Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia Among Potential 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot Newcomers

Seattle Mariners legends Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez, as well as New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia and Boston Red Sox star Dustin Pedroia, could be among next year's newest Hall of Fame contenders.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 has been unveiled, with third baseman Adrian Beltre, first baseman Todd Helton and catcher Joe Mauer all set to join manager Jim Leyland in Cooperstown this summer.

Now, it's time to look ahead to 2025.

Here is a list of all the players who haven't played in MLB since 2019 with career WARs over 30.0:

SP CC Sabathia

OF Ichiro Suzuki

2B Ian Kinsler

2B Dustin Pedroia

SP Félix Hernández

OF Curtis Granderson

SS Troy Tulowitzki

IF/OF Ben Zobrist

C Russell Martin

SS Hanley Ramírez

OF Adam Jones

C Brian McCann

There were 12 new players added to the ballot in 2024, bringing the total to 26 contenders. There are once again 14 returning candidates, meaning the BBWAA Screening Committee could elect to introduce roughly a dozen players in 2025 as well.

In addition to all the potential newcomers, here are the players who will roll over from the 2024 ballot, including the share of votes they got in this past cycle:

CL Billy Wagner: 73.8% *Final Year*

OF Andruw Jones: 61.6%

OF Carlos Beltrán: 57.1%

SS/3B Álex Rodríguez: 34.8%

OF Manny Ramírez: 32.5%

2B Chase Utley: 28.8%

OF Bobby Abreu: 17.7%

SS Jimmy Rollins: 14.8%

SS Omar Vizquel: 14.8%

SP Andy Pettitte: 13.5%

SP Mark Buehrle: 8.3%

CL Francisco Rodríguez: 7.8%

OF Torii Hunter: 7.3%

3B David Wright: 6.2%

In order to be elected into the Hall of Fame, players much earn a spot on at least 75% of the submitted ballots. If a player does not earn at least 5% of votes, they will be removed from the ballot the following year.

Eight of the 12 newcomers to the 2024 ballot did not do enough to hang around for 2025.

There are several players who will likely meet the same fate in 2025 – Ben Zobrist, Adam Jones, Russell Martin and Brian McCann chief among them – while CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki have the best chances to make it in right away. Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltrán and Chase Utley are the biggest threats to reach Cooperstown of the returning contenders.

Álex Rodríguez and Manny Ramírez will likely continue to get stonewalled by voters, as was the case with other steroid users like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Dustin Pedroia and Felix Hernández are two of the more interesting cases, considering their high peaks but lackluster count stats and rapid dropoffs.

The 2025 National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot will be announced in November.

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