The day the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2025 is announced is quickly approaching. On January 21, we will know who will be immortalized thanks to a plaque on the wall of the Hall of Fame museum.
Thanks to the Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker, created by Ryan Thibodaux and faithfully maintained by Antoine Calamis And Adam Dore, we can see how all the candidates are doing on the publicly released ballots – of which 118 out of an estimated total of 388 ballots are likely to be returned. So far we have one player with a perfect record, one player with a near-perfect record, and two others above the 75% election threshold.
Which candidates have received the most votes so far?
Four players received at least 75% of the votes on the public ballots.
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Ichiro Suzuki (100%)
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CC Sabathia (90.7%)
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Billy Wagner (84.7%)
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Carlos Beltran (76.3%)
Suzuki and Sabathia are in their first election year. Beltran is in his third year and Wagner is in his 10th and final year. If Wagner is not elected this year, he will no longer be eligible for induction by the BBWAA, but may be inducted by the various era committees.
Having enough votes now, with only 30% of all ballots made public, doesn’t mean any of these candidates are a lock for induction. They all still need significant support on the remaining ballots in order to maintain at least 75% of the vote. Here’s how many more votes they need to reach the 75% threshold.
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Ichiro Suzuki — 173 votes
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CC Sabathia — 184 votes
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Billy Wagner — 191 votes
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Carlos Beltrán — 201 votes
To become the second unanimous Hall of Fame inductee (behind Mariano Rivera), Ichiro needs votes on every remaining ballot, public and private – approximately 270.
Which players saw the biggest increases in support?
Beltran saw a huge increase in support among publicly available ballots. Seventeen voters who had not checked his box in 2024 changed their minds and voted for him in 2025. He received 16 votes total, including a wasted vote from a previous Beltran voter.
Andy Pettitte, widely considered a borderline Hall guy, also saw a massive increase in votes in public polls. He gained 16 new voters and lost only one previous voter, so he has a net score of +15. He’s currently at 30.5%, more than double his 2024 final 13.2%. This is his sixth year on the ballot, so he only has four more attempts left to gain enough support to reach 75%, but this is a positive development for Pettitte’s faithful.
Andruw Jones, who finished last year with 61.6%, is currently just under the electoral threshold of 72%. He received eight votes from loyal voters this cycle, but he would need votes on 208 of the remaining 270 ballots to gain entry. In his seventh election year, he will have three more attempts to reach 75%.
Who risks being excluded from the vote?
As previously mentioned, Billy Wagner is in his 10th and final year of eligibility and will be eliminated from the ballot after this year no matter what.
Beyond Wagner, ten actors seriously risk being excluded from the polls. A player is excluded from next year’s Hall of Fame ballot if he fails to garner at least 5 percent of the vote in the current year. Below you’ll find all players who currently have less than 5% support on publicly revealed ballots, and how many additional votes they need to remain on the ballot in 2026.
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Brian McCann — 4.2%, needs 15 more votes
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Ian Kinsler — 3.4%, needs 16 more votes
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Torii Hunter – 0.8%, needs 19 more votes
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Ben Zobrist — 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
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Troy Tulowitzki – 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
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Fernando Rodney — 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
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Hanley Ramirez – 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
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Adam Jones – 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
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Curtis Granderson — 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
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Carlos Gonzalez — 0.0%, needs 20 more votes
Among these players, nine are in their first electoral year. The only exception is Torii Hunter, who is in his fifth year.
