The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the 2026 induction class has officially been released. Following three esteemed ballplayers getting inducted into Cooperstown last summer, the hall is in danger of electing one or no players for the fourth time since 2020.
The class consists of 12 newcomers and 15 returning players. To be elected, a player must receive 75% of the votes and all other players must receive at least 5% of votes to stay on the ballot for next year. As we depart from the steroid era, we have new scandals arising, most prevalent in this year’s ballot is the Astros cheating scandal.
Here are some breakdowns of the candidates who the Baseball Writers Association of America will be voting on until the final tallies are released on January 20.
The best chance: Carlos Beltran
Beltran barely missed the cut last year, getting 70.3% of the vote. The nine-time all-star would have been a first ballot Hall of Famer had it not been for the Astros cheating scandal in his final season. Beltran was one of the ring leaders of the scandal, causing voters to cite the Hall of Fame’s infamous character clause against the outfielder. Now, in year four on the ballot, Beltran is the highest returning vote getter while also benefiting from a weak newcomer class. His stats back his case up. Beltran racked up 70 career WAR and 435 home runs to go along with three Golden Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and a Rookie of the Year award. Voters seem to be more lenient on the Astros scandal than PED players, so this could very well be Beltran’s year to get in.
Time is ticking: Andruw Jones
It is now year nine on the ballot for Jones after finishing with 66.2% of the votes last year. The Curaçao kid had an unreal first 12 years of his career before the wheels came off once he departed the Braves. During his tenure in Atlanta, he hit 368 home runs and marveled in the outfield, earning 10 Gold Gloves. The final five seasons of his career saw him struggle through injuries and even get arrested for domestic violence. Those are the main reasons he is not in the hall already and could be what keeps him out. Jones has two years left to gain 9% of votes on the ballot; this year will be make or break for the five-time all-star.
Interesting cases: Chase Utley and Félix Hernández
Utley saw nearly a 30% drop in votes once the private ballots were tallied, ending his second year on the ballot with 39.8%. His counting stats do not jump off the page, including falling short of the 2,000-hit threshold that was an unwritten rule in Cooperstown for years. The tone has changed around the 2,000 hits mark so that increases Utley’s chances of gaining more votes. His career was like that of Dustin Pedroia who got 11.9% of the votes on his first year on the ballot. Both contact hitters and excellent defenders should see a boost this year.
King Felix has the honor of being the best pitcher on the ballot. His dominance in Seattle included two ERA titles, six all-star appearances and a Cy Young award. His problem is his lack of team success and his fall off post age 29 season. In his last four seasons, his ERA was never lower than 3.82, and he never pitched more than 155 innings in any of those four seasons. Hernandez also never made the playoffs as he was stuck on the Mariners during their multi-decade playoff drought. Despite that, he should see a big increase in votes during his second year.
Scandalized players:
As players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens leave their fate to the committee ballots, the last of the steroid era still remains on the 2026 ballot.
Manny Ramirez enters his final year on the ballot with no chance of getting into Cooperstown. The slugger hit over 550 home runs in his career, but failed multiple drug tests, diminishing his Hall of Fame chances.
Andy Pettitte is one of the best postseason pitchers ever, the southpaw won five World Series with the Yankees. But his HGH scandal makes his chances slim in year eight on the ballot.
Alex Rodriguez is the most controversial of them all. A-Rod earned a 162-game suspension after admitting to taking steroids at some point during his career. The infielder hit 696 home runs in his career and won three MVP awards. He made a minimal jump from 34.8% to 37.1% in 2025 and needs a bigger jump in his fifth year on the ballot if he wants a chance at Cooperstown.
Newcomers:
No newcomers’ stats are mind blowing, but there are some players who could stay on the ballot. Cole Hamels was dominant in Philadelphia and Texas, making four all-star appearances. In the Phillies 2008 championship run, he posted a 1.80 ERA while also winning both NLCS and World Series MVP. His counterpart Roy Halladay was elected on the first ballot while Cliff Lee was only on two ballots during his lone year. Expect Hamels to be somewhere in the middle, fighting for 5% of the votes.
Ryan Braun had a great career for the Brewers but was tagged with a PED suspension in 2013. The 2011 MVP had an unbelievable prime but really started to slow down after the suspension. This fall off will most likely cause voters to neglect him from their ballot.
Speaking of falloffs, Matt Kemp is one of the newcomers on the ballot. The 2011 MVP runner-up had a very good case for winning the award over Braun after he posted an 8 WAR season where he led the National League in home runs, RBIs and OPS+. He departed from the Dodgers in 2015 and was never the same, only making one more all-star appearance.
The other newcomers on the ballot are Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnacion, Gio Gonzalez, Alex Gordon, Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, Daniel Murphy, Hunter Pence and Rick Porcello.