Previewing the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot: Will anyone get in?

The National Baseball's 2025 Hall of Fame class was revealed Tuesday evening. Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner - courtesy of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) - and Classic Baseball Era Committee selections Dick Allen and Dave Parker will be cemented at baseball's most hallowed grounds on July 27.

Including the aforementioned quintet, the National Baseball Hall of Fame now has 351 members. Most casual fans would assume the BBWAA will send multiple players to Cooperstown again in 2026. But at this moment, there's only one man pacing to appear on 75% of ballots next year.

Will the writers exceed expectations? Or will they fail to elect anyone, as they did in 2021? Here's your comprehensive preview of the 2026 BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot.

2025 Holdovers

There are two ways a player can fall off the BBWAA HOF ballot. One is that they exhaust their 10 years of eligibility. Had Billy Wagner not been voted in this year, for instance, he would not have appeared on the 2026 ballot for this reason.

The other method a player is eliminated from further BBWAA HOF consideration is a lack of votes. Players must garner at least 5% of the votes to stay on the ballot. There were 14 players under consideration in 2025 that meet these qualifications and will return to the ballot in 2026.

It's not impossible for a player to experience a drastic year-to-year jump in voting percentage. Larry Walker went from 54.6% in his ninth year on the ballot (2019) to 76.6% in 2020. Someone climbing more than 30% to earn their plaque, though, would be historic. This leaves Beltran and Jones as the only holdovers who could realistically become Hall of Famers in 2026.

2026 Newcomers

To be eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, you must have "played in each of ten (10) Major League championship seasons." To actually get on the ballot, a player must be "nominated by any two members of the [BBWAA] Screening Committee."

The BBWAA screening process takes place in November, so we won't know the 2026 ballot's official newcomers until then. However, we can identify the 17 players the committee will have under consideration in 2025's penultimate month.

As you'd expect, there are some talented and well-accomplished players on this list. Braun made six All-Star appearances and was the 2007 Rookie of the Year and the 2011 MVP. Hamels is a four-time All-Star and the 2008 World Series MVP. Pence, another four-time All-Star, won two World Series rings.

Additionally, players like Porcello (the controversial 2016 AL Cy Young winner) and Murphy (1.115 postseason OPS for the New York Mets en route to a 2015 World Series appearance) shined at times. Kendrick provided the series-clinching RBI in the NLDS and World Series for the 2019 Washington Nationals.

These men put together quality MLB careers. Unfortunately, the general consensus surrounding their collective candidacy for the Hall of Fame isn't strong. As The Athletic details, Hamels and Braun — regarded as the best of this bunch — failed to "reach their positional standard" in key metrics.

If the top players of the incoming class don't move the HOF needle, it's going to be difficult for the group as a whole to have staying power. The BBWAA feels more likely to have voters submit empty ballots than send one of these guys to Cooperstown in their first year of eligibility.

While most of the incoming crop could be one-and-done (as 10 players were in 2025), their loss is potentially the holdovers' gain. Beltran is primed for induction, and Jones having lesser competition could allow him to catapult up the board. But beyond that pair of center fielders, fans will likely be reliant on the Era Committee for a Hall of Famer in 2026.

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