This year’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has been announced, and on it you will find 14 new names joining 14 holdovers from prior ballots. From the BBWAA:The 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot as announced moments ago (baseballhall. org/news/2025-bb…).

Results will be announced Jan. 21st. The 2025 BBHOF Ballot Tracker is live: tracker.

fyi[image or embed]— Ryan Thibodaux (@notmrtibbs. com) November 18, 2024 at 12:08 PMAmong the new names, I figure two should stand out most to you: Ichiro Suzuki and Ben Zobrist. The former because he is a mortal lock to be a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Fame (and should be unanimous, but we know how that goes).

The latter because, well, we loved him with the Cubs. Zobrist may well falls into the “Hall of Very Good” classification, coming up just shy of Cooperstown. The argument would be that his career stats are good, but not overwhelming (.

266/. 357/. 426/116 wRC+, 1566 hits, 167 homers, 884 runs, 768 RBI, 116 steals, 42.

7 fWAR, 44. 5 bWAR). That he got down-the-ballot MVP votes three times, but was in the top-10 just once.

That he was only a three-time All-Star with no Gold Gloves. That his best six-year peak was not super elite (33. 5 fWAR, 31.

8 bWAR). Those are not unreasonable positions. If you want to make the argument in favor of Zobrist’s enshrinement, though, you would no doubt mention a few key things about Ben Zobrist’s career.

For one, he really revolutionized the idea of what a “super utility” player could be, if not downright invented the role as we know it today. Players who could hit like Zobrist simply did not move around as much as he did on the diamond, and if they did, they sure as heck didn’t play most spots well. In his prime, and even after it, Zobrist was a truly exceptional hitter AND you could slot him into so many defensive spots, changing from day-to-day or even game-to-game.

In the years that followed his time with the Cubs, I think we’ve all come to appreciate just how hard that is for players to do. Maybe we still fail to capture or quantify some of that value in the data. For another thing, when it comes to the counting stats, Zobrist kinda gets dinged because of the delayed debut to his career.

Whether justified or not, Zobrist did not get a full-time starting go with the Tampa Bay Rays until he was already 28, despite having shown for years at Triple-A that he was very ready to go. Just imagine three or four more seasons of counting stats added to his totals, and suddenly this becomes a very different conversation. Maybe you can still hold that against him, maybe you see it as a partial excuse.

I just think it’s useful context. For still another thing, Zobrist played in the postseason eight times, winning two World Series and taking home MVP honors both times. The second of which included his run with the Cubs, ending a kinda-famous 108-year championship drought, with his game-winning hit as the marquee moment:Ben Zobrist is clearly famous.

Baseball famous. Hall of Fame, you know? I don’t think that’s how this will actually shake out, mind you, but I do think you could at least stretch to make the argument.

He’ll get some votes, and hopefully stay on the ballot long enough to keep the conversation going. As for the rest of the ballot outside of Ichiro and Zobrist, I think we’ll see Billy Wagner get over the hump in his final year. Just kinda how that goes when a guy is close.

Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran probably get a little closer this year. Maybe get enough. I think CC Sabathia will get a ton of support, and could be a first-ballot guy.

There are a few more Zobrist-like debates you could have on the new arrivals. This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.