Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones are set to become members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026, alongside Jeff Kent.
These two former outfielders were selected for enshrinement on Tuesday, following the yearly ballot conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. To secure a spot in Cooperstown, a candidate required 75% approval from the 425 eligible voters; Beltrán garnered 84.2%, while Jones received 78.4%.
Kent’s inclusion had already been confirmed through the Hall’s Contemporary Era Committee vote held in December.
Beltrán appeared on the ballot for his fourth consecutive year, whereas Jones was in his ninth year, placing him just two unsuccessful voting cycles away from being removed from the BBWAA’s consideration list.
Both individuals required a consistent boost in endorsements over several years to achieve this recognition. Beltrán’s initial year on the ballot yielded 46.5% of the votes, followed by double-digit percentage gains in each subsequent cycle until now. Jones initially hovered at 7.3% and 7.5% in his first two years, but his support started to climb as fewer candidates remained eligible.
The preceding few years saw clear frontrunners for first-ballot entry, such as Ichiro Suzuki (2025) and Adrian Beltré (2024), yet no comparable player emerged this year. Indeed, the sole debut candidate who garnered sufficient votes to remain on the ballot was Cole Hamels, securing 23.8%. Considering the upward trends observed with Beltrán and Jones, this positions the former Philadelphia Phillies star favorably for a future induction.
Ryan Braun was among the first-time eligible players who did not gather enough votes to appear on a subsequent ballot, largely due to his history of using performance-enhancing drugs, which rendered him an unacceptable choice for voters.
Manny Ramirez, another athlete who faced suspension for PEDs, secured merely 38.8% of the ballots in his tenth and final year of eligibility. The sole remaining pathway for the record-holder in postseason home runs to enter the Hall is through the Contemporary Era Committee, a body that has, to date, demonstrated an even stronger disinclination towards steroid users compared to the BBWAA voters.
Furthermore, Alex Rodriguez’s voting percentages remained consistent, achieving 40%, representing a slight bump from his 37.1% in the prior year. Unless there’s an unforeseen change in circumstances, it seems he is destined for a similar outcome as Ramirez, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens.
While Beltrán and Jones were never implicated in significant performance-enhancing drug accusations throughout their careers, both candidates presented factors that likely posed concerns for voters when evaluating the Hall’s character clause.
Beltrán earned All-Star honors nine times, demonstrating exceptional skill as both a hitter and a fielder, and amassed remarkable statistics in postseason play. Nonetheless, he was also identified as a key orchestrator in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing plot of 2017, an event that contributed to his sole World Series championship. He was the only active player specifically mentioned in the commissioner’s official report regarding the controversy and would almost certainly have been inducted into the Hall much sooner if his ballot eligibility had preceded the public disclosure of these accusations.
Jones stands as one of baseball’s premier defensive center fielders historically, boasting a remarkable 10 Gold Glove awards, and showcased significant offensive prowess with 51 home runs in 2005. However, he also admitted culpability for domestic battery allegations, which stemmed from accusations of dragging his wife down a flight of stairs, placing his hands on her throat, and issuing death threats.
The induction ceremony for the Hall of Fame is planned for July 26, to be held in Cooperstown.
