Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer highlight the 2024 Hall of Fame ballot

Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer are among 12 new candidates for the Hall of Fame on the 2024 BBWAA ballot that was announced Monday in Cooperstown. Overall there will be 26 players on this year’s ballot.

Both of these players had careers that could warrant first-ballot induction. For the first time in quite a while, there’s no one on the BBWAA ballot who played at all for the Cubs.

Beltré, who spent 21 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers, finished second in the 2004 NL MVP race to Barry Bonds. The five-time Gold Glove winner played 2,759 of his 2,933 career games at third base, second only to the 2,870 by Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson. On career lists, Beltré ranks ninth in at-bats (11,068), 11th in doubles (636), 15th in total bases (5,309), 15th in extra base hits (1,151), 18th in hits (3,166), 25th in RBI (1,707) and 31st in home runs (477).

Mauer, who played in 15 major league seasons, all with the Minnesota Twins, won American League batting titles in 2006, 2008 and 2009, the most ever by a catcher. He was the AL MVP in that 2009 season when he hit .365 with career-high totals in home runs (28) and runs batted in (96) while becoming the first catcher in either league to lead the majors in on-base average plus slugging percentage (1.031). Mauer, who spent his final five seasons primarily at first base, is the only catcher in history with at least 2.000 hits (2,123), a .300 batting average (.306) and a .380 on-base percentage (.388).

Other first-timers on this year’s ballot are: Outfielder-third baseman José Bautista, pitchers Bartolo Colon and James Shields, catcher-designated hitter Victor Martinez, first baseman-designated hitter Adrián González, second basemen Brandon Phillips and Chase Utley, shortstop José Reyes, third baseman David Wright and outfielder Matt Holliday.

Holdovers from last year’s ballot are pitchers Mark Buehrle, Andy Pettitte, Francisco Rodríguez and Billy Wagner; infielders Todd Helton, Jimmy Rollins, Álex Rodríguez, and Omar Vizquel; and outfielders Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramírez and Gary Sheffield. Sheffield is in his 10th and final year on the ballot.

As always, Ryan Thibodaux will track BBWAA voting here.

Balloting by BBWAA members continues through December 31. Any inductees will be announced live on MLB Network Tuesday, January 23 at 5 p.m. CT, and this year’s induction ceremony in Cooperstown will take place Sunday, July 21.