Overview
- MLB.com’s Mike Petriello used all 10 slots for Abreu, Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Utley, Ramirez, Rodriguez and starters Buehrle, Hamels, Hernández, Pettitte, saying part of his aim is to keep the four starters at or above the 5% retention line.
- FanGraphs’ Jay Jaffe submitted eight names—Beltrán, Jones, Utley, Abreu and the same four starters—guided by JAWS/S-JAWS and a call to recalibrate Hall standards for starting pitchers with reduced modern workloads.
- Jaffe noted early public ballots had Félix Hernández tracking at 59.8% with 20 prior no-votes flipping to yes, suggesting growing openness to extended consideration even if he remains far from election.
- Both writers describe the 2026 BBWAA slate as unusually thin, with few candidates meeting positional JAWS benchmarks and expectations that most holdovers will see only incremental movement.
- Discussion of off-field factors remains active on disclosed ballots, with Beltrán’s 2017 sign-stealing role and PED suspensions for Ramirez and Rodriguez explicitly weighed, alongside concerns that mid-tier holdovers may linger in ballot purgatory as Torii Hunter risks falling below 5% after narrowly surviving last year.