Allen and Dave Parker this summer. That doesn’t mean they’re the only players worth considering, however. 28 names in total are on this year’s ballot, and while we won’t go over every single name, plenty of players have solid cases to be elected.
Suzuki has a chance to go into the Hall as its second-ever unanimously elected player, and it’s easy to see why. The ten-time All-Star won both the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in the AL back in 2001, his age-27 season, after a nine-season stint in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He went on to play parts of 19 seasons in the majors, collect 3,089 hits and steal 509 bases and win ten Gold Glove awards, three Silver Slugger awards, and two AL batting titles. Combined with his years playing overseas, Suzuki has 4,367 hits over a 28-year career in professional baseball.
Sabathia, meanwhile, won’t get in unanimously but stands a good chance of making it in during his first year of eligibility. The southpaw played 19 seasons in the majors, with a solid career 3.74 ERA (116 ERA+) to go along with 3,093 strikeouts and 251 wins at the big league level. The six-time All-Star won the AL Cy Young award with Cleveland back in 2007 and went on to finish in the top 5 of Cy Young award voting four more times throughout his career. He eventually won the 2009 World Series with the Yankees, earning ALCS MVP honors along the way as he pitched to a 1.98 ERA while striking out 32 batters in 36 1/3 innings of work across five starts during that postseason run.
As for Wagner, the lefty enters his final year of eligibility after missing election last year by just a few votes. The reliever pitched just 903 innings over his 16 years in the majors, but the seven-time All-Star was undeniably dominant when on the mound with a career 2.31 ERA (187 ERA+). He also collected 422 saves throughout his career, making him one of just eight players to record 400 saves in MLB history, while his career 33.2% strikeout rate would not only be by far the best among Hall of Fame relievers but trails only active closers Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, and Craig Kimbrel among all 265 relievers in MLB history with at least 600 innings pitched in their careers.
Aside from the top three names, the only players with a realistic shot at election this year are Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones. A nine-time All-Star and the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year, Beltrán played 20 years in the majors and during that time racked up 2,725 hits, slugged 435 homers, and stole 312 bases. During his peak seasons with the Royals and Mets from 2001 to 2008, Beltrán was worth 47 bWAR and 46.6 fWAR as he slashed .282/.363/.513 while collecting five All-Star appearances, three Gold Glove awards, and two Silver Slugger awards. However, his case may be complicated by his involvement in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
Meanwhile, Jones is a 10-time Gold Glove award winner and is generally considered to be one of the best defensive center fielders of all time if not the very best. From 1997 to 2007, Jones combined that generational defense with strong offensive numbers, hitting .263/.343/.498 with 363 homers during that time en route to 60.9 bWAR and 64.2 fWAR.
While other players on the ballot don’t have a clear shot towards election this year, that hardly means they lack legitimate cases for the Hall of their own. Chase Utley struggled to stay on the field throughout the later years of his 16-year career, but his peak seasons from 2005 to 2011 are impossible to argue with as he slashed .293/.383/.513 with five All-Star appearances, four Silver Slugger awards, and three top-ten MVP finishes en route to 49.3 bWAR and 47.7 fWAR over that seven-year period.
Álex Rodríguez, Manny Ramírez, and Andy Pettitte all have impeccable arguments for the Hall in terms of stats but have had their candidacies bogged down by their PED usage. Félix Hernández has an unbelievable peak with a 2.90 ERA (134 ERA+), six All-Star appearances, an AL Cy Young award and five other top-ten finishes in Cy Young balloting during an eight-year stretch from 2008 to 2015 but pitched his final MLB game at the age of 33. Bobby Abreu lacks the awards and accolades of his peers on the ballot but was a career .291/.395/.475 hitter across 18 years in the majors. That .395 on-base percentage would be tied for 41st among 171 Hall of Fame hitters.
Meanwhile, a number of players are currently fighting to stay on the ballot for next year. Francisco Rodríguez, Brian McCann, Russell Martin, Ian Kinsler, and Torii Hunter have all received votes this cycle but have less than 10% of the vote among publicly revealed ballots. Anyone who finishes below 5% in the final results is kicked off the ballot, and of that quintet only Rodríguez is above that benchmark on publicly revealed ballots.
If you had a Hall of Fame ballot, who would you vote for? Have your say in the poll below, which allows you to vote for multiple players. As a reminder, Hall of Fame voters may only select a maximum of ten names on their ballots.
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