The 2025 HOF ballot: One sure thing and a bunch of questions

Ichiro is certainly going to make the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. Will anyone be joining him in 2025?

Mar 21, 2019; Tokyo,JPN; Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (51) speaks during a press conference after the game against the Oakland Athletics at Tokyo Dome.
Mar 21, 2019; Tokyo,JPN; Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki (51) speaks during a press conference after the game against the Oakland Athletics at Tokyo Dome. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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Andruw Jone
August 12, 2005: Atlanta, Georgia, USA: Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones hits in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Photo By Christopher Gooley-Imagn Images Copyright (c) 2005 Christopher Gooley | Christopher Gooley-Imagn Images

Andruw Jones

Like Hernandez, Jones is a plausible HOF candidate thanks to his elite peak seasons, subject to all the attendant plusses and minuses.

The plusses can be summed up neatly. There is general agreement that, at his best, Jones played center field as well as anybody in baseball history.

He was a 10-time Gold Glover, a five-time All Star, and a key piece on a team that won nine straight division titles between 1997 and 2005.

Lest you think otherwise, Jones was not merely a defensive wizard. In 2005, he hit 51 home runs and drove in 128 runs, both league-leading totals, finishing second in MVP voting. That 2005 season was his second .900+ OPS season (2000).

However, Jones plainly stayed around too long after his skills had eroded. From 2007 through his 2012 retirement, he batted .213 while shuffling through five uniform changes trying to regain the magic of his youth.

That long, slow decline dropped his career batting average to an un-Hall like .254, part of the reason why Jones hasn’t gotten higher than 61 percent support in his seven previous seasons as a candidate.