Scott Rolen was the only member of the 2023 Hall of Fame ballot to be granted induction by the writers, and next year he’ll be joined by one of the only men on the planet who can credibly claim to be a better third baseman than him.
Along with that defensive maestro (whose 3,166 hits will make him a shoo-in) there will be some other newcomers who stand no chance of seeing Cooperstown. Players like Jose Bautista, Matt Holliday, Adrian Gonzalez and Brandon Phillips — who all reached the requisite ten years of service time needed to appear on the ballot — were all excellent players who delivered memorable moments but will fall well short of the necessary vote total.
In breaking down the new batch of players whose Hall of Fame cases will be dissected for the first time next winter, we find the aforementioned lock, and beneath him, a few guys who have very credible merits but will definitely need some time if they’re going to get in.
Armed with a better resume than Rolen, there should be no problem getting Beltre 75% of the vote next year. Beltre is one of 33 big leaguers to amass 3,000 hits, he’s got five Gold Gloves, four All-Star Game appearances and Silver Sluggers, and even two Platinum Gloves that distinguished him as the very best fielder in the entire league.
Beltre also finished in the top ten of MVP voting six times, led MLB in homers in 2004, led the league in hits in 2013 and batted .300 in seven different seasons. Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews are the only third
