The Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is being mailed to 400 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America this week, and that ballot includes 14 candidates appearing for the very first time.
The Hall of Fame announced the names of those candidates on Monday, and there are some truly exciting players who could lead to one of the most fun Hall of Fame classes in years.
Here are all 14 first-time candidates on the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot:
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OF Carlos González
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OF Curtis Granderson
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SP Félix Hernández
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OF Adam Jones
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2B Ian Kinsler
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C Russell Martin
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C Brian McCann
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2B Dustin Pedroia
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SS Hanley Ramírez
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RP Fernando Rodney
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SP CC Sabathia
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OF Ichiro Suzuki
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SS Troy Tulowitzki
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IF/OF Ben Zobrist
It’s not hard to spot the big names on that list. Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, a legendary MLB player and an icon in Japan, where he started his career, is a lock to be elected on his first ballot. He debuted for the Orix Buffaloes in 1992 at age 18, and after experiencing incredible success in Japan, he made the jump to MLB as a 27-year-old rookie who had played 951 professional major-level games before setting foot on an MLB field.
Ichiro’s first MLB appearance for the Seattle Mariners in 2001 kicked off a 19-year career that included an MVP award, the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year award, 10 All-Star appearances, 10 Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers. He retired with a .311/.355/.402 triple slash and 3,089 hits after spending 14 seasons with the Mariners, three seasons with the Miami Marlins and three seasons with the New York Yankees.
CC Sabathia isn’t the lock that Ichiro is, but he has a decent shot to be elected this year (and if not this year, definitely in the future). He pitched for three teams over a 19-year career, starting as a 20-year-old with Cleveland, spending half a season with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 and then signing with the New York Yankees for the final 11 years of his career. He retired with 251 wins, a 3.74 career ERA and 3,093 strikeouts over 561 games and 3,577 1/3 innings.
Sabathia, Ichiro and the 12 other new candidates will join a ballot with 14 holdovers: Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Mark Buehrle, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Andy Pettitte, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Rodríguez, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Omar Vizquel, Billy Wagner and David Wright.
Of those 14 holdovers, reliever Billy Wagner is the only one in his 10th and final year of eligibility. He’s also the player who got closest to election last year without making it over the hump. He received 284 votes, or 73.8%, just five votes short of the 75% necessary for election.
