Earlier this week, the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame were announced in Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, who will join Jeff Kent to make up the 2026 class of new inductees. But more importantly for Phillies fans, there was a good deal of movement with some former Phils greats on the ballot.
The biggest jump came from Chase Utley, who soared to 59.8% in his third year on the ballot after being at 39.8% last year. Utley’s 20% increase is among some of the highest single year jumps in voting
history, a strong indication that he will be enshrined in Cooperstown sooner rather than later. He still has some ground to make up to cross the 75% threshold needed, but the lack of quality candidates coming to the ballot in 2027 (excluding Buster Posey) and the fact that nearly 70% of voters who made their ballot public had Utley on it bode extremely well for his chances over the next two years.
Meanwhile, Utley’s double play partner Jimmy Rollins also saw an increase, albeit one much less drastic. Rollins is now up to 25.4% in his fifth year from 18% in 2025. It’s a modest increase, but Rollins’ chances look much less likely than Utley. He will need to get larger gains over his final five years on the ballot to make it in, but he could be a candidate for the various committees after his time on the writer’s ballot ends. Bobby Abreu is in a similar boat, as he saw an increase from 19.5% in 2025 to 30.8% in 2026, but he is in his seventh year on the ballot. Abreu only has three more years to make up ground.
2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels appeared on the ballot for the first time this year and had a strong debut, coming in at 23.8%. Hamels’ case is fascinating, as he and Felix Hernandez are the first crop of starting pitchers that will be judged more along the modern ways of how starting pitching is viewed. No one in the modern game will likely ever reach the previous benchmarks for the Hall with the rise of bullpens and emphasis on pitch counts, so Hamels may have a better chance than previously thought.
So, which Phillies on the ballot do you believe will make it into the Hall of Fame? Utley seems like a sure bet, but Rollins’ and Abreu’s fates are much less clear. Can Hamels build off of his strong debut and make it a few years down the line?
