Experts call the 2026 National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot the weakest in years. That may be true, but as a first-time voter, it was an honor to pick players I feel should be enshrined in Cooperstown on July 26. It was honor to be one of two members of the MLBbro family (along with Rob Parker) to pick players. 

There are 27 former big-leaguers on the ballot. I could check off as many as 10, but after doing a lot of research and talking to people I respect, I voted for five – Carlos Beltrán, Mark Buehrle, Félix Hernández, Andruw Jones and Andy Pettitte – and I want to explain my reasoning for selecting them.

 

 

Carlos Beltrán

He is in his fourth year of eligibility, but this guy should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer. Beltran has the numbers to back it up. He is one of four players  (Barry Bonds, Willie Mays and Álex Rodríguez are the others) in baseball history with at least 1,500 runs scored, 2,700 hits, 400 home runs and 300 steals. Beltran’s postseason heroics speak for themselves. In 65 games, Beltran has a slash line of .307/.412/.609 with 16 homes and 42 RBIs.    

He is not a Hall of Famer because of his involvement in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017, a season in which the team won the World Series. Beltran was past his prime that year and retired after the season ended. Keep this mind: In ‘17, the Yankees lost to the Astros in the American League Championship Series. A few years later, Beltran was working for the Yankees as an analyst on the YES Network. It seems like New York put the scandal behind them. We should do the same.

Mark Buehrle

He has a statue in front of Rate Field and the White Sox retired his number 56 for a reason: He was a workhorse on the mound. He pitched 200 or more innings per season in 11 of the 12 years while playing on the southside of Chicago. Besides winning 161 games, Buehrle pitched two no-hitters, the most memorable came on July 23, 2009 when he threw a perfect game against the Rays.

Buehrle’s winning attitude on the field and in the clubhouse helped the White Sox win a World Series title in 2005. His best game was in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Angels. Buehrle pitched a complete game, allowing a run on five hits and threw 99 pitches. Buehrle has a bWAR of 60, which is higher than Hall of Famers such as Jim Kaat and Bob Lemon.

‘King’ Felix Hernández

King Félix was the man in Seattle. He didn’t have the run support during his 15 years with the Mariners, but that didn’t stop him from being one of the best pitchers in the A.L. Take the year – 2010 – he won the CY Young Award: He won only 13 games, but led the league in bWAR [7.2], ERA [2.27], and innings pitched [249 ⅔]. Don’t forget that he had a career-high six complete games. By the time his career ended, Hernández pitched 200 innings in a season eight times, won 169 games and struck out 2,524 batters.        

Andruw Jones 

During his peak years with the Braves from 1997-2007, Jones had a slash line of ,263/.343/.498 with 363 home runs and 1,104 RBIs. It didn’t hurt that he won 10 Gold Gloves. His bWAR during that period was 60.9, which is higher than Ichiro Suzuki’s career mark and Suzuki is a Hall of Famer.   

One afternoon in 2009, then-Nationals coach Pat Corrales said to me, “Andruw Jones is the best center fielder I’ve seen since Willie Mays.” Corrales should know. He was a coach with the Braves during most of Jones’ tenure in that city. Jones’ defense was second to none. He led all NL center fielders in putouts six times (1998-2002, 2007) and assists three times (1998-99, 2005).

Andy Pettitte 

His name is in the Mitchell Report, but he is the one guy that didn’t dance around the issue of using steroids. Two days after the report came out, Pettitte acknowledged he used HGH twice to quickly recover from an injury. I decided not to hold it against him and looked at the numbers he put up, and I was impressed with what I saw. 

Pettitte reached 200 innings in a season 10 times and won 256 games. We often saw Pettitte in the postseason and helped the Yankees win five World Series titles. In 44 postseason starts, Pettitte was 19-11 with a 3.81 ERA. He holds postseason records for wins, innings pitched (276.2) and games started.