NEWS: 2026 Hall of Fame ballot released with 12 first-time candidates

One dozen new Hall of Fame candidates joined 15 returning players from last year on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s 2026 ballot unveiled Monday.

The spotlight once again falls on outfielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, both of whom enter the voting with the strongest odds of hearing their names called in January.

Beltrán — who played for the Royals, Astros (twice), Mets, Giants, Cardinals Yankees, and Rangers over a 20-year career — appears especially close to Cooperstown.

After a significant jump in the 2025 voting (from 57.1% to 70.3% in his third year on the ballot) he’s now within striking distance of the 75% threshold required for election.

Players may remain on the ballot for up to 10 years as long as they maintain at least 5% support, giving Beltrán seven more opportunities.

Beyond Beltrán and Jones, no returning candidate exceeded 40% last year, though several showed signs of upward momentum. Félix Hernández debuted respectably at 20.6%, while notable holdovers include Alex Rodriguez (37.1%), Manny Ramirez (34.3%, entering his final year of eligibility), Bobby Abreu, Omar Vizquel, Francisco Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, Dustin Pedroia, Mark Buehrle, David Wright, and Torii Hunter.

The first-year portion of the ballot features a deep class of former stars who last appeared in 2020, including Edwin Encarnación, Gio Gonzalez, Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun, Shin-Soo Choo, Alex Gordon, Matt Kemp, Nick Markakis, Hunter Pence, Howie Kendrick, Daniel Murphy, and Rick Porcello.

BBWAA results will be revealed January 20 on MLB Network, with induction in Cooperstown set for July 26 as part of the Hall’s Class of 2026 festivities.

Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons