Carlos Beltran will headline newcomers to 2023 Hall of Fame ballot

The BBWAA didn’t pitch a second consecutive shutout Tuesday night electing just former Red Sox DH David Ortiz to the Hall of Fame. Ortiz garnered 77.9% of the vote while Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens finished second and third at 66.0% and 65.2%.

This was the last shot for Bonds, Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa who have all now exhausted their 10-year eligibility on the writers’ ballot. Their future Hall of Fame fates will now be decided by the Today’s Game committee. Eleven other players, including Tim Hudson, failed to reach the required five percent threshold in order to remain on the ballot. That means next year’s ballot is going to have a much-different look and feel.

That will likely be good news for some of the players who saw increases in this voting cycle. Players such as Scott Rolen, who jumped to 63.2% and Todd Helton, who topped out at 52.0%. Billy Wagner will be in his eighth year on the ballot next year after capturing 51% of the vote this time around. Andruw Jones has seen steady increases in support over the last three voting cycles settling at 41.1%. Jones will be in his sixth year on the ballot next year and is on track to eventually gain election.

His plight and that of the other holdovers will be aided by the lack of the star power in the group of players that will join the ballot in 2023. Per the BBWAA website, here is a look at the new names that will be added to the ballot next year.

Carlos Beltran
Matt Cain
Andre Ethier
John Lackey
Mike Napoli
Jhonny Peralta
Francisco Rodriguez
Huston Street
Jered Weaver
Jayson Werth

Beltran is the only player that should garner serious consideration and his case will be hurt by his association with the Astros sign stealing scandal. How much he is hurt remains to be seen, but I would be surprised to see him garner serious support in his first year on the ballot.