Holdovers Scott Rolen, Andruw Jones, Todd Helton Headline New Hall Of Fame Ballot Coming Monday

With no sure shots among the first-time eligibles for the Baseball Hall of Fame this year, the three biggest gainers in last year’s vote hope to headline the Class of 2023.

Scott Rolen, Andruw Jones, and Todd Helton enjoyed the biggest vote increases in last year’s voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America [BBWAA] and top the ballot to be announced Monday by the Hall of Fame.

Eleven other holdovers also remain eligible but only two of them – Todd Helton and Billy Wagner – got more than half the votes last year. The minimum required for election is 75 per cent.

The leading newcomers are Carlos Beltran, a nine-time All-Star outfielder for seven different teams, and former closer Francisco Rodriguez, whose total of 437 saves ranks fourth on the lifetime list.

Although Beltran’s 86.4 per cent success rate ranks first among players with 300 stolen bases, his alleged involvement in the electronic cheating scandal of the 2017 Astros is likely to delay or even kill his chance for enshrinement.

With 63.2 per cent last time out, Rolen could realize his Cooperstown dream when the BBWAA election results are announced on Jan. 24. The seven-time All-Star supplied strong defense at third base for the Cardinals, Phillies, and Reds, capturing eight Gold Gloves at the position.

A gifted center-fielder, Jones won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and hit 434 home runs, plus two in his first two World Series at-bats. The other four outfielders who won 10 straight are in Cooperstown (Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Ken Griffey, Jr.) or not yet eligible (Ichiro Suzuki).

Helton should be helped by the 2020 election of former Colorado teammate Larry Walker. A first baseman who played 17 seasons exclusively with the Rockies, he had a lifetime batting average of .345 in hitter-friendly Coors Field and twice accumulated 400 total bases in a season.

Unlike Walker, who failed to garner more than 25 per cent during his first seven years on the ballot, Helton vaulted over 50 per cent in his fourth try.

Rolen made the most ballot-climbing progress last year, gaining 10.3 percentage points over his 2021 total. Jones was second with a 7.2 per cent gain, a notch above Helton’s 7.1 per cent improvement. Billy Wagner’s total went up by 4.6 percentage points.

All of them have an open door to election this year because the maximum 10-year ballot stays have ended for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Curt Schilling, controversial candidates who will get another chance next month when the Contemporary Baseball Players Era Committee votes at the Baseball Winter Meetings.

They are on the eight-man ballot to be considered for election by a 16-member panel composed primarily of incumbent Hall of Famers and historians.

Bonds, Clemens, and Rafael Palmeiro, who is also on the eight-man ballot, were rejected by the writers because of suspected involvement with PEDs [performance-enhancing drugs].

That same suspicion clouds the continued candidacies of Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield on the writers’ ballot.

Rodriguez, a three-time American League MVP, hit 696 home runs but was suspended for a year after alleged involvement in the Biogenesis scandal plus his attempted cover-up of the incident. He got 34.3 per cent of the vote last year, his first time on the ballot.

Sheffield, on the other hand, has failed in eight tries, polling only 40.6 per cent of the vote from the writers last time despite his .292 lifetime average and 509 home runs. He and Rodriguez, along with Bonds, Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, are the only eligible members of the 500 Home Run Club not enshrined in Cooperstown.

Also returning from last year’s writers’ ballot are Jeff Kent, Jimmy Rollins, Andy Pettitte, Omar Vizquel, Bobby Abreu, Mark Buehrle, and Torii Hunter.

Voters can select from 0-10 players on their ballots. Ballots were distributed to 405 BBWAA members last year, with 394 returned.

Players picked by the writers will join anyone selected by the Contemporary Era committee in the Class of 2023. Induction ceremonies will be held at Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, NY on July 23.