Jan 22, 2026
3 min read
What can we learn from the 2026 ballot?Let's dig
Baseball Hall of Fame winners and losers: Good news for Chase Utley and Jose Altuve, Manny says
What can we learn from the 2026 election?Let's turn back
Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the BBWAA announced Tuesday evening.The underperforming center fielders will join Jeff Kent (elected last month by the Modern Baseball Era Committee) in the Class of 2026. Looking through the voting percentages and looking for the most important takeaways, beyond the obvious winners Beltrán and Jones, we find several winners and losers.Let's go through a few.
Winner: Jose Altuve
Wait, what? Altuve stays active. How can he be the winner here?
It is indirect.There are times when we see a domino effect in voting.There's always been a stigma at Coors Field for the Rockies, but once Larry Walker entered the gym, it was smooth sailing for Todd Helton.Obviously, this is a different scenario, but the 2017 Astros' electronic sign-stealing scandal is attached.In my opinion, that's why Beltran needed four tries instead of two or just one.
Now that "El Jefe" is on the 2017 championship team, will it clear a less rocky path for Altuve?Maybe.He has 2,388 career hits, a 303 batting average, three hitting titles, and the same WAR and JAWS numbers that appeal to new school voters.
I agree that Altuve's case was handled differently than Beltrán's, but it should be good news for the 2017 MVP.
Winner: Chase Utley
The second baseman with a good chance to make the Hall of Fame is Utley.I've been talking about him as a worthy Hall of Fame candidate for the last three years and he's progressing really well.After receiving 28.8% of the vote the first year and 39.8% last year, he now received 59.1% this year, his third year in the election.If necessary, seven more attempts will follow and his percentage of the vote will surely continue to rise, especially considering the relatively weak voting we will have next year.
Loser: Manny Ramirez
Manny is now in last place in the polls after failing to reach 75% in his tenth and final year.Ramirez received only 38.8% of the votes.We've seen Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens shut down twice by the ERA committee, and Ramirez suspended twice for PEDs (Bonds or Clemens have never been suspended).Simply put, nothing drastic will happen in the next few years or decades.Except Ramirez will never make the Hall of Fame.
Defeated: Alex Rodriguez
In his fifth year, A-Rod has made progress again - it's just not enough to believe that he will finally get the 75% of votes he needs to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.It has now decreased from 34.3% to 35.7% to 34.8% to 37.1% to 40.0% respectively.He doesn't need to more than double his vote total, but he's pretty close.You see it happening.
Mag'lub: Robinson Kano
Cain, unlike Altuve, is a straight up loser.His stats show a streak worthy of Hall of Fame induction.He's a career .301/.351/.488 (124 OPS+) hitter with 68.7 WAR and some of the best power stats we've seen from a second baseman.At the position, he is second in home runs, fifth in RBI, sixth in slugging percentage and sixth in WAR.10th
In 2018, he was also suspended for 80 games for failing a PED test.Considering Ramirez's fate and the way A-Rod is developing, we may be able to put the final nail in the coffin of Cano's Hall of Fame case before he even gets on the ballot.
Winners: Felix Hernandez and a generation of starting pitchers.
Something I've been dealing with for ten years now (I'm kidding) is that only the department, the top Aces of the last few generations of starter motors get that. That's still.Of the top 50 WAR starters in the Wild Card Era (1995-present), only Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina, Greg Maddux, CC Sabathia, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz are in the Hall of Fame.The previous generation had more than 20 startups that made it.I've already mapped that out (most recently with Cole Hamels).Sure, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw and (hopefully? surely?) Zack Greinke are headed to Cooperstown when they're eligible, but there's still a drop from previous generations.
Maybe we're making progress.King Felix received 46.1% of the vote on his second try, up 25.5 points from the first year.Hamels opened with 23.8% of the vote. Even the dope-carrying Andy Pettitte and Mark Buehrle (an unattractive case for many voters and fans) did well this time: 48.5% and 20%, respectively. Pettitte has work to do, but he has a good chance of succeeding on the ballot in the coming years.
Maybe this bodes well for the cases of Jon Lester (coming to vote next year), David Price (2028), Stephen Strasburg (2028), Adam Wainwright (2029), Corey Cluber (2029) and others.
