Peter Schmuck: My 2025 Hall of Fame ballot is in the mail (Part 1)

It’s time to make some tough choices on my 2025 Hall of Fame ballot, and I’m copping out this year and choosing the maximum of 10 candidates even though I know there are not 10 legit HOF guys among the 28 fine players on the list.

I’m going to do this a bit differently this year, explaining why I voted for each player with individual bullets, starting with the first five here and the last five in my next post. I’ll also have a Part III in which I explain why I did not vote for several notable players. This list is in alphabetical order, like the actual ballot, which goes from A to Z with Bobby Abreu at the top and Ben Zobrist at the bottom, though neither got my vote. Here goes:

Carlos Beltrán

There’s no question that Carlos has the raw numbers to rate induction next July and he’ll probably get there eventually. I’m guessing it won’t be this year because there are still plenty of voters who are holding back because of his connection to the Houston Astros cheating scandal. I’m voting for him because he has already been punished. He was hired to manage the Mets after retiring, but the scandal prompted the team to revoke the offer. Meanwhile, the two managers who were also fired for their involvement in the sign-stealing scheme are back in the dugout.

Félix Hernández

King Félix had his great career cut short by injuries and Covid, but his statistical body of work is impressive for a pitcher who only played 12 full seasons. I’m going to disregard his 15-25 record during his last three seasons because he was pitching through the pain, and view him as the guy with a 3.16 ERA and a .586 winning percentage (for a Seattle Mariners team that had a .465 winning percentage over the same period) and who averaged well over 200 innings per season over that spn. I don’t believe he’ll make it on the first ballot, but he’ll get there.

Andruw Jones

I’m going to go with the crowd on this one. Andruw Jones was a terrific all-around player who has been inching toward Cooperstown for the past seven seasons on the ballot. He got the second-most votes of any player on this year’s ballot who was not elected to the Hall of Fame on last year’s ballot. Only relief pitcher Billy Wagner got more and should make it this year. Jones was named on 61.6 percent of the ballots and should take a step forward but may have to wait until 2026 to break through.

Dustin Pedroia

This is Pedroia’s first year on the ballot and the sad fact of the matter is that he wouldn’t have become eligible for a few more years if not for some very bad injury luck that hastened his retirement. He has little chance to make it this year, but he deserves serious consideration so I’m voting for him to make sure he gets enough votes to stay on the ballot in future years. He was American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in his first two full seasons and was one of the unquestioned leaders of a team that won the World Series three times during his career.

Andy Pettitte

The Yankees’ pitching great was named on just 13 percent of the ballots cast in last year’s election and probably won’t get much more than that this time around. We all know why that is, but he was one of the steroid guys who came forward and confessed to his involvement with PEDs. I think a lot of the players from that era will eventually get into the Hall after their eligibility for the BBWAA ballot is exhausted, and Pettitte will probably be one of them. He won 256 games during his 18-year career, which should be viewed as equivalent to the 300-win seasons that rated almost automatic entry to the HOF when starting pitchers worked every fourth day instead of fifth.

Coming up next: I’ll explain in Part II of my three-part HOF ballot treatise why I also voted for Francisco Rodríguez, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner and David Wright.