Sixty-two Hall of Fame ballots have been publicly released, kept track by Ryan Thibodaux and the Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker team.
Among those early returns we’ve seen increased love for Todd Helton (+11 votes), Andruw Jones (+11), Jeff Kent (+12), Gary Sheffield (+13), and Billy Wagner (+12).
These returning members are trending toward higher voting percentage than last year but only two, Helton and Rolen, have received more than 75% of the votes necessary to earn the Hall of Fame induction.
Two possible Mets inductees are failing to reach the 75% necessary right now but that could change. In his first year of eligibility, Carlos Beltran has received a vote on 52.2% of publicly known ballots. That’s the highest among all first-year entrants.
Beltran would need to be on 79.6% of remaining ballots to reach the 75% necessary for induction.
Now in his eighth year on the ballot, Wagner has received 68.7% of the votes. It’s a small sample but it’s a major increase on his 2022 results when only 51.0% of voters checked the box next to his name. He needs to be on 76.3% of the remaining ballots to earn the nod.
Still it’s not likely either former Met gets elected this year. Based off the data from 2022 there is a steep dropoff in voting percentage on announcement day.
#MLB Two pics, derived from @NotMrTibbs #HOF data
First, vote pct by date, 2022. Note that dropoff on announcement day: pic.twitter.com/DphFPhjC19
— Scott Lindholm 📊 (@ScottLindholm) December 28, 2022
It’s possible there is another year where no player reaches the Hall of Fame when there are clearly deserving candidates.
#MLB 14 ballots received at the @NotMrTibbs #HOF Tracker today–may be a record, if not, it's dern close.
Latest guess, dig on the plus/minus: pic.twitter.com/4pqkErdcwS
— Scott Lindholm 📊 (@ScottLindholm) December 28, 2022
A number of candidates have yet to receive a vote. Players need 5% of the vote to appear on next year’s ballot. Among them are R.A. Dickey, Torii Hunter, and Matt Cain. Ten more players haven’t received votes, all of them except Hunter are on their first year on the ballot.
The only other first-year player than Beltran to receive votes is former Met Francisco Rodriguez, who has earned six.
Hopefully, the voters do right and induct someone into the Hall this year after making it a single-man ceremony for David Ortiz last year. There have been 15 ballots using all 10 votes and only one blank ballot. Let’s see if that trend continues as well when voting concludes.
To view the tracker. Click here.
