The Hall of Fame announces its 2023 ballot

Monday, Baseball’s Hall of Fame announced its Hall of Fame ballot that will be voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Fourteen new players will be on the ballot this year: Bronson Arroyo, Carlos Beltrán, Matt Cain, R.A. Dickey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andre Ethier, J.J. Hardy, John Lackey, Mike Napoli, Jhonny Peralta, Francisco Rodríguez, Huston Street, Jered Weaver and Jayson Werth.

With the possible exception of Carlos Beltrán, I don’t see anyone in that list who might be inducted in 2023. While Beltran’s career numbers make him a strong candidate, his association with the Astros cheating scandal might make voters think twice.

Returning to the ballot in 2023: Bobby Abreu, Mark Buehrle, Todd Helton, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, Andy Pettitte, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins, Gary Sheffield, Omar Vizquel and Billy Wagner.

Here’s the entire ballot in visual form, courtesy of Ryan Thibodaux, who runs the outstanding Hall of Fame ballot tracker:

You can access the ballot tracker here.

Of the returning players, Helton and Rolen have a decent case, as does Wagner.

You’ll note I left off Ramirez and A-Rod from that “decent case” list. By numbers alone those two rate induction. As you surely know, though, both players are tainted with PED suspensions, which kept them from being inducted last year and possibly will do so again.

The Hall of Fame notes:

Candidates remain on the BBWAA ballot for 10 years provided they are not elected and they are named on at least five percent of all ballots cast each year.

I would say most of this year’s new names on the ballot will be eliminated after one year’s worth of voting.

The inductees, if any, from the BBWAA ballot will be announced Tuesday, January 24 on a live MLB Network broadcast at 5 p.m. CT. The induction ceremony in Cooperstown will happen Sunday, July 23.